Highly criticized, the Moscow initiative highlights the lack of rules in the face of increasing militarization of space.
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Twenty-four hours after a Russian antisatellite shot, Monday, November 15, against one of his old satellites who was no longer operational, the questions remain about the true motivations of Russia. Why did Russia take the risk of such fire while it had two cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and that the debris caused by this maneuver could potentially expose them? Was it a pure demonstration of opportunistic power in a recital of renewed strategic competition?
The day after the confirmation of this shot by the Russian authorities who welcomed the “success” of their operation, the international reactions, however, were unanimous in denouncing this transaction. “The safety and security of all actors seeking to explore and use extra-atmospheric space for peaceful purposes have been imprudently endangered,” criticized US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. It is “an irresponsible act”, for its part, declared NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. In Paris, the Minister of the Armies, Florence Parly, she, she described the Russians of “Saccessors of space” while the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, condemned “a destabilizing action”.
According to a number of observers, however, this shot was partly predictable. “It was not a mistake,” confirmed the spokesman for the Ministry of the Armies, Hervé Grandjean Tuesday, November 16th. “We knew that Russia had already proceeded to a dozen attempts of this type of shooting. This trial is not a strategic surprise for France,” he said. The United States, the superiority of which is undisputed to date in space, were the first to attribute, in the night of Monday to Tuesday, this shot to Russia, even before its official confirmation by Moscow.
a field of conflict as another
Concerning the geopolitical subsection of such a shot, the French sources are much more cautious. No association has been made, for example, with current tensions at the Ukrainian border and Belarus. In an extremely confidential field where everything is classified, the public analysis is limited to regretting a gesture of opportunity that would be intended for Russia to demonstrate its spatial capabilities. Partially confirmed analysis by Moscow who went so far as to consider the accusations of Washington as “hypocrites” believing that the debris generated “no threat” for “spatial activity”.
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