Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the United States is working to rapidly develop its military capabilities for possible operations in space, and that Washington views space as a possible theater of war.
Putin added during a meeting with the Minister of Defense and a number of officers in the city of Sochi, that his country strongly opposes the militarization of space, but the American moves mean that Russia should continue to develop its space sector, as he put it.
The Russian President stated that the leading countries in the world are developing space systems with military and dual use, and are working to improve their technical characteristics, "as the American military and political leadership consider outer space a theater for military operations."
US President Donald Trump first announced in March 2018 plans to establish space military forces, stressing that the new national defense strategy does not exclude the possibility of conducting combat operations in space.
And last August, Trump announced the launch of a US space-specific military command in the Pentagon, whose mission would be to ensure the threatening US hegemony from China and Russia in this new battlefield.
This new command oversees space, satellites and aircraft with a high level of flight, and will be parallel - for example - to Cintcom, which is responsible for US military operations in the Middle East.