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MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia was against the deployment of nuclear weapons in space and his defence minister flatly denied U.S. claims that Russia was developing a nuclear capability for space.
An unidentified source briefed on the matter told Reuters last week in the United States that Washington had new intelligence related to Russian nuclear capabilities and attempts to develop a space-based weapon.
"Our position is clear and transparent: we have always been categorically against and are now against the deployment of nuclear weapons in space," Putin told Sergei Shoigu, his defence minister
"We urge not only compliance with all agreements that exist in this area, but also offered to strengthen this joint work many times," Putin said.
He added that Russia's activities in space did not differ from those of other countries, including the United States.
U.S. sources had suggested that Russia had some sort of new capability in space, but there was little detail and no evidence was published.
The New York Times newspaper reported that the U.S. intelligence was related to Russia’s attempts to develop a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon.
Commenting on the allegation, Shoigu said that there were no plans of the kind outlined by the unidentified sources in the United States.
"Firstly, there are no such projects - nuclear weapons in space. Secondly, the United States knows that this does not exist," Shoigu told Putin.
He accused the White House of trying to scare U.S. lawmakers into allocating more funds for Ukraine as part of Washington's plan to inflict what he said was a strategic defeat on Russia.
He said the second reason for the leaked information about the alleged Russian weapon was to encourage Russia to engage in a dialogue about strategic stability.
Putin said Russia had never been against discussions about strategic stability.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
