Russia urges freeze on Star Wars weapons

Russia has called for a moratorium on deploying weapons in outer space as the first step toward a new international agreement it has proposed which would ban space-based weapons or threats of force against spacecraft and satellites.

‘‘Russia invites the world community to start working out a comprehensive agreement on the non-deployment of weapons in outer space and on the non-use of force against space objects,’’ Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov told the United Nations General Assembly in New York.