On Wednesday, Russia vetoed a U.N. resolution that was a call to action for all countries to prevent dangerous nuclear arms in outer space.
The resolution, sponsored by both the United States and Japan, had China abstain from the vote, and Russia oppose it. The vote for the resolution was voted in favor by the 13 other members of the security council. Russia declared the U.N. resolution to be “a dirty spectacle”. This is due to the fact that it specifically called out for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to be banned, amongst other weapons. The resolution calls for countries to neither develop nor send nuclear weapons and WMDs to space. The resolution also requires countries to participate in verified compliance checks. In response to the Russian veto, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan remarked “the United States assesses that Russia is developing a new satellite carrying a nuclear device”. Both Russia and China proposed an amendment to the resolution draft that would “prevent for all time the placement of weapons in outer space, and the threat of use of force in outer spaces” for all countries. The vote for the amendment had seven countries in favor, and seven against with one abstention. The amendment failed as it did not meet the minimum 9 votes needed to pass.
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https://apnews.com/article/nuclear-arms-space-un-us-japan-russia-175d45ddb658729eff060bd8a83b8a55
