Russia on Wednesday vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution that would have reaffirmed a nearly 50-year-old ban on placing weapons of mass destruction in orbit, two months after reports. This is exactly what Russia plans to do.
Russia’s vote against the resolution is not a surprise. As one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, Russia has a veto over any resolution submitted to the body. China abstained from the vote and 13 other Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution.
Had it passed, the resolution would have affirmed a binding obligation set forth in Article IV of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which states that nations shall not “place into orbit around the Earth any object carrying nuclear weapons or any other type of weapons of mass destruction. » “
Go nuclear
Russia is one of 115 parties to the Outer Space Treaty. Security Council vote on Wednesday follows reports in February that Russia is developing an anti-satellite nuclear weapon.
“The United States believes that Russia is developing a new satellite carrying a nuclear device,” said Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser. “We heard President Putin publicly state that Russia did not intend to deploy nuclear weapons in space. If that had been the case, Russia would not have vetoed this resolution.”
The United States and Japan proposed a joint resolution that also calls on nations not to develop nuclear weapons or any other weapons of mass destruction designed to be placed in orbit around Earth. In a statement, American and Japanese diplomats highlighted the danger of a nuclear detonation in space. Such an event would have “serious implications for sustainable development and other aspects of international peace and security,” U.S. officials said in a press release.
By abstaining from the vote, “China showed that it preferred to defend Russia as a junior partner rather than safeguard the global non-proliferation regime,” said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the ‘UN.
U.S. government officials have not provided details on the exact nature of the anti-satellite weapon Russia is reportedly developing. A nuclear explosion in orbit would destroy many satellites from many countries and endanger astronauts. Space debris created by a nuclear detonation could clog the orbital traffic lanes needed for future spacecraft.
The Soviet Union launched more than 30 military satellites powered by nuclear reactors. Russia’s military space program stagnated in the first two decades after the fall of the Soviet Union, and U.S. intelligence officials say it still lags behind the capabilities possessed by the U.S. Space Force and the Chinese army.
Russian military funding has largely gone to the war in Ukraine over the past two years, but Putin and other senior Russian officials have cited threats of the use of nuclear force and attacks on space assets against their adversaries. . The Russian military launched a cyberattack on a commercial satellite communications network when it invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Russia has long had an appetite for anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons. The Soviet Union experimented with “co-orbital” ASATs in the 1960s and 1970s. Once deployed, these co-orbital ASATs would have attacked enemy satellites by approaching them and detonating explosives or using a grappling arm to move the target out of orbit.
In 1987, the Soviet Union launched an experimental weapons platform into orbit to test laser technologies that could be used against enemy satellites. Russia shot down one of its own satellites in 2021 in a widely condemned “direct rise” ASAT test. This Russian direct-ascent ASAT test followed demonstrations of similar capabilities by China, the United States and India. The Russian military has also demonstrated satellites over the past decade that can latch onto an opposing spacecraft in orbit or fire a projectile to destroy an enemy satellite.
