Expert: Moon cannot be appropriated by any state under international law

MOSCOW, September 7. /TASS/. Under current international law, the Moon cannot be appropriated by any state, space industry expert Yevgeny Kuznetsov has told TASS.

"The Moon cannot belong to the United States, Russia, China, or any other country," said Kuznetsov, CEO of the venture fund management company Digital Evolution Ventures, created with the participation of Rosatom.

"The Outer Space Treaty explicitly states that outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, use, occupation, or any other means. Therefore, establishing state sovereignty over the Moon or any part of it is impossible under current international law," he said, commenting on US President Donald Trump's post declaring "The Moon is ours."

Kuznetsov went on to say that, states and private operators can, however, create research and technological infrastructure on the Moon, conduct scientific and economic activities, and retain rights to the equipment they deliver or build.

"Ownership of a station, landing module, or other infrastructure does not create ownership of the area of the Moon on which that object is located. A state can also retain jurisdiction and control over a space object it has registered, but this jurisdiction does not extend to the surrounding lunar territory. This is a fundamental distinction," the expert explained.

Kuznetsov noted that as activity on the Moon develops, the issue of delimiting the operating zones of various states and companies will become increasingly pressing.

"In the coming decades, it will indeed be necessary to develop more detailed rules for the extraction and use of lunar resources, the placement of bases, ensuring security, and preventing conflicts between various missions. Temporary security zones around existing infrastructure should also not be transformed into territorial claims. All this is fundamentally different from declaring the Moon or part of it as national territory. Currently, there are no international legal grounds for such a declaration," he concluded.