UN Security Council rejects Russia bid to ban weapons in space
- Russian bid to counter weapons in space fails after it vetoed a US-drafted resolution last month
- US envoy accuses Russia of diplomatic gaslighting after launching a ‘counterspace weapon’
The United States said on Monday that Russia last week launched a satellite that could be part of weaponising space, a possible future global trend that members of the United Nations Security Council condemned even as they failed to pass a measure against it.
The Security Council resolution drafted by Russia rivalled one backed by the US and Japan that failed last month.
The rival drafts focused on different types of weapons, with the US and Japan specifying weapons of mass destruction. The Russian draft discussed all types of weapons.
The US and its allies said the language that the 15-member council debated on Monday was simply meant to distract the world from Russia’s true intention: weaponising space.
“The culmination of Russia’s campaign of diplomatic gaslighting and dissembling is the text before us today,” US deputy ambassador Robert Wood told the council.