Russia says there is still time to stop an arms race in space after US orbital weapons admission

MOSCOW: Russia believes there is still time to prevent an arms race in space by drawing up a legally binding international treaty to outlaw the deployment of offensive weapons there and called on the United States and other nations to set aside their scepticism about the idea, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday. 

Ryabkov was commenting after the US acknowledged this week that the Pentagon is operating weapons in Earth's orbit, a landmark moment in the militarisation of space. US Space Force chief Douglas Schiess said that enlisted members of his military branch "operate on-orbit weapons that can defend the Joint Force against space-enabled attacks".

Speaking at a news briefing in Moscow, Ryabkov said the US had not notified Russia - one of the world's top three space powers - about its new weapons capability, but said the US statement had not come as a surprise.   

"This is nothing new to us; we are monitoring all of this, recording it all, and drawing the appropriate conclusions,” he said, noting that Moscow had long spoken of the need for a treaty that would rule out the use of force in space or the threat of force against objects in space.

"The Americans and other Westerners, in particular the British, have for many years used inflammatory excuses to cover up their unwillingness to move in this direction; they seek out spurious arguments to avoid doing so and attempt to turn the tables by accusing us of activities which, in their view, are destabilising in nature,” said Ryabkov.

“But we believe that it is not yet too late to create an environment that would preclude an arms race with escalating risks of open conflict in outer space.”