Russia Reaffirms Its Commitment to Outer Space Demilitarization

Russian Presidency spokesman Dmitry Peskov Friday said his country is committed to the demilitarization of space and has no intention of stationing weapons there.

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"Russia has always been and remains a country committed to the task of the full demilitarization of space and of not deploying weapons in space," Peskov said.

His statement comes after the United States says it has "proof" that Moscow conducted a "non-destructive test of an anti-satellite weapon" in outer space.

Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said the U.S. accusations are part of “an information campaign aimed at discrediting Russian activities in space” and its peace initiatives aimed at avoiding the arms race in the cosmos.

"The U.S. and British representatives are again presenting a distorted image to distract the international community from the real threats in space and to justify the deployment of weapons and additional funding for these purposes," the Russian authorities said.

These assessments were made prior to the Moscow-Washington space security talks to be held in Vienna on July 27.

"It is not understood what is the objective pursued by U.S. colleagues. We would like to trust that they do not seek to predetermine the tone and results of the meeting and hinder the important bilateral dialogue on space issues and strategic stability," the Russian ministry said and called on the U.S. and the U.K. to prioritize dialogue over propaganda.

This Thursday, the U.S. Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) reported that Russia had placed a new object in orbit from the Cosmos 2543 survey satellite.

"This is further evidence of Russia’s continuing efforts to develop and test space-based systems, and consistent with the Kremlin’s published military doctrine to employ weapons that hold U.S. and allied space assets at risk," the AFSPC stated.

The AFSPC Commander Gen. John Raymond argued the satellite system used for this test is the same one that Russia used earlier this year.