Key facts
- US accused Russia of "deliberately reckless" satellite maneuver.
- Russian satellite Kosmos-2612 came within 200 meters of ICEYE-X36.
- ICEYE-X36 provides detailed terrestrial images, even through cloud cover.
- ICEYE signed a contract with the Ukrainian Defense Ministry in January.
US officials publicly accused Russia of threatening a Finnish-operated commercial satellite on October 21, calling the move "deliberately reckless." The accusations were made during a United Nations debate, where Russia broadly described the claims as "absurd" and accused Washington of its own "aggressive military space ambitions." The incident occurred days after the Russian military satellite Kosmos-2612 maneuvered "dangerously" close to ICEYE-X36, a US-registered satellite operated by Finnish company ICEYE. LeoLabs, an aerospace intelligence company, stated the maneuver was "consistent with sophisticated rendezvous and proximity operations."