The US and UK have accused Russia of testing an anti-satellite weapon in space. (Representative)
Moscow:
Russia on Friday dismissed accusations by the United States and Britain that it had tested an anti-satellite weapon in space as “propaganda.”
Moscow responded after US Space Command on Thursday accused Russia of testing an anti-satellite weapon in space and warned that the threat to US systems was “real, serious and growing.”
Britain’s chief space officer, Air Vice-Marshal Harvey Smyth, also responded by tweeting that “such actions threaten the peaceful use of space.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry insisted on “Moscow’s commitment to obligations relating to the non-discriminatory use and study of outer space for peaceful purposes.”
“We call on our American and British colleagues to be professional and instead of some propaganda information attacks, to sit down for discussions,” the ministry said in a statement.
The United States said Russia had conducted a “non-destructive test of a space anti-satellite weapon”.
“Clearly this is unacceptable,” tweeted US nuclear disarmament negotiator Marshall Billingslea, adding that it would be a “major issue” discussed next week in Vienna, where he is in talks on a successor to the new treaty. START.
The treaty caps the nuclear warheads of the United States and Russia – the two Cold War-era superpowers.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said tests carried out by the country’s Defense Ministry on July 15 “did not create a threat to other space equipment and, most importantly, did not violate any standards or principles of the international law”.
He in turn accused the United States and Britain of measures aimed at developing anti-satellite weapons.
‘Satellite inspector’
The United States and Britain “understandably remain silent about their own efforts,” he said, saying countries had “programs on the possible use of” inspection satellites “and” repair of satellites “as counter-satellite weapons”.
Commenting on the charges earlier on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia supported “the complete demilitarization of space and not base any kind of weapons in space.”
The US Space Command said the test consisted of a Russian satellite called Cosmos 2543 injecting an object into orbit.
Russian state media reported in December that a satellite called Cosmos-2542, launched in November 2019 by the Russian military, ejected another smaller satellite once into space.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the satellite inspector was supposed to “monitor the condition of Russian satellites”, but the state-run Rossiiskaya Gazeta said it could also “get information from someone’s satellites. another “.
The system is the same one that Space Command raised concerns about earlier this year, when it maneuvered near a US government satellite, said General Jay Raymond, head of US Space Command.
“This is further evidence of Russia’s continued efforts to develop and test space systems, and in line with military doctrine issued by the Kremlin to use weapons that endanger US and Allied space resources,” Raymond said. in a press release.
This is the latest example of Russian satellites behaving in a manner “incompatible with their stated mission,” the Space Command statement added.
“This event highlights Russia’s hypocritical plea for arms control in outer space,” said Christopher Ford, US Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control.
The statement also came as China launched a rover to Mars on Thursday, a trip to coincide with a similar US mission as the powers take their rivalry into deep space.
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
