MOSCOW. May 22 (Interfax) - The U.S. Defense Department's claims that Russia has launched an anti-satellite weapon into orbit is a hoax, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday.
"I do not think we should respond to any hoax coming from Washington. The Russian space program is developing in accordance with the plan, and launches of various kinds of satellites, including those bolstering our defense capabilities, are no news," Ryabkov told reporters in Moscow.
Moscow "has always been opposed to the deployment of offensive weapons in near-Earth orbit," he said.
"It is not accidental that Russia and a number of other states are promoting the call for not being first to deploy weapons in space. So, the Americans can say whatever they want, that does not change our policy," Ryabkov said.
"If they were really interested in strengthening security in space, among other areas, they could reconsider their destructive approach to the series of Russian proposals in this field; first of all, our proposal to draft an agreement on preventing an arms race in space."
The U.S. Defense Department spokesman Patrick Ryder said earlier the United States believed Russia launched a counter-space weapon into orbit on May 16 and that it had the same orbit as a U.S. satellite.
"Russia launched a satellite into low Earth orbit that we assess is likely a counter-space weapon presumably capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit," he said, adding that Russia inserted its satellite into the same orbit as the one of a U.S. government satellite.