Russia urges U.S. to resume joint space exploration
“The Russian Foreign Ministry has noted the media reports that U.S. President Donald Trump allegedly has no plans to involve Russia in discussing plans for joint development of the Moon,” said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
"Of course, we have noted these messages. They are perceived by us as a reflection of the well-known U.S. line on asserting its superiority in space and formulating such approaches to the space resource exploration, which, by and large, serve only the interests of the United States, its closest allies and like-minded people," RIA Novosti quoted Ryabkov as saying.
According to Ryabkov, this approach reduces the chances of mutually beneficial settlement of problems related to the development of space resources. At the same time, he said that the United States can still return to a joint solution of this problem.
"It is not too late to move on to the joint analysis and joint solution of the relevant problems, especially since there are specialized international platforms. They work under the auspices of the UN and are very well adapted for this," Ryabkov said.
According to Ryabkov, Russia remains open to bilateral dialogue with the United States on this topic, "but there is no readiness for discussion by Washington”.
Earlier it was reported that the U.S. administration is preparing a draft of a new international agreement on the creation of "safety zones" around future lunar bases, as well as on the extraction of resources on the Moon and the principles of the operation of lunar ownership.
Reuters reported that the White House plans to involve Canada, Japan, the European Union and the UAE in the agreement. Russia's participation is not considered.
The Kremlin noted that the American draft of the international treaty on the extraction of minerals on the Moon requires in-depth analysis from the point of view of international law.