Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed that the United States was 'blocking' agreements to rule out a space arms race, despite backing for such a deal from African countries and others, while speaking at a press conference following talks with Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar in Moscow on Wednesday.

"[A decision has been taken] to prevent the deployment of the arms race in outer space. We have been supporting it for many years. All African countries support it. But in practice, the Americans are blocking agreements on the non-proliferation of the arms race to outer space at the UN. They prefer to blame it on us, and express suspicions against us," Lavrov stated.

Washington has not responded to the claims. However, the US recently claimed Moscow 'was developing weapons with 'an anti-satellite capability', with Western media outlets suggesting they could have a nuclear component - which President Vladimir Putin called 'nothing but smoke and mirrors' designed to drag the country into negotiations on Washington's own terms.

During the briefing in Moscow, the Russian foreign minister also expressed gratitude to his Nigerian counterpart for taking a 'balanced' approach to the conflict in Ukraine at the UN.

For his part, Yusuf Tuggar said their two nations 'share the same feelings because we have very many similarities' at both a 'regional and global' level.

"ECOWAS (The Economic Community of West African States) and Russia have always been very strong in terms of their relations and Russia has always supported ECOWAS and this is something that we have reaffirmed. Nigeria is presently the chair of ECOWAS, so that collaboration in terms of the fight against the terrorism, in terms of security, in terms of trade will continue," the Nigerian foreign minister added.

In addition, Tuggar noted that the Nigerian President Bola Tinubu planned to visit Moscow in the near future.