U.S. deployment of missile weapons in space “will further worsen the security situation in the world,” Russian President Vladimir Putin warned at the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Heads of State Council  on Oct. 11, 2019 in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, according to reports by TASS and the Interfax News Agency.

A serious threat — technological failures are possible

“It may come to the point that some strike complexes will hang over the head of each state, in the end,” Putin warned. “All these will be neutralized and Russia will promptly get the same competences” and “the flight time for the destruction of [space weapons] will be 5–7 minutes.”

“The complexity of managing such systems is not easy in outer space and poses a serious threat — technological failures are possible, anything,” he added.

More dangerous than deployment of medium-range missiles

Putin also noted that the U.S. deployment of missile weapons in space is “extremely more dangerous for global security than the deployment of medium-range missiles.” *

The implementation of U.S. plans to deploy missile defense systems in space will lead to “another stage in an arms race,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in July at a session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries, as www.peaceinspace.com has reported.

“Russia and China have already presented a draft proposal [The Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space] at the disarmament conference in Geneva,” Lavrov noted.

* This statement refers to the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty , which required the United States and the Soviet Union to eliminate and permanently forswear all of their nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers, according to the Arms Control Association. On Aug. 2, 2019, the U.S. formally withdrew from the INF Treaty; Russia subsequently suspended its treaty obligations. 

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