Russia’s Foreign Ministry dismisses U.S. claims about Russian weapons testing in space

In a statement on its website, Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has dismissed claims from the United States Space Command about Russia testing weapons in space as “part of an information campaign to discredit” the country’s space-related activities and efforts to prevent an arms race in space.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the United States is “trying to present the situation in a distorted manner,” in order to draw attention “away from real threats in space.” Russia’s Foreign Ministry doesn’t specify what kind of threats. 

The Foreign Ministry also maintains that the Russian satellite tests the U.S. referred to posed no threat to other spacecrafts and “did not violate any norms and principles of international law.”

According to the U.S. Space Command, “on July 15, Russia injected a new object into orbit from [the satellite] Cosmos 25443.” The statement from the U.S. didn’t include any details about the object in question or the purpose of sending it into orbit. 

In both 2018 and 2020, the U.S. State Department has claimed that the behavior of some satellites in orbit didn’t match their stated objectives. In April 2020, the U.S. Space Command reported that Russia had tested an anti-satellite missile capable of destroying satellites in low Earth orbit.