The head of the Russian space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, has rejected Washington’s proposals to allow the US Department of Defense to operate in space, calling the militarization of the lunar and lunar research “unacceptable”.
His comments came after a Wall Street Journal article revealing that the Pentagon plans to protect NASA bases on the moon, as well as commercial activities such as water and mineral extraction.
“Drivers of the changes are actions by Moscow and Beijing to challenge US space interests with anti-satellite weapons, interference capabilities and other potentially hostile technology,” the article said, specifically highlighting Russia and China as a threat.
The latest tweet from the Roscosmos chief isn’t the first time a Russian official has criticized the US and its ambitions to militarize space. In February 2020, Secretary of State Sergey Lavrov accused NATO’s military bloc of plans to deploy weapons in the cosmos.
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“The plans of the US, but also those of France and NATO as a whole, to deploy weapons in space are taking shape,” he said. “We are convinced that it is not too late to develop measures that are acceptable to all to avoid confrontation in space.”
During his Senate hearing, the new United States Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, called Russia “An important opponent.”
“Chinese and Russian military doctrines also indicate that they view space as crucial to modern warfare and view the use of counter-space capabilities as both a means of diminishing the US military effectiveness and winning future wars,” he said.
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