Push Admin

US to 'hold Russia accountable' if satellites attacked, White House says

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="National Security Council strategic communications coordinator John Kirby during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on August 1, 2022. Yuri Gripas, pool/EPA-EFE/file" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/overseas/10/27/20221027-john-kirby.jpg"/><figcaption>National Security Council strategic communications coordinator John Kirby during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on August 1, 2022. <em>Yuri Gripas, pool/EPA-EFE/file</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>The United States will respond in an &quot;appropriate&quot; way to any Russian attack against US commercial satellites, the White House said Thursday after a Russian official suggested they could become legitimate targets in space.</p><p>&quot;Any attack on US infrastructure will be met with an appropriate response in an appropriate way,&quot; National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters. The United States will &quot;hold Russia accountable for any such attack, should it occur.&quot;</p><p>Kirby was responding to comments by a Russian foreign ministry official, Konstantin Vorontsov, at the United Nations on Wednesday that use of commercial satellites &quot;in outer space for military purposes&quot; by Western countries is an &quot;extremely dangerous trend.&quot;</p><p>&quot;These states do not realize that such actions in fact constitute indirect participation in military conflicts,&quot; Vorontsov said. &quot;Quasi-civilian infrastructure may become a legitimate target for retaliation.&quot;</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/10/28/22/china-main-challenge-to-national-security-us-military">&#x27;Acute threats&#x27; from Russia, but China is main challenge, says US military</a></li></ul><p>The Russian official did not specify what commercial satellites he meant but Starlink satellites deployed by Elon Musk&#x27;s SpaceX company are playing a major role in communications for the Ukrainian military fighting Russia&#x27;s invasion.</p><p>Kirby said &quot;the only thing that’s provocative right now and dangerous is Russia’s war in Ukraine and the manner which they’re prosecuting that war.&quot;</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2247869" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The White House made the statement Thursday after a Russian official suggested US commercial satellites could become legitimate targets in space.