Russian Foreign Minister warns the US against putting missile defense systems in space
If the US places anti-missile defense systems in space, it will lead to a new arms race, said Russian Defense Minister Sergey Lavrov at a meeting between the foreign ministers of the BRICS countries, TASS reports.
“A long time ago, Russia, in conjunction with China, presented a draft treaty on the prevention of weapons being placed in space at the disarmament conference in Geneva,” he noted.
According to the minister, several countries’ increased military budgets and the disintegration of the architecture for maintaining strategic stability pose a threat to international security.
As an example, Lavrov mentioned the breakdown of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, and the tense situation surrounding the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty. The Russian minister said that Moscow has offered to extend New START, but has not yet received any response from Washington.
The Pentagon announced in mid January that it plans to deploy missile interception systems in space. At the end of April, the US began deploying systems in space that can initiate preventative attacks against facilities in Russia, China, or any other country.