The US Department of Defence claimed on Tuesday that enemy-country Russia has launched a satellite – a potential weapon capable of inspecting and attacking other satellites.
On May 16 , Russia launched a Soyuz launch vehicle, carrying at least 9 satellites with a mix of civilian and military payloads, from Plesetsk launch site, 800 km north of Moscow. The blast deployed those 9 satellites into Earth’s lower orbit, including the feared COSMOS 2576, a type of Russian military ‘inspector’ spacecraft.
“We have observed nominal activity and assess it is likely a counterspace weapon presumably capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit,” a spokesperson for the US Department of Defense, said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Russia deployed this new counterspace weapon into the same orbit as a US government satellite,” it said.
Although it was found that COSMOS 2576 had not gone near a US satellite, space analysts observed it to be in the same orbital ring as USA 314, a bus-sized NRO satellite launched in 2021.
Russia denied the accusations
Russia’s defence ministry said the launch had a spacecraft on board, but gave no details what it was for. “I don’t think we should respond to any fake news from Washington,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
“The Americans can say whatever they want but our policy does not change from this,” said Ryabkov, adding that Moscow had “always consistently opposed the deployment of strike weapons in low-Earth orbit”. A point to note is that Russia never precisely disclosed what sort of spacecraft was launched from the Plestsek site on Thursday, May 16.
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International ban against launching weapon in space
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty prohibits all activities in outer space which violate international laws. However, it would not ban the use of weapons from or against space-based assets if the use in question was lawful under jus ad bellum exceptions to the use of force prohibition, such as action pursuant to Security Council mandate and self defense and otherwise comported with international humanitarian law.
In context to the recent allegations, Dimitry Peskov asserted that Russia’s actions lie in complete accord with international law. “We are not violating anything. We have repeatedly advocated a ban on the deployment of any weapons into space. Unfortunately, our initiatives were rejected, including by the United States,” Peskov told reporters.
