Russia

Russia has participated in all Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) meetings on autonomous weapons systems since 2014. It also participated in the 2013 United Nations Human Rights Council meeting on autonomous weapons systems, stating at that time that ‘in our view, in future, such machines could also significantly undermine the ability of the international legal system to maintain minimum legal order.’^[1]Stop Killer Robots (2013), Report on outreach on the UN report on ‘lethal autonomous robotics’, https://www.stopkillerrobots.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/KRC_ReportHeynsUN_Jul2013.pdf

Russia does not support the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems. At the 77th UN General Assembly First Committee meeting in October 2022, Russia said that ‘we believe that the norms of international law, including international humanitarian law, are sufficient and fully applicable to these weapons systems.'^[2]Statement by Russia, 77th UN General Assembly First Committee, 20 October 2022, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com22/statements/20Oct_Russia.pdf At the second session of the 2021 meeting of the GGE on LAWS, Russia stated that ‘International law, including IHL, fully applies to LAWS and does not need any modernisation or adaptation due to the specific features of such weapons systems.’^[3]Statement by Russia, CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, 27 September 2021, http://149.202.215.129:8080/s2t/UNOG/LAWS-27-09-2021-PM_mp3_en.html; please note that this link leads to the full … Continue reading

At the Sixth Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in December 2021, Russia said that it is ‘against the elaboration of any legally binding instrument’ on autonomous weapons systems, as well as being against ‘a position of a moratorium on the development and use of such systems, and as well as the technologies used for making these systems.’^[4]Statement by Russia, Sixth Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, 14 December 2021, http://149.202.215.129:8080/s2t/UNOG/RCHCP6-14-12-2021-PM_mp3_en.html; please note … Continue reading

At the 2021 meeting of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (GGE on LAWS), Russia stated that ‘a ban or limitation on the possibility of developing these systems could have a negative influence on the development of high technology in the civilian sphere, and also on the achievement of the aims of societal security.’^[5]Statement by Russia, CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, 24 September 2021, http://149.202.215.129:8080/s2t/UNOG/LAWS-24-09-2021-AM_mp3_en.html; please note that this link leads to the full … Continue reading

Russia is involved in the development, testing, and use of weapons systems with autonomous functions.^[6]See, for example, PAX (2019), State of AI: Artificial Intelligence, the military, and increasingly autonomous weapons, … Continue reading