A spokesperson for the Russian government denied vague allegations that emerged Wednesday about the possibility of a new nuclear space capability.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OK) released an ambiguous statement Wednesday urging President Joe Biden to declassify information regarding what he described as “a serious national security threat,” though he did not provide more details.
Reports suggested his warning was about Russian advancements on a new, space-based nuclear weapon designed to threaten America’s satellite network, according to the New York Times.
While Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov would not comment on the specifics, he claimed the new intelligence was an attempt to pressure Congress into passing more funding for Ukraine.
“I can’t comment on this at all. Let’s wait for this briefing [by President Joe Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan] to see if there’s any information. But it’s clear that the White House, rightly or wrongly, is trying to push Congress to vote on the appropriations bill; that’s obvious. We’ll see what kind of ploys the White House will use [to get the funding passed]; we’ll see,” he said, according to Tass, a Russian media outlet.
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Sullivan took questions from reporters about the alleged national security threat shortly after Turner’s statement. He acknowledged his surprise at Turner’s public comments after he had reached out to top lawmakers to brief them, which is expected to happen at some point on Thursday.
Sullivan broadly noted that Biden would “continue to prioritize and focus very much on the issue of sources and methods,” though he also said he was “not in a position to say” if the public should be “alarmed” by Turner’s statement, which House Intelligence Committee ranking member Jim Himes (D-CT) categorized as “serious” but long-standing.
