The United States has briefed Congress and its allies in Europe on new intelligence evidence that Russia’s nuclear capabilities could pose an international threat, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.
The new capabilities, linked to Russia’s efforts to develop a space-based weapon, do not pose an immediate threat to the United States, the source said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he would not comment on the substance of the reports until the details are revealed by the White House. But he said Washington’s warning was clearly an effort to get Congress to approve more money.
“It is clear that the White House is trying, in every way, to encourage Congress to pass a bill for the allocation of money, that is clear,” said Dmitry Peskov, as reported by the state-run TASS news agency. “We will see what tricks the White House will use,” the Kremlin spokesman said.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, the head of the arms control group, accused the United States of “malicious scheming,” TASS reported.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – which Moscow calls a special military operation – has sparked the biggest confrontation between the West and Russia since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Moscow and Washington have both warned of the risk of a conflict. NATO-Russia.
Russia and the US are by far the largest nuclear powers: their arsenals together account for about 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons, and both have advanced military satellites in orbit around the earth.
The US views China and Russia as its biggest rivals, and Washington says both Moscow and Beijing are developing a range of new weapons systems, including nuclear, cyber and space capabilities.
Russia says US hegemony after the end of the Cold War is crumbling and that Washington has been wreaking havoc on the planet for years while ignoring the interests of other powers. Moscow says the US is also developing a host of new weapons.
In the early years of the Cold War, after Russia took the lead in the space race and both sides developed intercontinental ballistic missiles, the West proposed a treaty to ban nuclear weapons in space.
The result was the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which prohibits weapons of mass destruction from being launched into orbit or into outer space.
In recent years, disagreements between Moscow and Washington have undermined the framework of arms control treaties intended to reduce the risk of nuclear war between them.
The New York Times and ABC News earlier reported that the new intelligence evidence is related to Russian efforts to develop a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon.
It is not yet clear why Russia would need a nuclear weapon to destroy a satellite.
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