"We don't want to fight in space but on the other hand we will not permit any other country to lord it over the cosmos," General Vladimir Popovkin was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.

Popovkin, the military's officer responsible for space issues, said that any deployment of weapons in space would have "the most dangerous consequences."

In January, President Vladimir Putin warned that the United States had plans to militarise space.

Popovkin said that Russia and China had already begun work on drafting documents for regulating the issue.

"If a country deploys weapons in space the laws of the arms race are that opposing weapons will appear ... It's necessary to set in law the rules of the game in space," he was quoted by RIA-Novosti news agency as saying.

Besides reflecting concerns about US intentions in space, Popovkin was also speaking amid an ongoing row with Washington over plans to extend US missile defence facilities into central Europe.

Popovkin said that China's shooting down of a satellite in January using a ballistic missile had "forced everyone to think, including our American partners."

Under Putin, Russia has drawn close to China on military matters, while becoming increasingly critical of Washington.

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