Officials are warning that Vladimir Putin might take war into space, as Russia increases disruption to European infrastructure in orbit, including jamming and monitoring of essential European satellites, and the possibilities of using nuclear weapons against them.
Recent incidents of Russian satellite interference
Earlier this year, Russia moved satellites close to a radar satellite operated by a Finnish-Polish company, which is used by Ukrainian armed forces to support intelligence. Experts at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) claim this may be either intimidation tactics, to gather intelligence, to jam data, or to destroy it.
Russia has also recently been accused of causing GPS disruption across Europe, according to scientists, who found jamming in Europe, Greenland, and Canada. Recent research on GPS disruption published earlier this month claims a group of Russian satellites were found to have been in the same area at the time of disruption.
Long-standing patterns of space aggression
This is not the first time Russia has been accused of intercepting communications from European satellites, with cases reported since the initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014. Russian satellites are said to have come within a few kilometres of European spacecraft, with their actions in space compared to their mapping and targeting of undersea cables.
There have also been recent tensions on the International Space Station between Russian and American astronauts. In early June, after air leaks were detected in a Russian segment of the space station, Russian cosmonauts planned to saw off a metal bracket to access the area. The American astronauts expressed fears this would cause further danger to the structure, and NASA ordered them to shelter in their own spacecraft. This caused the Russians to abandon the plan.
Nuclear weapons in space: a growing fear
These recent space tensions have also stoked long-standing fears of Russia's potential deployment of nuclear weapons in space, breaking the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which forbade weapons of mass destruction in orbit. German Major General Michael Traut warned that Russia might be working on technology to place nuclear devices in orbit, which, if detonated, would devastate global infrastructure.
Particularly at risk would be low-earth orbit satellites, orbiting at less than 1200 miles above Earth. Traut estimated up to one-third might be unable to work after a blast, which would shoot out an electromagnetic pulse, destroying global communications, GPS, banking, and military command. This would also cause space debris, creating a domino effect of further collisions.
Traut's worries echo warnings expressed by other global leaders, including Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, over the dangers of Russian nuclear weapons in space. In 2024, Russia also vetoed a UN resolution that called for member states to not develop nuclear weapons, or other weapons of mass destruction, in space.
Global response: embracing space defence
In response to fears about space war, countries across the world are embracing space defence. Last year, Germany announced it would be investing 35 billion euros into space technologies, including jammers, lasers, and protective spaceplanes. It also recently proposed plans to create a coordinated European military space command, alongside countries including Austria, Switzerland, and Luxembourg, to supplement existing European Union space defence, including the secure communications system IRIS2.
Meanwhile, France and Poland have recently agreed to collaborate on a telecommunications satellite for the Polish military – a key element of defence in Europe, given Poland's position on the border with Ukraine. Part of Europe's aim to develop its own satellite services is due to concerns about its total reliance on Starlink, given worries about the unpredictability of its owner, Elon Musk.
UK's strategic focus on space defence
In Britain, the 2025 Ministry of Defence's Strategic Defence Review claimed the nation needs to focus more on space domains in defence. The report said that space was 'a critical national infrastructure sector, a site of growing competition, and a domain that is central to warfighting'. It claimed the 'combined operational satellite fleets of China and Russia grew by 70% in 2019-21' and warned that 'both countries have sought to weaponise space'. The report also claimed that 'defence must improve its ability to deter threats to, and if necessary protect, its interest in space'.
