MOSCOW. Aug 16 (Interfax) - Russia is ready to back the proposal of France and Germany to adopt a UN political declaration on the importance of retaining human control over autonomous arms systems, the newspaper Kommersant said on Thursday.
"More than 80 countries and international organizations will discuss the initiative in Geneva in late August. Sources in the Russian Foreign Ministry have told the newspaper that Moscow is strongly against legally binding restrictions in this area, considering the lack of full-fledged artificial intelligence," Kommersant said.
The Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) will meet in Geneva on August 27-31 under the aegis of the United Nations. A number of countries, such as Austria, Argentina, Brazil, and The Vatican, have proposed a ban on the LAWS. In all, the ban has gained support of 26 countries, the newspaper said.
"Five to ten years from now the world may see killer robots that will independently select and attack their targets on the battlefield. This is why, the ban on fully autonomous lethal weapon systems has been proposed: the initiators insist that a legally binding international treaty be adopted to require that countries ensure proper human control over machines," Kommersant said.
Stop Killer Robots global campaign coordinator Mary Wareham told Kommersant that proper control implied the ability of an operator to intervene in the selection of the target and the attack.
"Yet many countries are skeptical about the idea of banning such systems. Russia is one of them. Its delegation (comprising representatives of the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry, and the Industry and Trade Ministry) is preparing to visit Geneva but is not ready to discuss significant reductions or a full ban on the LAWS and therefore objects to vesting the GGE with the negotiating mandate," the newspaper said.
Sources in the Russian Foreign Ministry explained the "cautious" attitude with "a number of circumstances."
"First of all, we should remember that no such machines exist at the moment. The idea of such systems is rather perfunctory and theoretical. There is a problem even with defining the term LAWS," the sources said.
Secondly, the Russian Foreign Ministry indicated "difficulties with the clear distinction between civilian and military autonomous systems." Thirdly, it "has serious doubts about the insufficiency of the existent international LAWS regulations claimed by radically-minded countries and non-governmental organizations," the newspaper said.
"To our mind, international law (including humanitarian regulations) is fully applicable to the LAWS and does not require modernization or adjustment to existent weapon systems. Russia strictly complies with the norms of international humanitarian laws regarding this type of future armaments. Russia's national laws prevent weapons, which contravene its international legal obligations, from being commissioned," representatives of the Foreign Ministry told Kommersant.
Still, Moscow has no objections to preparing a political declaration on the LAWS within the framework of the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons on condition it will be agreed upon after deliberations at the GGE, Kommersant said.