Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking with (a) state and (b) private sector allies and partners to reduce the risk to the UK's (i) national and (ii) economic security of Russia’s development of nuclear anti-satellite weapons.

The UK takes the potential development of nuclear anti-satellite weapons by Russia seriously. We have been working with international partners and allies to reaffirm the absolute prohibition of the placement of weapons of mass destruction in space, including:

- Supporting a UN Security Council Resolution tabled by US and Japan calling on States not to develop, station or place in orbit any weapons of mass destruction in line with the Outer Space Treaty.

- Co-sponsoring a UN General Assembly Resolution submitted by US, Japan and Argentina reiterating Article IV of the Outer Space treaty, which prohibits the stationing of any Weapons of Mass Destruction in orbit around the Earth.

- Raising our concern of the threat such irresponsible actions pose to all countries by highlighting the devastating impact of nuclear weapons in space in bilateral engagements and statements made at the United Nations General Assembly, United Nations Security Council, UN Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Washington Summit.