Tensions between Russia and the US rise again due to accusations of an alleged space nuclear weapon

The president Russian, Vladimir PutinOn Tuesday, he denied US accusations that his government planned to deploy nuclear weapons in outer space and assured that his country had only managed to develop capabilities similar to those of the North American country.

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“Our position is quite clear and transparent: we have always categorically opposed, and continue to do so, the deployment of nuclear weapons in space.,” Putin said. “On the contrary, we urge everyone to comply with all existing agreements on the subject”.

The Kremlin leader’s statements come less than a week after the White House confirmed that US intelligence services suspect that Moscow plans to deploy a nuclear weapon in outer space, although they acknowledged that these reports were preliminary and there was no clarity on whether it was a nuclear-charged device, or rather, powered by nuclear energy.

On Wednesday, February 14, Republican Congressman Michael R. Turner, chairman of the Intelligence Committee of the United States House of Representatives, reported that the aforementioned working group had voted the day before in favor of declassifying a series of intelligence service reports. that all members of Congress can see, as they were “a serious threat to national security”.

In a subsequent letter, Democrat Jim Himes, who sits on the same committee, joined Turner in stating that “identified an urgent issue regarding a destabilizing foreign military capability that should be known to all policymakers in Congress,” as reported by The Washington Post.

The following day, the White House confirmed that the report Turner was talking about existed, but tried to calm the population by assuring that it would be a system still in development, that it would not pose a danger to humans, but that, however, the Biden administration took it “very seriously”.

Both National Security Council spokesman John Kirby and Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder were unhappy with Turner’s decision to make public the existence of the aforementioned “classified information” about which they refused to provide further details.

“The United States government was not very happy with the leak of this information, mainly because the intelligence services do not seem to be in full agreement with each other about the report. There are suspicions about the alleged weapon, but it is not certain if this is the case. The truth is that so far there are only elements that would make us suspicious in this regard. However, as the information was leaked, the White House was forced to report it. Normally this would not be information that would have been revealed because it is very preliminary.“, he comments The trade international analyst Francisco Belaúnde-Matossian.

Republican Congressman Michael R. Turner, chairman of the United States House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, put the issue on the table last week. (ANDREW HARRER/)

The topic, without a doubt, has generated concern in several American sectors, as well as in its allies. Especially since the development or use of such a weapon would mean that Russia would be violating the Outer Space Treaty signed in 1967, which limits the ability of nations to deploy any type of weaponry in outer space.

The truth is that in recent years, as relations between the two have plummeted, both the United States and Russia have renounced a series of multilateral treaties signed at the time as supposed guarantees of peace.

“Although they have renounced other agreements, the Russians have stated that they are complying with this treaty and are asking for it to be strengthened. But it’s true that what Russia says doesn’t have much value because it denied so many things that turned out to be true, like the invasion of Ukraine. Therefore, everything the Russian Government may say must be taken with caution.”, says Belaúnde Matossian.

What little is known so far about the alleged Russian weapon would point to a device that would be used to attack the satellite system, which would harm – among other things – early detection radars and anti-missile defenses.

“After that, the question is whether the Russians will launch something like this or will they use some bait to increase doubt in the West. On the US side, they are seeing whether Russia is developing more and more nuclear weapons, the Russians want to modernize their weapons, they have a new plane with greater nuclear weapons capacity, they are looking at a new missile. And a few months ago it was revealed that they could eventually conduct an underground nuclear test”, comments the analyst.

In an article published in “The Conversation”, Spenser A. Warren, PhD in Technology and International Security from the University of California – San Diego, explained that these weapons would be capable of damaging satellites through gamma radiation waves created by a nuclear detonation.

The alleged Russian weapon would be capable of affecting satellite systems through gamma radiation waves produced by nuclear explosions.

“The Kremlin’s interest in space weapons could be an attempt to reduce the United States’ ability to wage war, threaten nuclear command, control and communications systems or protect against space-based missile defenses. Another possibility is that the Russian defense industry promotes its development for profit.”, Warren points out in his text.

The expert also warns that if such a deployment were to occur, it would essentially break the so-called strategic stability, which, as he explains, consists of the combination of stability in the face of crises, based on the risk of nuclear escalation during a military crisis, and stability in the face of the arms race.

“Space-based nuclear weapons increase the risk that a country will resort to nuclear weapons during a crisis“, states the expert, before warning that this could lead to a new arms race to which countries such as China, India or Pakistan, with increasingly ambitious space programs, would soon join.

“With the treaties no longer in force, even Russia could exceed the approximately 5,000 atomic bombs it had initially agreed with the United States not to exceed. The additional element of the Cold War this time is China, because the Chinese are now looking to expand their own nuclear arsenal, obviously they are still far behind those two countries, but it is still an additional actor”, comments Belaúnde Matossian.

Source: Elcomercio