The Reuters news agency, citing sources in the US Congress, reports that Russia is developing space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapons. However, they say that it does not pose a threat to the security of the state.
Russia’s nuclear weapons in space
On Wednesday, February 14, the Reuters news agency, citing its own sources in the US Congress, reported that representatives of American intelligence had made a report on Russia’s ability to deploy nuclear weapons in space. According to them, these attempts do not pose a serious threat to national security.
The intelligence data became known after Mike Turner, Republican chair of the U.S. House of Representatives intelligence committee, made a disturbing and very mysterious statement on Wednesday. He claimed the Russian Federation was developing an anti-satellite nuclear weapon, which it planned to place in orbit. And the American government has some secret information about this that needs to be made public urgently.
At the same time, several sources immediately confirmed that the problem is serious, but it does not pose a big threat. However, Congress needs to know the real state of affairs to know what measures to take.
What has Russia launched?
The White House administration is in no hurry to make any statements about this, considering that this topic is very sensitive, and it should be approached carefully. The US president’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said that they had previously scheduled a briefing on this topic in Congress for Thursday, so he was very surprised that Turner made his statement.
But it seems that Turner’s statement did have an impact on the situation. Senators Mark Warner and Marco Rubio, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee from the Democratic Party and his Republican deputy, released a joint statement saying that Russia’s presence of new satellite weapons was confirmed by intelligence a few weeks ago. According to them, this is very important information, but it is not urgent.
It is not known exactly what the aggressor country has or may have in orbit. However, all sources agree that it does not pose a threat to targets on earth, but it deserves attention. According to PBS reports, we are talking about a satellite already launched by Russia, which has a nuclear power source and is equipped with powerful electronic warfare equipment. If so, the threat is that it can disable quite a few American military satellites.
Connection with Ukraine
All this situation is not directly related to Ukraine, but it may well affect some important decisions for us. Turner is one of those Republicans who still advocate continued support for Ukraine. He recently returned from Kyiv, and now he is trying in every possible way to overcome the isolationist tendencies in his own party.
And the upper house of Congress has just voted for a new package of support for Ukraine, and now the House of Representatives should consider it. In this situation, the news about Russia’s deployment of anti-satellite weapons in orbit may be exactly the point that will encourage parliamentarians to vote for it.
It’s really dangerous enough to make you forget all peaceful plans for Russia, but not too scary. Therefore, the money intended for Ukraine will not be used to strengthen the American anti-satellite defense.
According to www.reuters.com, www.pbs.org
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