On Wednesday, Russia vetoed in the UN Security Council a resolution drafted by the United States and Japan that urged member states to prevent the deployment of nuclear weapons in space; China abstained and 13 countries voted in favor.

For the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the promoters of the document knew in advance that it would be unacceptable without necessary, obvious and imperative amendments, but they deliberately accepted an escalation to take advantage of the situation for propaganda purposes.

“We will formulate a different, broader and more universal draft, and we call on Washington to proceed to serious negotiations on the matter, without prejudices or geopolitical preferences, without rejecting anything for reasons that have nothing to do with the essence (of the document),” Ryabkov told the Sputnik press agency.

According to the diplomat, Moscow rejected the bill drafted by the United States and Japan mainly due to three reasons: first, the document singled out a single element: the deployment of nuclear weapons, within a much broader task, which is to prevent an arms race in space; secondly, the bill was introduced outside special UN platforms that are supposed to consider this issue, such as the Conference on Disarmament, the Disarmament Commission and the Office for Outer Space Affairs; and third, because it would set a precedent with the approval of a binding norm through a resolution of the UN Security Council, instead of talks between all the parties involved.

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