Russia denies US claims it plans to deploy nuclear weapons in space

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday (20) that Russia is against deploying nuclear weapons in space and his defense minister categorically denied US allegations that Russia is developing a nuclear capability for space.

An unnamed source briefed on the matter told Reuters last week in the US that the US government had new intelligence relating to Russian nuclear capabilities and attempts to develop a space weapon.

“Our position is clear and transparent: we have always been categorically against and now we are against the deployment of nuclear weapons in space,” Putin told Sergei Shoigu, his defense minister.

“We ask not only for compliance with all existing agreements in this area, but we also offer to strengthen this joint work many times over,” Putin said.

He added that Russia's activities in space do not differ from those of other countries, including the United States.

US sources suggested that Russia had some kind of new capability in space, but there were few details and no evidence was published.

The New York Times reported that the US intelligence was related to Russia's attempts to develop a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon.

Commenting on the allegation, Shoigu said there were no such plans.

“Firstly, there are no such projects – nuclear weapons in space. Secondly, the United States knows that this does not exist,” Shoigu told Putin.

He accused the White House of trying to scare U.S. lawmakers into allocating more funds to Ukraine as part of Washington's plan to inflict what he said was a strategic defeat on Russia.

He said the second reason for leaking information about the alleged Russian weapon was to encourage Russia to engage in a dialogue on strategic stability.

Putin said Russia has never been against discussions on strategic stability.