Russia on Wednesday said it was alarmed by United States President Donald Trump’s call for the Washington to dominate space exploration and his directive to the US military to create a “space force”, AFP reported.

Russia “noted the US president’s instructions...to separate space forces from the air force”, foreign ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said, adding that “the most alarming thing about this news is the aim of his instructions, namely to ensure [US] domination in space”.

US military build-up in space will have a destablising effect on strategic stability and international security, the TASS news agency quoted her as saying.

She said Russia had a fundamentally different position on the matter “and attaches priority to using and exploring space exclusively for peaceful purposes”. She claimed that the government of Vladimir Putin had put forward a number of initiatives over the years to prevent an arms race in space. “We are determined to push ahead with proactive work along these lines geared to obtaining specific results,” she added.

In his speech on Monday, Trump claimed that national pride was at stake, and that the United States must always stay ahead in space.