Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia “will continue to make an unwavering contribution to keeping outer space free of weapons of any kind and preventing it from becoming another sphere of tension and armed confrontation”. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Russia on May 21 said the United States was seeking to place weapons in space, the latest accusation in an ongoing row that comes a day after Washington vetoed a Russian non-proliferation motion at the United Nations.

“They have once again demonstrated that their true priorities in the area of outer space are aimed not at keeping space free from weapons of any kind, but at placing weapons in space and turning it into an arena for military confrontation,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

The two superpowers have traded multiple accusations of seeking to weaponise space in recent months.

In February, Washington said it was concerned by an “anti-satellite capability that Russia has developed” after U.S. media outlets reported that intelligence agencies had warned their allies that Russia could launch a nuclear weapon into orbit.

Moscow denied those accusations as “malicious” and “unfounded,” saying it does not possess such systems.

Russia has since levelled similar charges at the United States.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not provide further details on Tuesday when asked if Moscow had specific information regarding U.S. plans to deploy weapons in space, saying only that the country’s intelligence agencies were monitoring the situation.

“Our special services are performing their work,” he told reporters in a briefing.

The countries have proposed rival non-proliferation motions at the United Nations as part of the spat.

Russia vetoed the U.S. initiative last month, while Moscow’s proposal was blocked by the United States, Britain and France in a vote on Monday.

Moscow said the U.S. initiative focused only on nuclear weapons and that Washington was not seriously interested in a complete ban on weapons in space.

The veto by the United States and its allies “spoke eloquently” about their priorities, Mr. Peskov said Tuesday.

U.S. envoy Robert Wood said Russia’s proposal, which called on all countries to “take urgent measures to prevent for all time the placement of weapons in outer space,” was a distraction and accused Moscow of “diplomatic gaslighting.”

Ms. Zakharova said Tuesday that Russia “will continue to make an unwavering contribution to keeping outer space free of weapons of any kind and preventing it from becoming another sphere of tension and armed confrontation.”

Space is a rare area where the two countries still have a degree of cooperation despite a swathe of Western sanctions and dire relations amid Russia’s offensive on Ukraine.

Both countries ferry each other’s crew members to and from the International Space Station (ISS), where their astronauts are jointly stationed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 12 replaced Sergei Shoigu as Defence Minister in a Cabinet shakeup that comes as he begins his fifth term in office.

In line with Russian law, the entire Russian Cabinet resigned on Tuesday following Mr. Putin’s glittering inauguration in the Kremlin, and most members have been widely expected to keep their jobs, while Mr. Shoigu’s fate had appeared uncertain.

Mr. Putin signed a decree on Sunday appointing Mr. Shoigu as secretary of Russia’s Security Council, the Kremlin said. The appointment was announced shortly after Mr. Putin proposed Andrei Belousov to become the country’s Defence Minister in place of Mr. Shoigu.

The announcement of Mr. Shoigu’s new role came as 13 people were reported dead and 20 more wounded in Russia’s border city of Belgorod, where a 10-story apartment building partially collapsed after what Russian officials said was Ukrainian shelling. Ukraine has not commented on the incident.

Mr. Belousov’s candidacy will need to be approved by Russia’s Upper House in parliament, the Federation Council. It reported on Sunday that Mr. Putin introduced proposals for other Cabinet positions as well but Mr. Shoigu is the only Minister on that list who is being replaced. Several other new candidates for Federal Ministers were proposed on Saturday by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, reappointed by Mr. Putin on Friday.

Mr. Shoigu’s deputy, Timur Ivanov, was arrested last month on bribery charges and was ordered to remain in custody pending an official investigation. The arrest of Mr. Ivanov was widely interpreted as an attack on Mr. Shoigu and a possible precursor of his dismissal, despite his close personal ties with Mr. Putin.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday that Mr. Putin had decided to give the Defence Minister role to a civilian because the Ministry should be “open to innovation and cutting-edge ideas.” He also said the increasing defence Budget “must fit into the country’s wider economy,” and Mr. Belousov, who until recently served as the first Deputy Prime Minister, is the right fit for the job.

Mr. Belousov, 65, held leading positions in the finances and economic department of the Prime Minister’s office and the Ministry of Economic Development. In 2013, he was appointed an adviser to Mr. Putin and seven years later, in January 2020, he became first deputy Prime Minister.

Mr. Peskov assured that the reshuffle will not affect “the military aspect,” which “has always been the prerogative of the Chief of General Staff,” and Gen. Valery Gerasimov, who currently serves in this position, will continue his work.

Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said in an online commentary that Mr. Shoigu’s new appointment to Russia’s Security Council showed that the Russian leader viewed the institution as “a reservoir” for his “‘former’ key figures — people who he cannot in any way let go, but does not have a place for.”

Figures such as former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have also been appointed to the security council. Mr. Medvedev has served as the body’s deputy chairman since 2020.

