Russian Statement on Joint Working Paper
Delivered at the Conference on Disarmament on June 27, 2002
Leonid A. Skotnikov 
Mr. President,
The recent weeks have been rich in important international developments of immediate relevance to the issues of the maintenance of international security.
During the Russian-US Summit held in Moscow this May, the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions was signed which provides for the reduction of the aggregate number of strategic nuclear warheads down to the agreed level ranging from 1,700 to 2,200 for each Party. We together with the delegation of the United States have requested the CD secretariat to distribute the text of the Treaty as an official document of the Conference.
Late in May, Russia and nineteen NATO countries elaborated the document on the new model of relationship in the framework of the Russia-NATO Council, established in Rome. It is not a matter of cooperation in the area of defense, and even less so about Russia's entry into NATO. The aim is to establish a mechanism of joint responsibility for the maintenance of peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic region. The participants of the Council will be cooperating on an equal footing and in their national capacities in areas of common interests such as counter terrorism, peacekeeping, disaster clean-up, a European missile defense system, etc.
In order to enhance security in the Asia-Pacific region, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is being developed. The creation of this organization was formalized in St. Petersburg early in June at the meeting of heads of state of the SCO member countries. This structure is a successor of the "Shanghai Five" which emerged as a result of two, innovative for the Asian continent, agreements on confidence-building measures in the military area and arms reductions. We give a particular importance to a comprehensive development of our relations with the Peoples' Republic of China. The Russian-Chinese Treaty on Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation, which was signed last year, has laid down a solid basis for development of multifarious cooperation in the long run.
A positive contribution to the course of forming a common security space in Asia was made by the first summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures which took place early in June in Alma-Ata.
Finally, of importance is also the decision taken in Moscow this May to the effect that the Treaty on Collective Security which comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrghyzstan, Russia and Tadjikistan should be transformed into an international regional organization.
We hope that all the steps would result in increased mutual confidence and predictability, enhanced cooperation for the maintenance of peace, security and stability, and in a joint stand to counter new challenges and threats.
Mr. President,
Today we and the delegation of the People's Republic of China together submit, for attention of the participants of the CD, a draft document containing possible elements of an international legal agreement on the prevention of the deployment of weapons in outer space, the threat or use of force against outer space objects. We put on record our gratitude to the delegations of Belarus, Indonesia, Syria, Viet Nam and Zimbabwe, which expressed their willingness to co-sponsor it. The relevant request to distribute it as an official document of the Conference has already been forwarded to the CD Secretariat. The response given by our partners during an unofficial presentation of the paper in the Chinese mission on 28 May, as well as the consultations held on the topic in the capitals further strengthened our conviction that this step was both correct and timely. We are grateful to all those delegations which extended their support to the basic ideas of our initiative, as well as those which suggested specific directions to improve it.
In proposing basic parameters of a possible new agreement in the area of outer space, we have taken into account the experience of nearly a nine-year work of the CD Ad Hoc Committee on PAROS. We consider that our predecessors have already done a lot in this direction by having prepared the issue for negotiation. The developments in the world during the last years have only increased the urgency of resolving the issue of PAROS. That is why we support the urgent adoption today of all measures possible in order to prevent the deployment of weapons in outer space, rather than waste subsequently huge efforts and resources to have it "de-weaponized".
When we were preparing the paper which is being submitted to your attention we had sought to take into account the basic approaches by our partners towards the problem. While recognizing the value of all the judgements and observations made during the briefing in the Chinese mission, we have decided, however, to refrain from amending the paper at this stage. We believe that these ideas should be subject to a careful elaboration within an appropriate Ad Hoc Committee. I will stress that our principal aim today is to stimulate the early start of substantive discussions in the CD on the issue of PAROS. We do not envisage any tracks parallel to the CD in order to discuss these issues.
Mr. President,
While elaborating with the People's Republic of China the basic elements of a future agreement, we were taking into account the fact that the existing international legal regime regulating outer space activities contains a serious gap - the absence of a prohibition to deploy in outer space weapons other than weapons of mass destruction. In 1972 Moscow and Washington decided to partially fill it in bilaterally: the Parties included in the ABM Treaty the commitment "not to develop, test, or deploy ABM systems or components which are ... space-based...". Unfortunately, this rule, which significance extended far beyond the framework of the Russian-US relations and which had a global strategic dimension, also ceased to exist a few days ago, concurrently with the ABMTreaty. It is also worth mentioning the absence today of any legal impediments to deploying around the Earth, for instance, of anti-satellite weapons.
In these conditions, we propose to jointly give a thought to establishing international legal restrictions on the deployment of strike weapons in outer space. I wish to emphasize that it is not a matter of making any prejudice to outer space activities which are defense-related and which are based on the UN Charter. More than that, in accordance with the UN Charter, in particular with its provisions on the non-use of force in international relations, we propose that additional international legal protection be provided to outer space objects.
In so doing, we are not at all seeking to detract from the significance of Article 51 of the UN Charter concerning the right to self-defense. Application of this Article as practice shows is quite compatible with the processes of arms control and disarmament.
We naturally take into account the fact that the achievements in outer space technology are actively used for such "auxiliary" military purposes as communication, navigation, global positioning systems etc. They are also applied to maintain strategic stability in the world, namely to ensure that disarmament arrangements are complied with. We believe that in future the use of outer space-based means will make it possible to resolve a broader range of issues of international security, such as, for example, nuclear and missile technologies proliferation control, conventional and strategic arms build-up in potential conflict areas etc. But this does not mean, not at all, that military activities in outer space should be used to obtain the superiority in force.
Thus, the Russian delegation is proceeding from the assumption that the future agreement would not hinder outer space activities in accordance with international law, including the Charter of the United Nations, in the interests of maintaining international peace and security and promoting international cooperation.
Mr. President,
We are looking forward to a constructive dialogue and we are prepared to take into account considerations of all the participants in the CD in order to give a specific substance to the document and achieve a mutually acceptable compromise on its language. Thank you.
Ambassador Leonid A. Skotnikov is the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the CD in Geneva.
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