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STORY: UN / ARMS RACE OUTER SPACE
TRT: 01:58
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / RUSSIAN / NATS
DATELINE: 20 MAY 2024, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UN Headquarters
20 MAY 2024, NEW YORK CITY
2. Various shots, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“The draft resolution we submitted its comprehensive in nature. It contains well-known provisions which reflect the interests and aspirations of the overwhelming majority of the members of the United Nations. Thanks to its broad scope, it is geared towards reaffirmation of state obligations not to use outer space for the placement of any forms of weapons, including weapons of mass destruction. And incidentally, this is specifically the language which the US colleagues, with a trumped-up pretext demonstrably refused to incorporate into their draft resolution at the Security Council from the very beginning.”
4. Med shot, US Ambassador Robert A. Wood addressing Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert A. Wood, Alternate Representative to the United Nations, United States:
“We have heard President Putin say publicly, that Russia has no intentions of deploying nuclear weapons in space. If that were the case, Russia would not have vetoed that resolution. Over the past several weeks and following widespread condemnation from a geographically diverse group of member states in the General Assembly on May 6th Russia has sought to distract from its dangerous efforts to put a nuclear weapon into orbit. The culmination of Russia's campaign of diplomatic gaslighting and dissembling is the text before us today.”
6. Various shots, vote
7. Wide shot, Council
A Draft Resolution on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space submitted by the Russian Federation today (20 May) failed to be adopted by the Security Council.
Speaking before the vote, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said the draft resolution was “comprehensive in nature” and contains “well-known provisions which reflect the interests and aspirations of the overwhelming majority of the members of the United Nations.”
Nebenzya said the draft was “geared towards reaffirmation of state obligations not to use outer space for the placement of any forms of weapons, including weapons of mass destruction,” which he added, “is specifically the language which the US colleagues, with a trumped-up pretext demonstrably refused to incorporate into their draft resolution at the Security Council from the very beginning.”
Also speaking before the vote, United States Ambassador Robert A. Wood said, “we have heard President Putin say publicly, that Russia has no intentions of deploying nuclear weapons in space. If that were the case, Russia would not have vetoed that resolution.”
Wood said, “over the past several weeks and following widespread condemnation from a geographically diverse group of member states in the General Assembly on May 6th Russia has sought to distract from its dangerous efforts to put a nuclear weapon into orbit. The culmination of Russia's campaign of diplomatic gaslighting and dissembling is the text before us today.”
On 24 April, the Security Council voted on a draft resolution on weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in outer space, which was prepared by Japan and the US and co-sponsored by 65 member states. That draft resolution failed to be adopted owing to a veto cast by Russia.
Today’s resolution failed to obtain the required number of votes. It received 7 votes in favour, 7 against, and one abstention.
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