Has Russia recently launched a spy spacecraft against the US?

A space colonisation race among powerful states is raging in the skies above according to reports from Washington DC.

Last week a “counterspace weapon”, possibly capable of attacking other satellites in earth’s lower orbit was released by Russia, US intelligence officials revealed.

The COSMOS 2576, a Russian military “inspector” spacecraft, was launched alongside at least nine other satellites by Moscow, and was quick to pursue a US spy satellite called USA 314 operated by National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), said American officials.

"Russia deployed this new counter space weapon into the same orbit as a US government satellite,” said Pentagon spokesman Brig Gen Pat Ryder on Tuesday evening, referring to the incident.

"We have a responsibility to be ready to protect and defend the domain, the space domain, and ensure continuous and uninterrupted support to the Joint and Combined Force," Ryan added.

In 2019 and 2022, Russia also deployed other anti-satellite “weapons” into space and COSMOS 2576 shares similar characteristics to those previous launches, according to the US.

Moscow confirmed the recent satellite deployment. Soyuz-2.1b launched a spacecraft "in the interests of the defence ministry of the Russian Federation".

But these recent acts of space surveillance and colonisation are nothing new. In the 21st century, experts started using the term “space colonisation” as different states from the West to Russia and China began deploying their spacecraft and satellites into outer space.

Has the Ukraine war led to the Russian deployment?

Recent Russian space deployment might also be related to increasing American satellite-linked intelligence sharing with Kiev to help Ukrainian military with which Moscow has fought pitched battles since February 2022.

At the very beginning of the Ukraine war, when Russian forces launched a lightning campaign to claim Kiev, American satellite companies like Maxar Technologies, which shared the images of a 40 mile-long Russian convoy stuck in traffic heading towards the capital with Ukrainian officials, played a critical role to stall the early advance of Moscow’s forces.

Last year two US academics claimed American satellite companies played a critical role defending Ukraine against Russian assault.

“It may be that information technology companies like Elon Musk’s Starlink and leaders of the commercial space sector like Maxar Technologies CEO Daniel Jablonsky hold just as much sway as heads of state over the trajectory of Russia’s clash with Ukraine and the West,” wrote David Zikusoka, a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at New America’s Future Frontlines and Planetary Politics, and Candace Rondeaux, a Senior Director at the same institute.

Later, Maxar, a Colorado-based company, won a multimillion dollar contract to supply satellite information to Western states allied with the US, noted the authors.

From Russia’s perspective, the deployment of COSMOS 2576 could be as a response to the dangers of American satellite activities, undertaken as an act of deterrence against Western satellites. This follows Russia’s warning to the US and its allies that it’s able to target Western satellites.

"Quasi-civilian infrastructure may be a legitimate target for a retaliatory strike," said senior Russian foreign ministry official Konstantin Vorontsov during a meeting in the United Nations in October 2022.

Both Russians and Americans have accused each other in different UN forums of using respective space programs to militarise space.

Nuclear tensions in space

But tensions between the West and Russia might not be limited to anti-satellite weapons. There is a very real possibility that it could spill over into nuclear attacks in space, at a time when nuclear war possibilities on Earth have increased due to the Ukraine war, according to experts.

The US previously blamed Russia for developing a nuclear space weapon, which allegedly aims to destroy Western satellites “by creating a massive energy wave when detonated,” according to CNN. If this kind of scenario ever happens, it would mean a massive disruption in all forms of communication from cell phones to the internet.

In the UN, both Russia and Western allies introduced different resolutions to limit and ban space-based nuclear weapons. But the two opposing camps cannot agree on the other side’s proposal, leaving the debate in limbo.

A joint US-Japan proposal on not developing nuclear weapons was vetoed by Russia in April. “As we have noted previously, the United States assesses that Russia is developing a new satellite carrying a nuclear device,” said US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan after the Russian veto.

But earlier this month, the US also vetoed a radical Russian proposal to ban any kind of space-based weapons “for all time”, signalling that the US might aim to keep space open for militarisation.