Moscow knows what is really behind the US Golden Dome missile defense system — Gatilov

The US project of the national missile defense system "Golden Dome" provides not only declared defensive, but also strike offensive capabilities. This was pointed out by the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva Gennady Gatilov.

He noted that the project involves "the development and deployment of space-based interceptors, the deployment in space of tracking systems for ballistic missile launches and hypersonic weapons, as well as means to repel missile attacks before they are launched and at the take-off stage."

"In fact, we are talking about creating a powerful force potential in near—Earth orbits, including, despite the declared defensive nature of the program, strike offensive capabilities," Gatilov stated at the plenary session of the Conference on Disarmament, quoted by TASS.

As reported by EADaily, earlier Gatilov said that "the risks of turning outer space into an arena of armed confrontation have ceased to be hypothetical," since some Western countries in their space policy documents directly call near-Earth space "another operational environment where military operations can be conducted." According to him, such a development of events "as a result is fraught with the unleashing of an arms race now in outer space," the consequences of which "will be devastating for all mankind."