Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 20 clarified that Russia has no intent to place nuclear weapons in space as has been alleged by Western media and some US lawmakers.
In a meeting with Russian Defence Minister General Sergei Shoigu, President Putin said, "As for the deployment of nuclear weapons in outer space that the West has been talking about lately, our position is clear and transparent: we have always categorically opposed this. We urge all parties to honour all nuclear weapons agreements; we have repeatedly suggested stepping up this joint work."
Following President Putin's categorical assertion, the US media has started to wriggle out of its malicious disinformation under the cover of specious word play.
Perfidious Journalism
US mainstream journalistic standards, which have been in a tailspin for around two decades now, may well have descended to the depths of Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench in Western Pacific Ocean, the deepest known point on Earth's surface.
The US media disinformation hyping Russian intent to detonate a nuclear bomb in orbit was built around a statement by the US House Intelligence Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) that he had asked President Biden to declassify information about a “serious national security threat.”
Turner alluded that the White House was “sleepwalking” on the threat emanating from Russian anti-satellite capabilities.
The US media, the New York Times in particular, copiously garnished Turner's statement, using uncorroborated comments by unknown sources, to imply that the "serious national security threat" referred to Russian intent to detonate a nuclear weapon in space to destroy satellites.
Media Traction Using Half Truths
A narrative based on half truths, planted in the media as an intelligence leak and garnished with speculation of unnamed experts and sources can gain a lot of traction and sway citizens and lawmakers.
The intent of the intelligence leak by Turner, with the US congress poised to vote on a bill to spend $60bln in support of Ukraine's conflict against Russia, was suspicious, to say the least.
Appearing on NBC'S “Meet the Press” on February 18, Turner was asked if he was trying to cause a panic in order to secure more funding for Ukraine. Turner took refuge in ambivalent word play saying, "Well, Ukraine funding certainly is important…but this is about Russia and the administration taking action.”
As pointed out in an earlier Sputnik India analysis, Turner has all along been alluding to a space based capability that Russia has been developing at a slow pace since 2010 - the Zeus spacecraft that can hypothetically alter its orbit at will to inspect, interfere with or render inoperable adversary satellites.
US Space Force X-37B Spacecraft
© Photo : Boeing
The fact that the X-37B is reusable allows it to be periodically upgraded with new sensors and weapons. The Russian Zeus spacecraft cannot land back and be re-equipped like the X-37B so in some important ways, it's a lesser threat.
In order to fulfil its role as a tug, the Zeus will be powered by a megawatt class nuclear reactor. A nuclear reactor is intrinsic to the concept of a space tug, because a nuclear powered rocket engine can operate in space for a long time without exhausting its fuel, which is not the case with chemical rocket motors.
Indeed, it's contemplated that a future Zeus variant could land on Mars to provide spacecraft, possibly humans, an easily accessible source of energy.
Nuclear powered rocket engines represent a logical next step in interplanetary space travel.
Cringe Worthy US Media Wretchedness
The attempt to influence US lawmakers into fueling the conflict in Ukraine by falsely accusing Russia of posing a nuclear threat has crumbled in the face of social and alternate media questioning of US media hype, and an unequivocal denial from the Russian President.
As a result, the US media is trying to hide its shame under the fig leaf cover of semantics.
Bloomberg for example, now admits quoting unknown "security experts," of course:
"The current assessment is that Russia doesn’t plan to detonate any orbital weapons. However, there is a risk of an accident and a nuclear explosion could potentially affect about a third of satellites and play havoc with communications systems on earth."
The wretchedness of the Bloomberg report, which alludes to the use of a nuclear reactor on the Zeus space tug, is cringe worthy. There are over 420 nuclear reactors operating on the Earth. Some of them are 1000 megawatt reactors!
Nuclear reactors are not prone to exploding like nuclear bombs. It hasn't happened so far. There have been containment leaks in the past but the technology is now far more advanced.