Russia is developing an anti-satellite weapon, the White House declared Thursday, February 15, estimating that it does not represent "an immediate threat."
The day before, the head of the Intelligence Committee of the House of Representatives had caused trouble in Washington by publicly inviting his peers in Congress to review "information relating to a serious threat to national security", without further details. American media assured that Russia intended to place a nuclear weapon in space against satellites.
Lifting the veil on this mysterious affair, the spokesperson for the National Security Council at the White House confirmed to journalists that it was “linked to an anti-satellite capability developed by Russia”. However, he refused to specify whether it had a nuclear dimension or not.
It was not "deployed," John Kirby said, adding: "While this Russian activity is concerning, there is no immediate threat to anyone's security."
“We are not talking about a weapon that can be used to attack human beings or cause destruction on Earth,” John Kirby said.
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But it could threaten astronauts traveling in low Earth orbit or even damage military or civilian satellites, he said, assuring that the United States is “monitoring the situation closely” and will continue “to take it very seriously” .
The White House mobilized on the subject
President Joe Biden was informed of the threat and ordered officials to contact Moscow on the matter.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan also went to Congress on Thursday to brief a group of eight elected officials with access to the most sensitive American intelligence.
Traveling to Tirana before going to the Munich Security Conference, the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken clarified Thursday that the United States was discussing this threat with its allies.
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty, to which the United States and Russia are parties, prohibits the deployment of nuclear weapons in space.
A “maneuver” denounced by Moscow
After the cryptic statement on Wednesday from the head of the Intelligence Committee of the House of Representatives, Mike Turner, which fueled speculation in Washington, Moscow described the information coming from the United States as “malicious” and “baseless”.
For the Kremlin, it is "obvious" that this is a maneuver by the American executive to force through an aid package for Ukraine, blocked for months in Congress.
Comments described Thursday as “bullshit” by John Kirby.
The disclosure of this information on Wednesday also angered the White House, with John Kirby declaring that the executive would seek to determine whether the sources and methods of the American intelligence services had been compromised.
The US Senate, with a Democratic majority, approved on Tuesday a new package including $60 billion for Kiev, which is desperately demanding help from its Western allies in its war against Russia, but the Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, refuses any vote on the project.
He aligns himself with the line of Donald Trump, who demands that tougher immigration legislation be approved before any new financial aid to Ukraine.
Another package on aid to Ukraine with funds for Israel and a section on immigration had been rejected earlier by the Senate, with conservative elected officials ensuring that it was not firm enough.
With AFP
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