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Russia Proposes Space Weapons Ban
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has proposed that he and his European counterparts work out measures to prevent arms from reaching space. “The time has come for specific negotiations, and it is very important that the countries that can make a contribution to deciding that question take part,” Lavrov said at a press conference after talks with Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin. Lavrov said that Russia intends to introduce a draft resolution into the UN General Assembly entitled “On Transparency Measures and Strengthening Trust in Space Activities.”
Lavrov ranked weapons in space along with the American missile defense system as destabilizing factors in international security. “It all undermines parity and strategic stability,” he said. Lavrov also emphasized that not only does a system of oversight of weapons need to be agreed upon and a resolution on it passed, but obligations already in forces have to be observed “to avoid repeating the sad experience of the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe,” which, he said, “for artificial reason, having nothing to do with European security, was undermined in practice by our European partners.” Russia stopped its participation in that treaty at the end of last year. The treaty was signed by NATO and Warsaw Pact countries on November 19, 1990 in Paris and came into force in November 1992.
www.kommersant.com
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