Russia, Indonesia agree on no first deployment of weapons in outer space

Foreign Ministers of Russia and Indonesia, Sergei Lavrov and Marty Natalegawa, signed a statement on no first deployment of weapons in outer space on the sidelines of the ASEAN Security Forum in Brunei, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Monday. The document “is designed to take an additional step towards strengthening security in outer space”, the ministry said. The statement says, “Russia and Indonesia praise the importance of outer space as a significant factor of the social, economic, scientific and technical development of the state and its role in ensuring national and international security. The countries call for using outer space in compliance with international law for the sake of all peoples regardless the level of their economic, scientific and technical development.” The two countries “confirm the commitment to the principle of the U.N. Charter to refrain from the threat of force or its use in international relations, including in outer space. Russia and Indonesia believe that all states will be committed to such policy”, the statement says. “Russia and Indonesia state that they will not deploy weapons in outer space and exert maximum effort in order to prevent from turning space into an arena of military confrontation. The Russian Federation and the Republic of Indonesia urge the states, which possess of space weapons, to follow this example,” the document says. During the meeting, Lavrov and Natalegawa “expressed satisfaction with stepping up Russian-Indonesian relations and called for further strengthening a constructive dialogue within the bilateral and multilateral formats and intensifying trade and economic relations. The countries showed interest in deepening contacts within the G-20 and APEC due to Russia’s and Indonesia’s chairmanship this year”, the Russian ministry said.