Earlier this week, the U.S. and the U.K. had accused Russia of testing a weapon-like satellite. Russia recently responded to the 'Russophobia' by saying that the U.K. had "distorted" America's judgment.
In 1967, the Outer Space Treaty was signed by 23 countries, with 110 nations as parties to the international agreement. Russia's defense ministry claimed that the tests they conducted earlier this month did not violate international law.
Furthermore, Moscow claimed that it was using new technology to check on their space equipment. The satellite was not anti-satellite weaponry and did not create a threat to other spacecraft.
Harvey Smyth, the U.K.'s Air Vice Marshal, said, "we are concerned by the manner in which Russia tested one of its satellites by launching a projectile with the characteristics of a weapon." This was the U.K.'s first accusation about Russia's space activity while the U.S. had been suspicious about the same satellite in 2018 for maneuvering too close to an American satellite.
Shortly after the U.K. released a statement, the U.S. State Department also accused Russia of space weaponry. Russia's satellite, the Kosmos 2543, was what would appear to be actual in-orbit anti-satellite weaponry, as it released a small object within its own orbit.
Russia's Response & Accusations
After the accusations, Russia explained that the satellite was inspecting one of their spacecraft. The non-weapon satellite carried out a check of a Russian spacecraft at close range with the use of specialized small spacecraft apparatus.
The Russian foreign ministry also responded by accusing both countries of "again attempting to present the situation in a distorted manner in order to... justify their steps to deploy weapons in space and achieve funding to that end." They have insisted that their satellite was just investigating the technical condition of one of their spacecraft.
Although Smyth is concerned about the risk of causing debris that could be a threat to other space systems, the bigger concern is Kremlin's military doctrine. General Jay Raymond, the head of U.S. space command, said, "This is further evidence of Russia's continuing efforts to develop and test space-based systems and [is] consistent with the Kremlin's published military doctrine to employ weapons that hold U.S. and allied space assets at risk."
READ: Did Russia Fire a Satellite Weapon in Space? U.S. and U.K. Think So
Space Security
Russia's Interfax news agency had also quoted, "We consider this latest anti-Russian attack as part of an information campaign initiated by Washington focused on discrediting Russian space activities." This comes at a time that the United States has been in the spotlight of numerous space launches and activities during the pandemic.
Due to the delays caused by the pandemic, Russia will not be able to join this year's Mars missions alongside China, the U.A.E., and America. They have postponed their Red Planet missions to 2022 when Earth will be aligned to Mars again.
Next week in Vienna, Russia, and the United States will meet to have bilateral talks regarding space security. America's International Security and Non-proliferation emphasized that outer space is not a lawless and ungoverned territory.
READ MORE: NASA Shares Details on Upcoming Mars Mission
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