Russia has launched a spacecraft into Earth orbit that can be used to destroy satellites.
Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told ABC News that the Russian spacecraft is in the same orbit as a US government satellite.
"On 16 May, Russia launched a satellite into low Earth orbit that we believe is most likely an anti-space weapon, possibly capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit," Ryder explained.
On 17 May, at midnight, RIA Novosti reported that a Soyuz 2.1b rocket with spacecraft on board was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome (Arkhangelsk region) "in favour of the Russian Ministry of Defence". It was not specified what kind of spacecraft it was.
Vitaly Yegorov, a space populariser, told The Insider that Roscosmos has the technical capability to create a vehicle capable of attacking other satellites.
"There is a possibility of launching such a vehicle, and the goal may be intimidation. It is also important that the target satellite is also able to manoeuvre and avoid being chased, while consuming fuel. It turns out that no one is attacking the satellite, but its service life is reduced.
According to existing international agreements on outer space, everything launched by a country belongs to that country. An attack on someone else's satellite could be equated to military aggression. No one knows what the consequences will be, and no one has ever done this before. There have been tests in which spacecraft were shot down, but only our own."
Background. In February, a report was presented to the US Congress, which stated that Russia was going to launch nuclear weapons into space. The New York Times wrote that, according to US intelligence agencies, Russia is developing a new type of space weapon that could threaten thousands of communications satellites.
Meanwhile, the WSJ wrote that Russia had launched a nuclear satellite into space before the invasion of Ukraine, which would give Moscow the ability to destroy hundreds of satellites in low orbit with a nuclear explosion.