Russia has dismissed a warning by the United States about Moscow’s new anti-satellite capability that could directly threaten the most critical U.S. civil and military infrastructure, calling it a political ruse intended to push U.S. Congress into approving more aid for Ukraine.
“It is obvious that the White House is trying, by hook or by crook, to encourage Congress to vote on a bill to allocate money; this is obvious,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“We’ll see what tricks the White House will use,” he added, without commenting on the substance of the reports until additional details have been unveiled by the White House.
Asked whether Moscow would be ready for contact with the United States on the issue, Mr. Peskov said, “If there are any initiatives from the American side.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, the Kremlin’s point man on arms control, told state news agency TASS that the reports are “malicious stories,” adding that Moscow, for now, is simply monitoring what is being said on this topic.
“We have seen these reports. This is part of a trend that has been there for a decade, with the Americans making up malicious stories and ascribing to us some actions and intentions that they don’t like,” Mr. Ryabkov said.
“In working with them, we keep telling them that groundless allegations of any kind will get no reaction from us,” he continued. “If they make some claims, they should at least provide evidence. So we’ll see how things will unfold in this regard. So far, we are just monitoring what is being said there on the matter, that is, the official versions.”
The two top Kremlin officials were responding to a vague warning by U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio), who issued a cryptic statement on Feb. 14 announcing that the panel had “information concerning a serious national security threat.”
Statement from Chairman @RepMikeTurner: pic.twitter.com/OA9yJuEPlf
— House Intelligence Committee (@HouseIntel) February 14, 2024
On Feb. 15, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said U.S. intelligence obtained information that the threat stemmed from Russia’s pursuit of a new anti-satellite capability, but that there was no immediate threat to the U.S. population.
“This is not an active capability that’s been deployed. … There is no immediate threat to anyone’s safety,” he said, noting he doesn’t believe that declassifying all related intelligence is appropriate and that doing so without first scrubbing that intelligence of some information could risk the “sources and methods” used to initially obtain the intelligence.
He also said that the Kremlin’s new weapon system is not intended to be used against people on the ground, saying the United States has been aware of the development of the capability for “many months, if not a few years.”
Mr. Kirby didn’t clarify if the capability was a nuclear-capable weapon, as was previously reported by some media outlets.
Although the weapon’s components weren’t explained, analysts said that it is more likely to be a nuclear-powered device to blind, jam, or fry the electronics inside satellites than an explosive nuclear warhead.
“That Russia is developing a system powered by a nuclear source … that has electronic warfare capabilities once in orbit is more likely than the theory that Russia is developing a weapon that carries a nuclear explosive warhead,” said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association advocacy group.
Threatening satellites could cause all kinds of havoc: undermining communications, surveillance, intelligence, and command and control around the world, including in the nuclear sphere.
Space Nukes?
Russia’s development of anti-satellite weapons goes back decades; to date, Moscow boasts the world’s most advanced array of such capabilities.
Much of the world’s vital technologies, including GPS and missile warning systems, require satellites to operate, and experts have long warned that both China and Russia are seeking to usurp the United States’ strategic advantage by disrupting space-based infrastructure.
Russia is currently prohibited from deploying weapons of mass destruction into space by the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. It is possible that Russia could voluntarily leave the treaty in the coming years, however, as it has done with numerous other Cold War-era arms agreements.
Moscow has openly suggested that it may consider American commercial satellites assisting Ukraine to be legitimate targets for military strikes.
The war in Ukraine, meanwhile, has triggered the biggest confrontation between the West and Russia since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Both Moscow and Washington have warned of the risk of a conflict between NATO and Russia.
Russia and the United States are the biggest nuclear powers, together holding about 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons. They also both have advanced military satellites orbiting the Earth.
Reuters and Epoch Times reporter Andrew Thornebrooke contributed to this report.