The US has reportedly warned its allies that Russia is planning to deploy a nuclear weapon or a mock warhead into space sometime this year, Bloomberg claimed on Tuesday, citing anonymous sources.
US media reported last week that American intelligence had obtained information that Russia may already have deployed undisclosed anti-satellite weapons, possibly including nuclear weapons, to Earth’s orbit, or that it is planning to do so.
Moscow has firmly denied the allegations, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has suggested they are simply a ploy to convince US lawmakers to approve further military aid to Ukraine.
In Bloomberg’s article on Tuesday, sources claimed that Russia is indeed developing space-based weapons intended to knock out satellites. They alleged that Moscow does not currently appear to have plans to actually detonate orbital weapons, but argued there is the risk of a nuclear accident that could disrupt a third of all satellites in orbit and wreak havoc on global communications systems.
Speaking on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted that Moscow’s position “is clear and transparent: We have always been categorically against the deployment of nuclear weapons in space.” Russia has not only called on the likes of the US to uphold treaties against the weaponization of space, but has also repeatedly insisted on strengthening them, he added.
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu also stressed that Moscow “has not deployed and does not intend to deploy nuclear weapons in space.”
White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby has dismissed claims that the US warning is a “ploy” to raise money for Ukraine, describing them as “bollocks” and declaring that Washington’s concerns are genuine.
According to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, originally signed by the US, the Soviet Union, and the UK, the deployment of any type of nuclear weapon in orbit is strictly prohibited. The accord has also been signed by more than 100 other countries.