"The creation of space weapons is not at all our choice. Today and with a prospect for the future, the Russian Federation has no plans of creating and placing in space whatever space weapon systems," he stressed.
Skotnikov invited all the 65 member countries of the Disarmament Conference to prevent arms race in space.
"The placing of weapons in space would undermine the present structure of arms limitation agreements, above all as regards nuclear missiles, and encourage a new round of arms race," he said.
On Thursday Russia and China submitted to the Conference a working document targeting the elimination of "blank spaces" in the International Space Law, which actually does not ban creation and development of antisatellite weapons, nor the development of missile defence systems or their space-based components.
Now, no kinds of armaments are located in space. However, the United States national missile defence programme, ushered in by President George Bush in 2001, intends the possibility of using the entire range of weapons with a ballistic missile capability, including space-based weapon systems.
Back in 2002, Russia and China proposed to the Disarmament Conference preparing a treaty preventing the placement of weapons in space and use, or threat of use, of force with regard to space objects.
Russia proposes, for an initial step, imposing a moratorium on the placing of combat means in space.
Russia, China and other countries have also spoken up for re-establishing at the Disarmament Conference an ad hoc committee for the prevention of arms race in space. It ended work back in 1994.
