Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, said the US has warned allies about the possibility that Russia is planning to deploy nuclear weapons or fake warheads into space this year.
US media reported last week that US intelligence has obtained information that Russia may have deployed new generation anti-satellite weapons, possibly including nuclear weapons, into Earth orbit or that the country is planning to do so.
The US believes Russia could deploy nuclear weapons in space by 2024. (Photo: Getty Images)
Moscow later firmly denied this information, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying it was just a ploy to convince US lawmakers to approve more military aid to Ukraine.
In the Bloomberg article, sources claim that Russia is indeed developing space-based weapons aimed at knocking out Western satellites. However, recent Pentagon reports suggest that Moscow has no plans to actually detonate nuclear weapons in orbit, but that there is a risk of a nuclear accident that could disrupt a third of orbiting satellites and wreak havoc on global communications systems.
Speaking on February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized Moscow's "clear and transparent" stance on deploying nuclear weapons anywhere, including in space.
“We have always been resolutely opposed to the deployment of nuclear weapons in space,” Putin added, adding that Russia has not only called on countries like the United States to maintain treaties against the weaponization of space, but has also repeatedly stressed the need to strengthen these treaties.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu also stressed that Moscow “has not deployed and does not intend to deploy nuclear weapons in space.”
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby dismissed the reports that the US warnings were a “plot” to increase aid to Ukraine, describing them as “absurd” and stating that Washington’s concerns were genuine.
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty, originally signed by the United States, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom, prohibits the deployment of any nuclear weapons in orbit. The treaty has also been signed by more than 100 other countries.
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