MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Tuesday it had successfully conducted a weapons test targeting an old Russian satellite and denied allegations by the United States, Britain and NATO that the test had been dangerous for orbiting spacecraft.
U.S. officials said Monday’s test had generated a debris field in low-Earth orbit that endangered the International Space Station (ISS) and that would pose a hazard to space activities for years.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the test was reckless, posed a threat to the ISS and an orbiting Chinese spacecraft, and showed Russia was developing new weapons systems. A British government spokesperson condemned the test and urged Moscow to join discussions at the United Nations on “responsible behaviour when it comes to space.”
Russia’s Defence Ministry said the debris from the test had not posed a threat to the ISS, and that Washington knew this.
“The Russian Ministry of Defence successfully conducted a test on Nov. 15 that hit the non-operational Russian spacecraft Tselina-D, which had been in orbit since 1982,” it said in a statement.
It said the United States, China and India had conducted similar tests in the past.
Russia, it said, was being forced to beef up its defence capabilities because of what it said were weapons tests by the United States and Washington establishing a space force in 2020.
Moscow said it had called for years for an agreement to stop weapons being deployed in space, but that Washington and its allies had blocked the deal at the United Nations.
Officials from the U.S. space agency NASA will seek to discuss anti-satellite weapon testing on Wednesday during a trip to Moscow, Russia’s RIA news agency cited NASA’s head as saying on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Polina Devitt in Moscow, Sabine Siebold and Robin Emmott in Brussels, Idrees Ali and Steve Gorman in Washington, and Kate Holton in London; writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Catherine Evans and Timothy Heritage)
