Two days after India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi announced that India had successfully tested its indigenously developed ASAT missiles making it the fourth country after the USA, Russia, and China to be a space superpower, Russia has asked New Delhi to join international efforts to join efforts against arms race in space.
As per reports, referring to a Russian-Chinese draft treaty that is aimed at preventing the weaponisation of outer space, Russia offered India to join the efforts of “like-minded nations”.
In response to the successful test of an anti-satellite missile by India on Wednesday, a statement was issued by Russia which read, “Russia intends to continue to make necessary effort to prevent an arms race in outer space.”
The statement furthered, “The idea of developing a multilateral legally binding instrument for keeping outer space peaceful based on the Russian-Chinese draft treaty with support of a group of like-minded nations to prevent weaponization of outer space, the use or threat of force against space objects as well as multilateral initiative – political obligations not to be first to place weapons in space are becoming particularly important”.
“We offer our Indian partners to actively join these joint efforts of the international community,” Russia said in the statement, according to ANI.
As a matter of great pride, PM Modi on March 27, announced that India has successfully entered the elite club of nations to possess the capability to hit a target in space. India had shot down a live satellite in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
Meanwhile, Russia, while welcoming India’s right to Anti-Satellite Missile Test has put the onus on the USA on framing rules at the earliest to prevent the weaponisation of outer space.
Russia, stating that the action taken by India is largely the result of the substantially degraded situation in the field of arms control, warned the USA, “The destructive actions of the United States to undermine the entire architecture of international security and strategic stability, including unilateral and unlimited development of the US global anti-missile defense systems, as well as the reluctance to abandon plans for the weaponization of outer space, make other states think about improving their own equal potentials in the interests of strengthening their national security”.
Russia urged the USA to take a responsible stand, come to senses and drop the insane, and most importantly, an ‘absolutely unrealizable’ idea of universal military domination.
The statement added that it is still possible to stop the arms race unfolding in various regions of the world. It is important to assist the responsible states in maintaining an adequate level of international security and stability.”
Earlier, the US had expressed concern about space debris following the anti-satellite (ASAT) test carried out by India and said it expected that it does not endanger others’ equipment.
