The European Union may retaliate with sanctions against Russia in case of attacks in space, warned today the head of European diplomacy Kaia Kallas, quoted by Agence France-Presse, writes BTA.
"We are already the subject of hybrid warfare, including in space, with systematic jamming of satellite navigation signals“, Kallas said at a press conference in Brussels.
According to her, European satellites, ground infrastructures and the space industry are threatened by kinetic and electronic weapons.
She gave as an example the launch of an anti-satellite missile and the cyberattack against a space system - actions carried out by Russia in 2022, just before its invasion of Ukraine.
Kalas called on EU countries to significantly increase their vigilance and strengthen their capacity to respond to threats in space. In particular, she said the EU should improve its surveillance and ability to identify those responsible and could extend the mutual protection mechanism to outer space.
"As for retaliatory measures, we are already looking at options", added Kaia Kallas, saying the EU could consider imposing sanctions similar to those already applied to Russian cyberattacks.
"We need to think about how best to apply this in space," she added.
The head of European diplomacy stressed that the United States is the EU's most important security partner on Earth and must be an ally in space as well.