MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump administration's steps toward building the Golden Dome missile shield are turning space into an arena of armed confrontation, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with TASS.
"Steps taken by the Trump administration to develop the US ‘Golden Dome for America’ missile defense system, which provides for a significant strengthening of the arsenal of tools to conduct military operations in space, including the deployment of interception systems in orbit, is a direct path not only to the militarization of outer space, but also to its transformation into an arena of armed confrontation," Ryabkov said.
Russia’s senior diplomat stressed that such US actions provoke escalation of tensions and an arms race in space paves the way for mutual distrust as well as for serious obstacles to cooperation on inter-state level regarding the peaceful exploration of space.
"All of this is fraught with the most serious negative consequences for international security," Ryabkov continued.
"In order to counter Washington's steps to deploy weapons in outer space, together with our satellite countries, we exert efforts aimed at the early start of negotiations on the development of an international legally binding tool that prevents an arms race in outer space, abbreviated as the Prevention of Arms Race in Space [PAROS], prohibiting the deployment of any type of weapon in outer space, the use of force or threats of force against space objects or with their help," the high-ranking diplomat noted.
On May 20, US President Donald Trump announced his country's strategy regarding how its Golden Dome missile defense shield project would move forward. The administration plans to allocate approximately $175 billion for the project. According to Trump, construction will take a little under three years.