May 19, 2005
MosNews
Russia would consider using force if the U.S. put a combat weapon into space, a senior Russian official in Washington has said.
Defying protests by Russia, China and many other U.S. allies, the Bush administration plans to implement a new space policy that would move the U.S. closer to placing offensive and defensive weapons in space, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Opponents have voiced concerns that such a move would lead to an extremely expensive post-Cold War arms race.
Vladimir Yermakov, senior counsellor at the Russian Embassy in Washington, on Tuesday told a conference on space militarization that Russia was working through diplomatic channels to urge the U.S. not to move towards fielding weapons in space, The Financial Times reported Thursday.
But he said Russia would have to react, possibly with force, if the U.S. successfully put a “combat weapon” in space.
In comments for The Financial Times, Vladimir Yermakov stressed that Russia’s priority was to solve the problem diplomatically. Russia has voluntarily declared that it will not be the first country to place weapons in space in an effort to encourage the U.S. to move away from space weaponization.
Force is “not a subject for discussion right now”, Yermakov said. “It depends on what happens, and why it happens, upon what agreements we have with the U.S. government, and what understandings we have with the U.S. government.”
He added: “Our policy is not to create situations that would lead [to] confrontation. If we don’t find such understandings with the U.S. government, and we find ourselves in a situation where we need to react, of course we will do it.”
The White House denied that President George W. Bush was about to sign a new directive on space policy that would permit the placing of weapons in space.
“The U.S. has no intention to weaponize [space],” said a senior administration official. “The policy review was not initiated at the request of the air force or the department of defense, and the policy, while not yet finalized, would not represent a substantial shift in American policy.”
Any new policy would replace a 1996 policy implemented by the Clinton administration calling for a less militaristic approach to space. The 1967 treaty on outer space prevents countries from putting only weapons of mass destruction in space. Other countries are concerned that some of the weapons being considered by the U.S. could be considered new types of WMD.
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/05/19/armsrace.shtml