CENTRAL NEWS
After Britain’s exit from the EU, it came to the agenda with its harsh statements about the states that are influential in the Middle East region, the United States for example.
The United States and Britain, who accused Russia of firing an anti-satellite space weapon, state that this move, which they consider an abuse of trust, means a dangerous acceleration in the arms race that could have risky consequences for the international community. Western allies have previously accused Kremlin of testing the weapon, but have for the first time claimed that such a weapon was launched into space and is currently in orbit.
Washington and London accuse Russia of resorting to fraud to hide the operation. The two countries claim that this anti-missile weapon was sent from Cosmos 2543, which is allegedly located for research and investigation in space.
The United Kingdom’s Head of Space Administration, Air Major General Harvey Smyth, said:
Such actions threaten the use of space for peaceful purposes, risking the creation of space litter that could pose a danger to satellites and the world’s connected space systems. We urge Russia to refrain from doing such tests again.
US Space Command and US Space Force Space Operations Commander General John W. Raymond, said:
This is new evidence that Russia’s efforts to develop and test space-centric systems continue, but Kremlin also breeches the military doctrines it previously issued to not use weapons that would put the US and it’s allies under threat.
The charges were brought only days after the publication of the Intelligence and Security Committee’s (ISC) long-awaited report on Russia’s influence on British politics, at a time when relations between the UK and Russia were already tense.
During the investigation in question, the conservative prime ministers who came one after the other were accused of not conducting sufficient investigations as to whether the Kremlin had intervened in the Brexit referendum despite years of warnings.
This week, Foreign Minister Dominic Raab also claimed that Russian actors, using a leaked government document on post-Brexit trade talks with the US, were trying to intervene in the UK general election in 2019. The Trump administration cited the U.S.’s creation of its own space force in December last year, using anti-satellite weapons owned by Russia and China as an excuse.
The US administration announced that a summit on mutual space security with Russia was planned days before the Russians launched missiles on July 15.
“This incident emphasizes Russia’s hypocrisy in relation to the control of anti-satellite weapons. It aims to limit the capabilities of the USA while having no intention to stop both the ground-based satellite capacity and the counter-space program that includes orbiting anti-satellite weapons.”
Western security officials note that the move by Russia comes after increased use of satellites for a variety of reasons, including early warning systems for intelligence gathering, communications, navigation and military activities.
For decades, only four countries (Russia, USA, China and India) have exhibited their anti-satellite capabilities. Space is increasingly becoming a new front, while several countries are installing command and control systems for space-centric systems. Russia’s final move is only a drop in the sea of the recent space activities of the Russians.
The US military reported in February that two Russian satellites were maneuvering closer to an American satellite, and in April, Moscow carried out a test launch of a satellite-to-ground missile.
In August 2018, Washington stated concern that a Russian satellite “exhibiting very abnormal behavior” might be a weapon, while Moscow described the accusation as “baseless and slanderous.”
In the past, the satellite movement, which was considered to be a dangerous and threat, only took place in Britain and the USA.
