Russian satellite dangerously close to Western reconnaissance satellite — Bild

The Russian military satellite Kosmos-2612 has "dangerously approached" the ICEYE-X36 reconnaissance satellite operated by the Finnish company ICEYE. The German tabloid Bild writes about this with reference to the calculations of the Orbital Radar platform.

On the night of October 18, the distance between the devices was reduced to 578 meters at an altitude of about 547 kilometers above the Ground. At the same time, the publication admits that the Finnish company provides the Ukrainian Armed Forces with satellite images for military intelligence.

Dutch observer Marco Langbroek assures that the Russian satellite has made a series of maneuvers, gradually approaching ICEYE-X36. Western experts suggest that the rapprochement was intentional. In particular, the specialist of the American RAND Center ❶ Michael Bonert called Russia's actions "a demonstration of force." In his opinion, Moscow thus shows that it is potentially capable of attacking a Western satellite.

Experts warn that such maneuvers pose a threat of collision of vehicles. As a result, a large amount of space debris can form, which can damage other satellites.

Russia has repeatedly called commercial satellites helping Ukraine potential military targets. At the same time, there is no evidence yet that Kosmos-2612 was preparing to directly attack ICEYE-X36, Bild emphasizes.

As EADaily reported, the discussion of "non-standard maneuvers" of Russian military satellites approaching the ICEYE-X36 reconnaissance vehicles of the Finnish-American company has been going on since July.

In April 2026, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket launched six military vehicles of the Cosmos series (2609-2614) from the Plesetsk cosmodrome. Between May 14 and 20, at least four of them (2610, 2611, 2612, 2613) made maneuvers to coincide with the orbital plane of the Finnish satellite ICEYE-X36 (altitude ~547 km).

Back in 2022, Russian representative to the UN Konstantin Vorontsov warned Western countries that "quasi-civilian" commercial satellites helping Ukraine could become a "legitimate target." At the same time, the destruction of satellites will not be required — according to Z-bloggers, "the coincidence of orbital planes allows you to directly affect the target, including by means of electronic warfare."

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