Russia hopes that Moscow and Washington will continue their mutually beneficial cooperation in outer space, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Wednesday.
"I would like to express the hope that our practical cooperation [with the United States in outer space] that has a long record and has been developing effectively for decades will continue on a mutually beneficial and mutually respectful basis," the senior Russian diplomat said.
As Ryabkov pointed out, Washington will hopefully see "contradictions in its own position" on preventing an arms race in outer space amid the West’s accusations against Russia, following Moscow’s tests of striking a defunct Russian satellite.
"The Americans are doing absolutely the same thing and have long carried out such tests. Moreover, they are conducting quite alarming testing measures for the potential deployment of strike capabilities in outer space while proposing nothing to curb this process," the deputy foreign minister said.
The Americans are also not interested in limiting anti-satellite weapons, wishing to keep their dominance in outer space, Ryabkov pointed out.
"Had the Americans been interested in something more serious than groundlessly imposing their demagogy on us, they would have said: here are our proposals on how we will limit anti-satellite weapons. But they are not saying that," the senior Russian diplomat pointed out.
