Mikhail Ulyanov, Director of the Foreign Ministry Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control, in an interview with the Rossiya Segodnya news agency, 20 January 2015

Question: Mr Ulyanov, a regular meeting of the Conference on Disarmament began in Geneva on 20 January. What initiatives does Russia plan to present there?

Mikhail Ulyanov: We won't advance new initiatives this time. But there is an initiative that is still on the agenda. It concerns preventing the militarisation of outer space.

Unfortunately, the Conference on Disarmament has been idle for years. Tasked to negotiate disarmament agreements, it has been unable to agree on an agenda, because the participating countries have different priorities and are unwilling to compromise for the sake of consensus. This is not a positive situation but objective reality, which we should take into account.

The main current issue for Russia is to prevent the militarisation of outer space. Last summer, Russia and China submitted to the Conference on Disarmament a revised draft of the treaty on the prevention of the placement of weapons in outer space. This revised draft takes remarks by other countries into account.

You know that the ballistic missile defence programmes of the United States and NATO would seriously change the situation in the area of strategic stability and negatively influence arms control. This also concerns outer space, where the placement of weapons would change the situation dramatically, and not for the better. This is why Russia has been trying to use what time is left to prevent the militarisation of outer space.

Part of our efforts towards this goal is an initiative under which Russia has pledged not to be the first to place any weapons in outer space. We submitted this initiative to the UN General Assembly in October 2004. In 2005, the initiative was supported by the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO). Respected members of the international community, such as Brazil, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Argentina and Cuba, have recently joined this initiative. These countries are playing a major role in international affairs, and Sri Lanka is a co-author of the draft resolution on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space, which it takes turns with Egypt to present every year.

Late last year, Russia submitted a draft resolution on No First Placement of Arms in Outer Space to the UN General Assembly. One of its bedrock elements is an urge for an early start of talks at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva to draft and adopt a binding international treaty to prevent the placement of weapons in outer space and the threat or use of force against outer space objects.

It was a successful experience. The draft has been supported by 126 countries. Altogether, we now have 33 co-authors, which is very good for a first time effort.

Unfortunately, the United States voted against it. It obviously wants to have a free hand in outer space, including for military purposes.

There is no other reasonable explanation for this stance.

Question: But other countries also voted against the resolution.

Mikhail Ulyanov: The United States often stands alone at UN General Assemblies. When this happens, it tries to convince Israel and, most often, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia to side with it. This time, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands refused to vote against the Russian draft, but their place was taken by Ukraine and Georgia.

I congratulate our Ukrainian and Georgian colleagues on their unprofessional approach. They could have found a more suitable pretext to express their negative attitude to Russia's foreign policy because of current bilateral differences. As it is, they have spoken against an initiative that has been supported by 33 countries from different parts of the world. In fact, they voted against the efforts to prevent an arms race in outer space.

It is indicative that the EU countries abstained. According to available information, many of them were strong-armed into joining the "collective" vote. As far as we know, the overwhelming majority of Western European countries are fully aware of the threat of weapons in outer space and would be willing to prevent weapons placement there.

Anyway, back in 2005 Russia and the EU drafted a joint roadmap that included recognition of the importance of preventing an arms race in outer space.

If Western European countries have abandoned this stance, which I personally doubt, we will need to take this into account in future projects, including the draft international code of conduct for outer space activities.

Question: Did the EU countries express support for the Russian initiative on a bilateral basis after the vote?

Mikhail Ulyanov: Some of them were embarrassed and said they were under strong pressure.

Question: Speaking about the revised draft of the treaty presented last summer, can we expect negotiations or at least discussions to start this year, considering the US attitude and the situation at the Conference on Disarmament?

Mikhail Ulyanov: There is a difference between negotiations and discussions. Negotiations at the Conference on Disarmament will begin only after the conference's agenda is coordinated. Currently, there is no consensus on this issue. No draft agenda suits all countries, because they have different priorities. For example, nonaligned countries support the idea of nuclear disarmament talks, which should also develop a convention to prohibit nuclear weapons as has been done in the case of chemical and bacteriological weapons. But there is no consensus on this issue or the issue of weapons in outer space. Therefore, it would be overoptimistic to expect talks on the Russian-Chinese initiative to start soon. There is no evidence indicating that the United States and those of its allies who have taken a softer stance will change their positions.

As for discussions, they are possible and are underway, including at the Conference on Disarmament (CD), where issue-related debates are held in the absence of negotiations. These discussions are underway. We have also raised this issue at the UN Disarmament Commission. Yes, discussions are underway.

Unfortunately, the outlook is not positive because of the absence of consensus. But this is also true about nearly all disarmament issues, which are on the CD's discussion agenda. We are willing to take part in active debates, including criticism that would improve our draft of the treaty.

Question: Speaking of which, there have been suggestions to even close the Conference on Disarmament because it doesn't really do anything. What do they think about this in Moscow?

Mikhail Ulyanov: It doesn't take much to break something. And they do it pretty easily. We have our own experience in history. The problem is you have to build something new in its place.

It is true, the Conference on Disarmament is stalled, which is disappointing and often frustrating. It has been suggested that the discussion of certain issues be taken over by other international forums. We are against that. First of all, because the Conference on Disarmament is a one of a kind group. According to its mandate, it can deal with basically any disarmament issue or even a number of them. Most importantly, the major parties are represented in the commission, I mean the countries that all have the most substantial military arsenal. The commission follows the consensus rule, which guarantees balanced and sensible decisions.

We are not ready to take some issues outside the conference. We think it would be damaging. This includes space related issues. If we begin talks without the US or Western Europe the significance of the final product will not have great impact I believe. Therefore, we should be patient and not rush to any drastic decisions. If we ruin the conference, what will replace it? So far, there is no better alternative.

Question: Mr Ulyanov, the current situation in Ukraine has already affected many international meetings. Do you plan to discuss the Ukrainian issue at the Conference on Disarmament this time?

Mikhail Ulyanov: The Ukrainian issue was not specifically put on this conference's agenda. However, lately, our Ukrainian counterparts have been trying to use any available international format to raise the problem. They have done this in the past too. Most likely, they'll make another attempt at the upcoming Conference on Disarmament. In this case, we do have something to say. Still, we do not intend to raise the issue ourselves.

Question: In the current difficult geopolitical situation, the focus is on the diplomats who mark their day on February 10. The Russian public has increasingly expressed appreciation for the Russian Foreign Ministry recently. Can you see a different attitude towards Russian diplomats?

Mikhail Ulyanov: Yes, I can see it although I have to admit that sometimes experts and observers criticise us for not being aggressive enough in our foreign policy. In fact, it seems to me that Russia is being quite aggressive. At least this is the case on issues that are my responsibility.

I am glad to hear that, according to the Russian media, a major part of the Russian public shares this opinion.

Question: Do you think it could change the attitude of Russian society towards a diplomatic career? Will this positive opinion draw more young people to the diplomatic service?

Mikhail Ulyanov: You know, we already have a pretty good inflow of young people. They are actually competing for jobs. The number of candidates is substantially higher than current openings. There was a time when there was hardly anyone. But now the situation is different. For example, in my department, we just don't have any openings right now for those who want to work with us.

Question: How do you plan to celebrate Diplomats Day?

Mikhail Ulyanov: The Foreign Ministry usually hosts a reception. I hope to be there.