Translated material
Moscow may withdraw from the outer space treaty, which will provoke an unprecedented nuclear arms race in space
The statement made yesterday in the US Congress about the emergence of a “serious threat to the national security” of the country may be connected with Moscow’s plans to withdraw from the treaty banning the placement of weapons in space, writes The New York Times. Together with the termination of the strategic offensive arms treaty, this could provoke an arms race unprecedented since the Cold War, the publication adds. However, the Kremlin is confident that the statement was made only with the aim of achieving the allocation of assistance to Ukraine.
Details . Details continued to emerge Thursday about what may be behind the cryptic statement from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Republican Mike Turner. The day before, he issued a statement in which he warned of a “serious threat to national security” and demanded that US President Joe Biden “declassify all information.” Later, American publications, citing their sources, reported that the statement may be related to Russian nuclear weapons in space. Some publications clarify that these weapons are not yet in space.
- The United States informed Congress and its allies in Europe about Russia's achievements in creating new space-based nuclear weapons that pose a threat to American satellites, the NYT also writes. This weapon is capable of destroying civilian communications and conducting surveillance from space, while the United States does not have the ability to resist it, one of the newspaper’s interlocutors noted.
- Deploying such weapons would violate a treaty signed in 1967 banning the deployment of any weapons of mass destruction in space. Therefore, the newspaper's sources say that new intelligence may indicate that Russia is preparing to withdraw from the agreement.
- According to the newspaper, if Russia withdraws from the treaty and does not extend the Strategic Arms Arms Treaty (START), which limits nuclear weapons, in 2026, this could provoke a new arms race. Ending the Outer Space Treaty could encourage other countries to put nuclear weapons in space, said Steven Andreasen, a nuclear energy expert at the Minneapolis Humphrey School of Public Affairs.
- Turner's call for Joe Biden to declassify all information about a "serious threat to national security" has infuriated White House officials, who fear the loss of sources in Russia, writes NYT. According to some of the newspaper's interlocutors, Turner could have done this to force the House of Representatives to pass a bill that would allocate $60 billion to Ukraine.
- Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov called information about the threat an attempt by the White House “to encourage Congress to vote for a bill to allocate money to Ukraine.”
Context . a treaty banning the placement of weapons of mass destruction in space The USA, USSR and Great Britain signed in 1967. it . joined 114 states