Russia Launches Alleged Space Weapon: What You Need To Know About The US Response

The relationship between U.S. and Russia continues to worsen as Russia pursues its war against Ukraine.

An escalation of this geopolitical rivalry recently rose to Earth’s upper atmosphere. U.S. Department of Defense Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder confirmed on Tuesday that the U.S. identified Russia as recently launching a counterspace weapon.

What Happened: Ryder held a press briefing on Tuesday night, revealing further developments in U.S. monitoring of developments in space warfare.

“Russia launched a satellite into low Earth orbit that we — that we assess is likely a counterspace weapon presumably capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit,” Ryder said.

“Russia deployed this new counterspace weapon into the same orbit as a U.S. government satellite. And so assessments further indicate characteristics resembling previously deployed counter-space payloads from 2019 and 2022.”

Ryder confirmed that the satellite is a threat to the U.S. satellite and stressed that the U.S. will continue to monitor Russian actions.

Why it Matters: Russia denied the Pentagon’s assertions, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters on Wednesday.

“I don’t think that we should respond to any fake news injected by Washington,” said Ryabkov. “We have always spoken consistently against placing attack weapons in near-Earth orbit. It is not accidental that Russia together with a whole number of other states promotes the initiative of not placing weapons in space first.”

The U.N. Security Council rejected a recent Russian resolution to ban space weapons, according to the Associated Press.

The space developments come during greater geopolitical uncertainty for the U.S. elsewhere: China is considering invading U.S.-backed Taiwan and Iran attacked U.S.-backed Israel directly and through other ways.

Also Read: EU Approves $3.5B In Frozen Russian Assets For Ukraine: Janet Yellen Has A Plan To Increase Amount By Over 10X

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