PRESS RELEASE

Russian Federation Council Holds
Special Meeting on Defense of Earth

March 13, 2013 (EIRNS)—The Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's legislature, held a special session on March 12, the birthday of the great Russian-Ukrainian scientist Vladimir Vernadsky, to discuss how to approach the defense of earth from dangerous space objects, such as the meteor which exploded over Chelyabinsk February 14 of this year.

According to a Russian-language wire report from the government news agency RIA-Novosti, the special session featured a round-table discussion involving three ministries of the Russian government, the state-run space agency Roskosmos, and top experts from institutions such as the Russian Academy of Sciences.

As was emphasized in the comments by Vladimir Popovkin, director of Roskosmos, and Russian Minister for Emergency Situations Vladimir Puchkov, the Russians are clear that any successful defense of earth is a mission requiring international cooperation. Minister Puchkov declared that it made sense "to form an international space taskforce which includes orbital space satellites with special equipment." Nations must pool their efforts if they are to be able to forecast space threats, and act in time.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who first launched the proposal for international cooperation on the "Strategic Defense of Earth" back in 2011, said that no country in the world has the means for blocking the impact of an asteroid, and therefore, international cooperation is essential.

It remains for the world's leading space power, the United States, to respond appropriately—and positively—to the series of Russian proposals.