WNAM MONTORING: President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia was against the deployment of nuclear weapons in space, and his defence minister flatly denied U.S. claims that Russia was developing a nuclear capability for space.
Washington believes Moscow is developing a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon whose detonation could disrupt everything from military communications to phone-based ride services.
“Our position is clear and transparent: We have always been categorically against and are now against the deployment of nuclear weapons in space,” Putin told Sergei Shoigu, his defence minister.
“We urge not only compliance with all agreements that exist in this area, but also offered to strengthen this joint work many times,” Putin said.
He added that Russia’s activities in space did not differ from those of other countries, including the United States.
The clearest public sign that Washington thinks Moscow is working on a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon was a White House spokesperson’s comment on Thursday that the system being developed would violate the Outer Space Treaty.
The 1967 treaty bars signatories – including Russia and the United States – from placing “in orbit around the earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction.”
The New York Times has reported that the U.S. intelligence was related to Russia’s attempts to develop a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon.
