Moscow believes Washington’s deployment of an orbital weapons system is taking the world in the wrong direction
Weapons should not be deployed in space, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said, responding to the Pentagon’s announcement that the US has placed a weapons system in orbit.
US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink disclosed the deployment on Monday, saying the US Space Force “now has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversary action,” without providing details about the system. Media reports have suggested that it is intended to disable or destroy hostile satellites.
“We believe that space should be free from any weapons. And certainly we count on broad international consolidation… to continue efforts for the full demilitarization of space,” Peskov told journalists on Tuesday during a regular briefing.
The Pentagon has a long history of using orbital systems for military purposes, specifically intelligence gathering, navigation and communications. Some US military concepts, however, have also envisioned systems potentially capable of conducting strikes from space. During the Cold War, for example, the Soviet Union viewed the Space Shuttle as a potential platform for delivering a rapid nuclear strike.
Countries regarded by Washington as strategic rivals, including Russia and China, have reportedly developed anti-satellite capabilities that could deny the US the advantage in space during a direct conflict. The use of such weapons, however, could produce significant unintended consequences.
The so-called Kessler effect describes a scenario in which collisions generate increasing amounts of orbital debris, triggering further collisions and potentially making low Earth orbits unusable for an extended period.
Russia has long called for stronger international agreements restricting the military use of space. While the Outer Space Treaty prohibits the deployment of weapons of mass destruction in orbit, Moscow has argued that conventional weapons should also be banned.
In June, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that his country was developing a space-based anti-satellite laser system and aimed to become “the leading country in the world with this capability.”
