European Commission confirms Russia targets EU satellites and space assets

The European Commission is well aware of Russian attacks on satellites and other European Union space assets and has the capacity to detect and counter them.

The European Union can identify and repel Russian space attacks.

"Targeting European space assets or satellites is something that has been done by Russia for years, if not decades now… We are very well aware of this issue," European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said during a press briefing in Brussels.

He emphasised that the EU has a range of response tools to protect its space assets from potential attacks.

"First, we have Galileo that is already there, that is able to detect and deter such attacks. And we recently went a step further in our four European flagships that we proposed in our Defence Roadmap," he added.

Regnier said that the EU, together with its member states, is implementing the flagship European Space Shield project specifically to protect satellites and other space assets.

"We know that Russia is doing it, and we are prepared to counter that if needed," he stressed.

The Financial Times reported that Russian spacecraft have intercepted communications from at least 10 key European satellites, putting sensitive information from European states at risk.

Last week, Andrius Kubilius, EU Commissioner for Defence and Space, announced the launch of the Govsatcom programme, which will unify the existing satellite communications capabilities of the 27 member states.

The EU is also preparing to establish a protected satellite communication system by 2030 for military intelligence purposes amid growing doubts over the US commitment to European defence.

On 3 February, it was reported that the EU plans to create a military data-sharing platform independent of the United States by 2030.