{"id":691813,"date":"2026-10-23T22:25:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T22:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=691813"},"modified":"2026-10-23T22:25:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T22:25:00","slug":"space-war-fears-rise-as-russian-satellite-makes-dangerous-maneuver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=691813","title":{"rendered":"Space War Fears Rise As Russian Satellite Makes Dangerous Maneuver"},"content":{"rendered":"

Space War Fears Rise As Russian Satellite Makes Dangerous Maneuver<\/span><\/p>\n

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Authored by RFE\/RL staff via OilPrice.com<\/a>,<\/em><\/p>\n

US officials publicly accused Russia of threatening a Finnish-operated commercial satellite that provides imagery and intelligence to Ukraine and other nations, calling the move “deliberately reckless.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In response to the accusations, made during a United Nations debate on October 21, Russia broadly described US claims as “absurd” and accused Washington of its own “aggressive military space ambitions.”<\/p>\n

The back-and-forth came days after a Russian military satellite known as Kosmos-2612 moved “dangerously” near to ICEYE-X36<\/strong>, a satellite registered in the United States and operated by a Finnish company called ICEYE.<\/p>\n

The Russian satellite came “exceptionally close” – within 200 meters, by some estimates – something that space officials and amateur satellite watchers said was extremely unusual.<\/p>\n

“This was not a routine conjunction or ‘fly by,'” LeoLabs, an aerospace intelligence company, told RFE\/RL.<\/strong> “The behavior is consistent with sophisticated rendezvous and proximity operations.”<\/p>\n

ICEYE-X36 carries a radar technology that can gather detailed terrestrial images, even through cloud cover. The Finnish company in January signed a contract with the Ukrainian Defense Ministry to provide intelligence.<\/p>\n

Kosmos-2612 “exhibited threatening behavior by intentionally maneuvering dangerously close to a commercial satellite,” Brian Hardesty, an adviser to the US Delegation to the Conference on Disarmament, said<\/strong> during a meeting in New York<\/a> of the UN First Committee, a body that debates arms control and disarmament issues. “These behaviors appear consistent with an on-orbit weapons operation.”<\/p>\n

“The decision to conduct these activities was deliberately reckless,” he said.<\/p>\n

Russia’s representative who could not be immediately identified, did not directly address the assertion.<\/p>\n

“We call on member states to give the proper response to the aggressive military space ambitions of the United States,” he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He also referenced comments made last month by the secretary of the US Air Force, the top civilian official for that military branch.<\/p>\n

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As just announced in the @UN First Committee, Russia’s COSMOS 2612 military satellite has been exhibiting threatening behavior by intentionally maneuvering dangerously close to a commercial satellite, behaviors consistent with on-orbit weapons operations. This violates long-established safety thresholds in low Earth orbit. The United States will continue to secure and defend American vital national security interests in, from, and to space.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Under Secretary of State Thomas G. DiNanno (@UnderSecT) October 21, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Speaking to a conference outside of Washington, Troy Meink’s comments<\/a> that Washington has in fact deployed actual weapons in space – “on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action”<\/strong> – caused a jolt among policy experts.<\/p>\n

Other longtime space watchers, however, said the announcement merely stated publicly what had already been obvious for some time.<\/p>\n

“The United States did not suddenly weaponize space by acknowledging that it possesses these capabilities,” wrote<\/a> Mallory Stewart, a former top arms control secretary at the US State Department. “An arms race in space has been under way for years.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nFri, 10\/23\/2026 – 18:25<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Space War Fears Rise As Russian Satellite Makes Dangerous Maneuver Authored by RFE\/RL staff via OilPrice.com, US officials publicly accused Russia of threatening a Finnish-operated commercial satellite that provides imagery and intelligence to Ukraine and other nations, calling the move “deliberately reckless.” In response to the accusations, made during a United Nations debate on October… Continue reading Space War Fears Rise As Russian Satellite Makes Dangerous Maneuver<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-691813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=691813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691813\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=691813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=691813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=691813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}