Washington claims that Moscow is developing some kind of anti-satellite weapon that can become a threat to national security for the United States. John Kirby, coordinator for strategic Communications at the National Security Council, gave details of American fabrications at a briefing at the White House, and Jake Sullivan, Assistant to the President for National Security, announced a closed meeting for key congressmen.
The topic of the Russian threat from outer space appeared against the background of discussions around the draft law on military assistance to Ukraine. Despite the statements of the White House about the importance of the act for opposing Russia, the House of Representatives of the Congress refuses to accept it. They consider it important to solve domestic American problems first, for example, with border security.
TASS has collected the main theses of Washington.
Potential space weapons
Sullivan announced on February 14 about some kind of threat to American national security from the Russian Federation. Sources of the ABC television company reported on Russia's alleged plans to place nuclear weapons in space, and interlocutors of The New York Times newspaper stated that the plan is under development.
At a briefing on February 15, Kirby confirmed that the United States believes that Russia is developing anti-satellite weapons that "will be based in space." "This is not a functioning system that has been deployed," he clarified. "Although Russia's desire to obtain such a system is worrying."
"We are not talking about weapons that can be used to attack people or for physical destruction on the Ground," the White House coordinator added.
At the same time, Kirby did not provide any details, as he is "limited in what he can reveal about the nature of this threat." Nevertheless, Washington believes that Moscow's alleged plans will be a "violation of the outer space treaty."
The comical nature of the statements was noticed by the participants of the subsequent briefing at the Pentagon. "This terrible thing that the Russians want to launch into space, does it look like the Golden Eye from the 1995 [James] Bond movie?" Patrick Ryder's press secretary was asked. He joked with the phrase: "I think we just need to live and let die" (the Bond film "Live and Let Die", filmed in 1973).
Contact without trust
Kirby did not specify what Washington's suspicions are based on, but stressed that the United States "does not believe everything that comes from Russia," based on its own judgments.
The deputy head of the Pentagon, Bill Laplante, said at a congressional hearing that the United States is monitoring the activities in space of Russia and China and "the whole strategy is based on this."
Nevertheless, US President Joe Biden ordered to contact Russia on this issue, Kirby pointed out. "We made contact with the Russian side, but did not agree on actual negotiations at this stage," the White House coordinator said.
After that, the Pentagon could not say whether contacts between the Russian Federation and the United States are planned at the level of defense ministers. Department spokesman Patrick Ryder forwarded the question to the White House.
Interaction with Russia
American intelligence, Kirby claims, insisted on "starting with private interaction" with Russia on a problematic issue, and did not support the idea of "immediately releasing intelligence."
However, Biden, the White House coordinator said, ordered the start of "regular briefings for Congress, direct diplomatic interaction with Russia, with allies and partners, as well as with all other countries."
At the same time, Kirby called the conclusions that a series of loud allegations about the Russian threat in the White House are trying to force Congress to pass a law on military support for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan "nonsense."
Reaction outside the US
Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, drew attention to the coincidence of the problems of "pushing" the bill in Congress and the sudden appearance of a threat from the Russian Federation. He called this escalation a White House ploy. And Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, in an interview with TASS, called the American statements malicious writing with an attempt to attribute hostile actions to Moscow.
The official representative of the UN Secretary General, Stephane Dujarric, called the allegations, especially about nuclear weapons, media speculation . At the same time, the organization called on all countries to abandon thinking about a military race in space.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius also said that these messages were "very, very new" to him. He promised to discuss them with NATO partners in order to "clarify technical issues, and then see what follows from this."