Press release on the UN General Assembly’s adoption of Russia’s resolution, No First Placement of Arms in Outer Space

An overwhelming majority of UN member states (126 countries) voted for the resolution. This impressive expression of the international community's will shows that the Russian initiative is important, timely, and enjoys broad support. The composition of the handful of countries that voted against the resolution is revealing. Two countries, the United States and Israel, are still reluctant to join the common efforts to prevent an arms race in outer space, while Georgia and Ukraine made a politicised decision to follow them.

The Russian document built on the resolution traditionally submitted by Egypt and Sri Lanka, which aims to prevent an arms race in outer space. An overwhelming majority of UN member states support this document each year.

Brazil, Indonesia, the People's Republic of China, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Argentina, Cuba, Venezuela, Kenya, Nigeria and others also took an active part in drafting the document.

The draft resolution was officially submitted to the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security Committee) of the UN General Assembly in October 2014, with 34 countries signing on as co-authors.

The UN General Assembly resolution, No First Placement of Arms in Outer Space, lays an additional foundation for preventing the deployment of any types of weapons in outer space and ensuring the exclusively peaceful use of outer space.

A central element of the resolution is an appeal to start negotiations as soon as possible at the Geneva Disarmament Conference on drafting a legally binding international agreement to prevent the placement of arms in space, on the basis of the actively discussed Russian-Chinese draft document.

Moreover, the resolution calls on all responsible countries to make a political commitment not to be the first to deploy weapons in outer space. Ten countries, including Argentina, Armenia, Belarus, Brazil, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Cuba, Tajikistan and Sri Lanka, have already made this commitment. The further universalisation of the Russian initiative will become an important confidence-building measure in international space activity and an important contribution to the efforts of all UN countries to ensure equal and indivisible security for all and to maintain global stability.