WSJ: US warned Russia not to deploy nuclear-armed space weapon

The US has privately warned Russia not to deploy a new nuclear-armed antisatellite weapon, which it said would violate the Outer Space Treaty and jeopardize US national security interests, the Wall Street Journal reports quoting US officials.

The rare outreach by top US national security and intelligence officials is part of a diplomatic campaign that the Biden administration is mounting to head off the threat that also involves approaches to China, India, G-7 nations and other close allies that have interests in space and channels to Moscow.

The warning to Moscow came after Rep. Mike Turner, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, announced an unspecified “serious national-security threat” to the US and requested that President Biden declassify information around it. The White House a day later confirmed Russia was pursuing an “antisatellite capability,” but declined to offer specifics beyond saying that it wasn’t an active threat to Americans’ safety.

Several US officials said that one of the channels involved Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and Yuri Ushakov, a foreign-policy adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two officials have spoken several times since Russia invaded Ukraine when the administration has sought to warn Moscow against using nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction, US and allied officials said.

CIA Director William Burns also reached out last week to Sergei Naryshkin, the director of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, a US official said.

A spokesman from the White House National Security Council confirmed that the US engaged with the Russians over the antisatellite capability but declined to provide specifics on its sensitive channels for engaging with Moscow.