Vladimir Putin could unleash a nuclear attack on US satellites in space, an expert on the topic has warned.
Elena Grossfeld, an expert on Russian space arms and intelligence operations at King’s College London, has said there are multiple potential routes which Russia might take.
A top-secret project - which has already been discovered by American intelligence - consists of deploying nuclear-tipped anti-satellite missiles into orbit.
And Grossfeld has warned that the detonation of a fission bomb hundreds of kilometres above Earth would trigger a rapid response from Nato.
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|A fission bomb set off hundreds of kilometres above Earth would trigger a rapid response from Nato
Russia could also pursue an “accidental” explosion of a nuclear-powered spacecraft, Grossfeld told Forbes.
This would still take out a swathe of Allied satellites, but allow Moscow to shield itself through “plausible deniability”.
Because it could never be proven with absolute certainty to have been an intentional Russian attack on American and European spacecraft, it could stop Nato stepping in.
The Russian space agency Roscosmos has already launched a satellite into orbit near the edge of the high-radiation rings of the Van Allen belt - two zones of charged particles trapped by Earth’s magnetic field.
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|Russia’s sabotage expertise honed over the last century could next be used by Vladimir Putin to attack US satellites in space, an expert on the topic has warned
And a potential future sabotage would see nuclear-propelled craft triggered to raise the belt’s radiation levels - and in turn destroy, or damage, a cascade of nearby satellites.
During a summit of Nato nations’ foreign ministers, Secretary General Mark Rutte said that Russia has already “tried to destabilise our countries and divide our societies with acts of sabotage”.
Rutte added that the ministers representing the 32 Nato allies have “agreed to a set of measures to counter Russia’s hostile and cyber activities, including enhanced intelligence exchange, more exercises, better protection of critical infrastructure”.
He also warned that Moscow’s continuing campaign of sabotage reflects “the escalating dangers of the ongoing war in Ukraine”.
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|A potential prime target could be SpaceX’s mega-constellation of Starlink satellites
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has declined not just in terms of military might, but also its status as one of the globe’s biggest space powers.
In order to level the battlefield, which has seen the US excel, Grossfeld predicts Russia might opt to stage a devastating pre-emptive sabotage strike via the self-destruction of its nuclear powered craft.
She also highlights that Russia has already signalled it is arming for "Space War I" against the West.
A potential prime target could be SpaceX’s mega-constellation of Starlink satellites, which have helped provide Ukraine with vital internet connections.
Russia has already deployed advanced jet fighters, missile brigades and swarms of suicide drones to attack Starlink terminals across Ukraine, while Putin’s emissaries to the UN have repeatedly threatened to shoot down the satellites themselves.
In what Grossfeld has suggested was the first battle of the space war, Moscow carried out attacks on the ground terminals of a US satellite constellation in 2022.
Then-Foreign Secretary Liz Truss threatened the Kremlin would face “severe repercussions”.
But Grossfeld added that, “despite multiple sabotage operations in Europe, no actions have been taken by either the US or Nato against Russia”.
She warns this could lead to Putin expanding his sabotage attacks to space.
Last year, US officials were warned Russia was considering sending a nuclear weapon into space in what could be a “grave” threat to Western technology and security.