The UN Security Council did not adopt Russia's draft resolution on preventing an arms race in space and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction there. The initiative needed to be adopted by nine out of fifteen countries, but in fact only seven votes were collected: Russia was supported by China, Algeria, Guyana, Ecuador, Mozambique, and Sierra Leone.
The US, France, Great Britain, Japan, Slovenia, the Republic of Korea, and Malta opposed it. One country, Switzerland, abstained from voting.
The resolution put forward by Russia, also known as the Treaty on Outer Space, proposed the creation of multilateral agreements that are reliably verifiable and legally binding, which would permanently exclude the placement of weapons in space. The ban would include, in particular:
- the use of force in space, force from space towards Earth, and from Earth against objects in outer space;
- the placement in orbit around the Earth of any objects carrying nuclear weapons or other types of weapons of mass destruction;
- the location of weapons of mass destruction both on celestial bodies and in outer space in any other way.
Following the blocking of the resolution, Russia announced the holding of exercises on the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons. The Ministry of Defense is starting to practice launches of "Iskanders" and "Kinzhal", and other weapons will also be involved.
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