Mr. Shoigu was appointed to the Security Council instead of Nikolai Patrushev, Mr. Putin’s long-term ally. Mr. Peskov said Sunday that Mr. Patrushev is taking on another role, and promised to reveal details in the coming days.

Mr. Shoigu has been widely seen as a key figure in Mr. Putin’s decision to send Russian troops into Ukraine. Russia had expected the operation to quickly overwhelm Ukraine’s much smaller and less-equipped army and for Ukrainians to broadly welcome Russian troops.

Instead, the conflict galvanised Ukraine to mount an intense defence, dealing the Russian army humiliating blows, including the retreat from an attempt to take the capital, Kyiv, and a counteroffensive that drove Moscow’s forces out of the Kharkiv region.

Before he was named Defence Minister in 2012, Mr. Shoigu spent more than 20 years directing markedly different work: In 1991, he was appointed head of the Russian Rescue Corps disaster-response agency, which eventually became the Ministry of Emergency Situations. He became highly visible in the post. The job also allowed him to be named a general even though he had no military service behind him as the rescue corps absorbed the militarised Civil Defence Troops.

Mr. Shoigu does not wield the same kind of power as Mr. Patrushev, who has long been the country’s top security official. But the position he will take — the same position that Patrushev worked to transform from a minor bureaucratic role to a place of sizable influence — will still carry some authority, according to Mark Galeotti, head of the Mayak Intelligence consultancy.

High-level security materials intended for the President’s eyes will still pass through the Security Council Secretariat, even with changes at the top. “You can’t just institutionally turn around a bureaucracy and how it works overnight,” he said.

Thousands of civilians have fled Russia’s renewed ground offensive in Ukraine’s northeast that has targeted towns and villages with a barrage of artillery and mortar shelling, officials said Sunday.

The intense battles have forced at least one Ukrainian unit to withdraw in the Kharkiv region, capitulating more land to Russian forces across less defended settlements in the so-called contested gray zone along the Russian border.

By Sunday afternoon, the town of Vovchansk, among the largest in the northeast with a prewar population of 17,000, emerged as a focal point in the battle.

Volodymyr Tymoshko, the head of the Kharkiv regional police, said that Russian forces were on the outskirts of the town and approaching from three directions.

An AP team, positioned in a nearby village, saw plumes of smoke rising from the town as Russian forces hurled shells. Evacuation teams worked nonstop throughout the day to take residents, most of whom were older, out of harm’s way.

At least 4,000 civilians have fled the Kharkiv region since Friday, when Moscow’s forces launched the operation, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said in a social media statement. Heavy fighting raged Sunday along the northeast front line, where Russian forces attacked 27 settlements in the past 24 hours, he said.

Analysts say the Russian push is designed to exploit ammunition shortages before promised Western supplies can reach the front line.

Ukrainian soldiers said the Kremlin is using the usual Russian tactic of launching a disproportionate amount of fire and infantry assaults to exhaust Ukrainian troops and firepower. By intensifying battles in what was previously a static patch of the front line, Russian forces threaten to pin down Ukrainian forces in the northeast, while carrying out intense battles farther south where Moscow is also gaining ground.

It comes after Russia stepped up attacks in March targeting energy infrastructure and settlements, which analysts predicted were a concerted effort to shape conditions for an offensive.

The Russian Defence Ministry said Sunday that its forces had captured four villages on the border along Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, in addition to five villages reported to have been seized on Saturday. These areas were likely poorly fortified because of the dynamic fighting and constant heavy shelling, easing a Russian advance.

Ukraine’s leadership hasn’t confirmed Moscow’s gains. But Tymoshko, the head of the Kharkiv regional police, said that Strilecha, Pylna and Borsivika were under Russian occupation, and it was from their direction they were bringing in infantry to stage attacks in other embattled villages of Hlyboke and Lukiantsi.

Russian President Vladimir Putin. File
| Photo Credit: AP

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a bill revoking Russia’s ratification of a global nuclear test ban, a move that Moscow said was needed to establish parity with the United States.

Mr. Putin has said that rescinding the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, also known as the CTBT, would “mirror” the stand taken by the U.S., which has signed but not ratified the nuclear test ban.

Both houses of the Russian parliament voted last month to revoke Moscow’s ratification of the bill.

The CTBT, adopted in 1996, bans all nuclear explosions anywhere in the world, but the treaty was never fully implemented. In addition to the U.S., it has yet to be ratified by China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, Iran, and Egypt.

There are widespread concerns that Russia may resume nuclear tests to try to discourage the West from continuing to offer military support to Ukraine. Many Russian hawks have spoken in favour of a resumption of the tests.

Mr. Putin has noted that some experts argue for the necessity of conducting nuclear tests but said he had not formed an opinion on the issue.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said last month that Moscow would continue to respect the ban and will only resume nuclear tests if Washington does first.

