(NewsInsights.org) – In March, The US and Japan sponsored a United Nations (UN) Security Council resolution calling on all nations not to develop or deploy nuclear weapons in space. On Wednesday, April 24, Russia killed the resolution after a heated debate and the defeat of its proposed amendment. As a permanent Security Council member, Russia vetoed the resolution. China abstained from voting.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa submitted the resolution in March. They were reacting to a February report by US intelligence sources that raised “troubling” concerns about Russia’s emerging anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon technology, which is reputedly nuclear-based. Reports remain sketchy as to whether the satellite is simply nuclear-powered, similar to long-range space probes, or armed with nuclear capability.
On Wednesday, Thomas-Greenfield and Japanese Ambassador to the UN Kazuyuki Yamazaki issued a joint statement, expressing how “incredibly disappointed” they felt at the vote’s outcome. They added that the failed resolution signified “a real missed opportunity to rebuild much-needed trust in existing arms control obligations.”
Today, Russia vetoed – and China abstained on – a UN Security Council resolution that affirmed a common sense proposition: That we should not be putting weapons of mass destruction into outer space. This would be unprecedented, unacceptable, and deeply dangerous.
Let me be…— Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield (@USAmbUN) April 24, 2024
The US ambassador also posted on X, formerly Twitter, to clarify that Russia’s vote against the resolution and China’s ambivalence toward it didn’t release them as signatories to the Outer Space Treaty. Article IV strictly forbids treaty members from placing nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction on celestial bodies or in orbit.
Ahead of the vote, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya called the resolution an “unscrupulous play.” He described the ploy as a disingenuous political move orchestrated by the US and Japan “to depict Russia as a player with no interest in preventing an arms race in space.”
Instead, he pointed to the proposed Prevention of an Arms Race in Space (PAROS) Treaty, based on Article IV of the Outer Space Treaty and submitted by Russia to the UN Committee on Disarmament in 2006. He also pointed to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement from February 20, in which he said, “We have always been and remain categorically opposed to the deployment of nuclear weapons in space.”
Based on PAROS objectives, Russia and China proposed an amendment to the resolution submitted by the US and Japan to prevent the placement of weapons of any sort in space. Seven countries, including Russia and China, voted for the amendment. Seven nations, including the US and Japan, voted against it. Switzerland abstained, causing the amendment to fail.
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