Russia is certainly taking notice of the recent U.S. statements about weapons in space. “Everyone was stirred up by the news that the U.S. announced it had deployed strike weapons in space. We are currently verifying the situation,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted yesterday at the International Festival of Youth in Yekaterinburg, reported TASS. He clarified that the prospects for the development of the situation in space over the next 10 to 15 years are unknown.

“We have a long-standing resolution that we are promoting at the UN to ban the placement of any weapons in orbit. Any weapons at all,” Lavrov recalled. “The Americans say: ‘No, wait—any weapons? Why any weapons? Let’s agree not to deploy nuclear weapons.’ They suspect us of preparing to deploy nuclear weapons into orbit. We say we have no such plans. But when we say that the deployment of any weapons must be banned, that includes nuclear weapons as well. They don’t want that,” Lavrov continued. “It’s not a very elegant negotiating position, but we are where we are,” he stressed. “So in 10 to 15 years, the global situation will depend on how we advance the position of the global majority,” Lavrov emphasized.