OAN’s Brooke Mallory
4:39 PM – Thursday, February 15, 2024
The United States’ warning that Russia is developing nuclear weapons in space was written off by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Thursday as a farce meant to scare Congress into giving Ukraine more funding.
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“It is obvious that the White House is trying, by hook or by crook, to encourage Congress to vote on a bill to allocate money; this is obvious,” Peskov said. “We’ll see what tricks the White House will use,” he continued.
The rumors were also denounced as a “malicious fabrication” by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov.
“We have seen these reports. This is part of a trend that has been there for a decade, with the Americans making up malicious stories and ascribing to us some actions and intentions that they don’t like,” Ryabkov told a Russian media outlet.
“In working with them, we keep telling them that groundless allegations of any kind will get no reaction from us. If they make some claims, they should at least provide evidence,” Ryabkov added, referencing the Biden administration.
Like Peksov, Ryabkov declined to go into great detail on the White House claim until he had more information.
“So we’ll see how things will unfold in this regard. So far, we are just monitoring what is being said there, on the matter, that is, the official versions,” he continued.
Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), the head of the House Intelligence Committee, warned of a “serious national security threat” on Wednesday and requested that President Joe Biden declassify any relevant material.
This sparked the report that Ryabkov and Peskov were responding to.
Turner had alluded that Russia was “developing a nuclear-capable weapon that could take down U.S. satellites,” according to U.S. officials who spoke with CBS News.
Yet, according to Russian authorities, there is no proof that Russia has deployed any sort of nuclear weapons in space, even if U.S. officials claim otherwise.
According to a U.S. official who spoke with CBS News, an orbital weapon program could involve “a series of Russian space launches known as Cosmos, many of which carry classified Ministry of Defense payloads.”
“We just want to assure everyone steady hands are at the wheel. We’re working on it, and there’s no need for alarm,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
Turner’s warning was met with skepticism by a number of space and nuclear experts contacted by The Guardian on Wednesday. Nevertheless, Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists said that a credible threat could still be approaching.
“Russia has been conducting several experiments with maneuvering satellites that might be designed to sabotage other satellites,” Kristensen highlighted. “The issue is not so much about an increased nuclear weapons threat, per se, but that it would increase the threat against other countries’ space-based nuclear command and control assets. It would be highly destabilizing,” he concluded.
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