Moscow, June 22: Russia has warned the United States of consequences if President Donald Trump moves ahead with creating U.S. space force. Russia also cited a treaty banning nuclear weapons in outer space for supporting its argument.

According to reports, head of the Russian Parliament’s Upper House Committee on Defense and Security, Victor Bondarev said that militarisation of outer space was the path to disaster. “But if the United States withdraws from the 1967 treaty banning nuclear weapons in outer space, then, of course, not only ours but also other states, will follow with a tough response aimed at ensuring world security,” reported AirForce Times quoting Bondarev.

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty is ‘non-armament treaty’ that prevents the militarisation of outer space. The Russian diplomat’s warned the US after trump ordered Pentagon for setting up sixth space-oriented branch within the U.S. military.

According to a White House pool report, Trump on June 18, at a meeting of National Space Council blamed politics and bureaucracy for not exploring outer space for so many years. The US president also said that the US should take the lead in outer space operations before Russia and China.

According to media reports, leadership within the Pentagon and Air Force have opposed to the idea of a separate space force mainly due to budget constraints and also the Air Force doesn’t want to wage war. According to a report published in AirForce Times, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also criticised the formation of an American space force.

Zakharova said that Russia was keeping a close watch on Washington’s intentions. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman also said that such military buildup in space would destabilise international security. According to Zakharova, Russia’s military branch known as ‘space forces’ is purely defensive.

As per 2002 article archived by Stanford University, Russian Space Forces are a branch of the larger Russian Aerospace Forces and have advanced missile defence services. The branch of the Russian military is comparable to U.S. Air Force Space Command. Zakharova said that Russia was not interested in tackling any tasks in space with the use of attack weapons. However, The US is concerned about Russian development of hypersonic glide missiles which could pose a space-borne threat to the country.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 22, 2018 05:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).