• Russia has a strong offensive space capability. Russia fired a missile at one of its own satellites in 2021.
• Deputy director of Russian foreign ministry’s department for non-proliferation and arms control spoke at U.N.
• Konstantin Vorontsov said commercial satellites from US and allies could be targets.

A top official in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that commercial satellites from the US and its allies could be fair targets for Russia if they were used in the war in Ukraine.

Russia launched the first man-made satellite, Sputnik 1, into space in 1957, and sent the first person into space in 1961. Like the United States and China, Russia has a strong offensive space capability. In 2021, Russia fired a missile at one of its own satellites to destroy it.

The deputy director of the Russian foreign ministry’s department for non-proliferation and arms control, Konstantin Vorontsov, told the United Nations that the US and its allies were trying to use space to make sure that the West was in charge.

Vorontsov, reading from notes, said that the use of Western satellites to help the Ukrainian war effort was “an extremely dangerous trend.”

Vorontsov told the United Nations First Committee that “quasi-civilian infrastructure” could be a legitimate target for a retaliatory strike. He also said that the West’s use of satellites to help Ukraine was “provocative.”

“We are talking about the involvement of components of civilian space infrastructure, including commercial, by the United States and its allies in armed conflicts,” Vorontsov was quoted as saying at the United Nations.

Vorontsov didn’t name any specific satellite companies, but earlier this month, Elon Musk said that his rocket company SpaceX would keep paying for Ukraine’s Starlink internet service because “good deeds” are important.

The war in Ukraine has killed tens of thousands of people, stopped the global economy from getting better after COVID, and caused the worst conflict with the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.