Russia Urges US to Drop Plans to Deploy Missile Defense Systems in Space

Foreign Ministry warns move could start a new arms race

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has issued a statement on Friday calling on the United States to drop its latest missile defense system plans, which involves deploying interceptor systems into space. They warn the effort will fuel an arms race.

The statement warned that the plans give the impression that the US is trying to revive the scrapped Star Wars program from the 1980s. It also appears to be evidence the US plans to use space for military purposes in the near future.

Trump unveiled the new space-based missile defense a week ago, playing up the idea of making space a “warfighting domain,” and wanting a system that could intercept any missile anywhere on the planet at any time.

The comparisons to the Star Wars program are obvious, in that both are space-based, wildly ambitious, and almost certain to be prohibitively expensive. Russia seems to be hoping they can talk the US out of going down that path again.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.