Russia has denied its recent test of an anti-satellite missile posed any threat to the safety of space crew after the US accused it of a “destructive” move that generated debris and put astronauts on the International Space Station at risk.
The missile struck an obsolete Russian satellite “with surgical precision”, said Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister, on Tuesday, according to the state-run RIA news agency. “The fragments that were produced do not pose any threat to activities in space.”
His comments came after Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, said on Monday that Russia had earlier in the day “recklessly conducted a destructive test of a direct-ascent anti-satellite missile against one of its own satellites”.