Russia may have rehearsed attack on Western satellite, specialist says

Satellite operator ICEYE's headquarters in Espoo, Finland. One of its satellites, which provides radar imagery to Western governments and militaries, was approached by a Russian military satellite last month. | REUTERS

REUTERS

Nov 5, 2026

LONDON/WASHINGTON – A Russian military satellite that approached a Western commercial one last month could have been rehearsing an attack, a military space specialist said, with two related Russian craft now heading in the direction of another Western satellite.

U.S. Under Secretary of State Thomas DiNanno said on X following the mid-October incident that Russia’s Cosmos 2612 military satellite had been “intentionally maneuvering dangerously close to a commercial satellite” in conduct “consistent with on-orbit weapons operations.”

The satellite approached, called X36, is operated by Finnish company ICEYE and provides radar imagery to Western governments and militaries, including Ukraine. Three space specialists described the incident as one of the closest known approaches by a Russian military spacecraft to a commercial satellite in low altitude orbit.

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