The United States could use the situation in Ukraine to implement its plans in the military-space sphere, which could include the deployment of weapons in outer space, Russia's deputy envoy to the United Nations Andrei Belousov told journalists.
"It is impossible to directly link the risks of deploying weapons in space with Russia's special military operation on the territory of Ukraine… However, the fact remains that the US and its allies will use the Ukrainian map as an additional argument in favor of implementing their military plans not only on land, at sea and in the air, but also in space," Belousov said at the Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
According to the Russian deputy envoy, who is also the deputy head of the Russian delegation at the 10th NPT review conference, the Americans and NATO countries are actively promoting a very dangerous concept that space, like cyberspace, should be considered as another environment for conducting warfare.
"The fact that the Americans and their allies have explicitly refused to talk about any legally binding agreements to prevent an arms race in space for nearly 15 years speaks for itself. This means that they did not initially plan to take on any obligations that would limit their military space plans. We may well assume that such plans also include the possibility of deploying weapons in space," Belousov said.
He added that Russia intends to submit a resolution at the UN General Assembly session this fall on additional practical measures to prevent an arms race in outer space.
According to Belousov, the resolution, "will provide for the re-establishment of a UN group of governmental experts… with the same mandate as a similar group in 2018-2019. The mandate provides for consideration of possible elements specifically of a legally binding agreement or agreements to prevent an arms race in outer space."