A still image from video, released by the Russian Defence Ministry, shows what it said to be Russia’s Yars intercontinental ballistic missile test-launched at the Plesetsk cosmodrome during a military exercise rehearsing the country’s ability to deliver a massive retaliatory nuclear strike by land, sea and air, in this image taken from video released October 25, 2023.
| Photo Credit: via Reuters

Russia’s military conducted a simulated nuclear strike in a drill Wednesday overseen by President Vladimir Putin, hours after the upper house of parliament voted to rescind the country’s ratification of a global nuclear test ban.

The bill to end ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, approved in the lower house last week, will now be sent to Mr. Putin for final approval. Mr. Putin has said that revoking Russia’s 2000 ratification would “mirror” the stance of the U.S., which signed but did not ratify the nuclear test ban.

State television showed Mr. Putin directing the exercise via video call with top military officials.

Russia’s Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu said the purpose of the drills is to practice “dealing a massive nuclear strike with strategic offensive forces in response to a nuclear strike by the enemy.”

While similar drills are held every autumn, Mr. Shoigu’s pointed comments came amid soaring tensions between Russia and the West over the fighting in Ukraine.

The test ban treaty, adopted in 1996, bans all nuclear explosions anywhere in the world, but the treaty was never fully implemented. In addition to the U.S., it is yet to be ratified by China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, Iran and Egypt.

There are widespread concerns that Russia could move to resume nuclear tests to try to discourage the West from continuing to offer military support to Ukraine. Many Russian hawks have spoken in favor of a resumption of the tests.

Mr. Putin has noted that while some experts have argued that it’s necessary to conduct nuclear tests, he hasn’t yet formed an opinion on the issue.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said earlier this month that Moscow will continue to respect the ban and will only resume nuclear tests if Washington does it first.

Mr. Ryabkov said Wednesday that the Russian Foreign Ministry had received U.S. proposals to resume a dialogue on strategic stability and arms control issues, but noted that Moscow doesn’t consider it possible in the current political environment.

“We aren’t ready for it because the return to a dialogue on strategic stability … as it was conducted in the past is impossible until the U.S. revises its deeply hostile policy course in relation to Russia,” Mr. Ryabkov told reporters in comments carried by Russian news agencies.

File photo of a picture taken from the camera of the lunar landing spacecraft Luna-25 during its flight to the moon shows the mission emblem and the bucket of the lunar manipulator complex.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The head of Russia’s space agency said on August 21 that the Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the moon after its engines failed to shut down correctly, and he blamed the country’s decades-long pause in lunar exploration for the mishap.

The pilotless Luna-25 had been scheduled to land on August 21 while aiming to become the first spacecraft to touch down on the south pole of the moon, an area where scientists believe important reserves of frozen water and precious elements may exist.

Roscosmos Director General Yury Borisov said the spacecraft’s engines were turned on over the weekend to put Luna-25 into a “pre-landing orbit” but did not shut down properly, plunging the lander onto the moon.

“Instead of the planned 84 seconds, it worked for 127 seconds. This was the main reason for the emergency,” Borisov told Russian state news channel Russia 24.

Roscosmos had contact with the spacecraft until 2:57 p.m. local time Saturday, when communication was lost and “the device passed into an open lunar orbit and crashed into the surface of the moon,” he said.

The lunar mission was Russia’s first since 1976, when it was part of the Soviet Union. Only three countries have managed successful moon landings: the Soviet Union, the United States and China.

“The negative experience of interrupting the lunar program for almost 50 years is the main reason for the failures,” Borisov said, adding “it would be the worst decision ever” for Russia to end the program now.

The Luna-25 was in a race with an Indian spacecraft launched on July 14 to be the first to reach the south pole. Both were expected to reach the moon between August 21 and August 23.

A previous Indian attempt to land at the moon’s south pole in 2019 ended when the spacecraft crashed into the moon’s surface.

Luna-25 launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East on August 10. The spaceport is a pet project of Russian President Vladimir Putin and key to his efforts to make Russia a space superpower.

Before the launch, Roscosmos said it wanted to show Russia “is a state capable of delivering a payload to the moon,” and “ensure Russia’s guaranteed access to the moon’s surface.” Following the crash, the Russian space agency said the moon mission was about ensuring long-term “defense capability” as well as “technological sovereignty.” “The race to develop the moon’s natural resources has begun,” Borisov said Monday. “In the future, the moon will become an ideal platform for the exploration of deep space.” Sanctions imposed on Russia since it launched a war in Ukraine nearly 18 months ago have affected its space programme, making it more difficult to access Western technology.

The Luna-25 was initially meant to carry a small moon rover, but the idea was abandoned to reduce the weight of the craft for improved reliability, analysts said.

The lunar south pole is of particular interest to scientists, who believe the permanently shadowed polar craters may contain frozen water in the rocks that future explorers could transform into air and rocket fuel..