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Russian MP Calls for Open Information on Falling US Spy Satellite

Posted on: Monday, 28 January 2008, 09:00 CST

Moscow, 28 January: The US authorities must supply Russia with objective and maximally open information on the causes of failure of the [deorbiting] spy satellite and possible consequences of its impact with Earth. This view was voiced to ITAR-TASS by chairman of the State Duma international affairs committee, Konstantin Kosachev.

"I would like to stress that here the US side should be open to the maximum in supplying the information about the causes of the incident and its possible consequences. This is not the case where we should keep objective information from each other. Naturally, we will expect this from the US side," he said.

At the same time Kosachev stressed that he would not like "to dramatize the situation". "Cases where control over satellites was lost have occurred before," Kosachev said. That is why these "sad incidents" need a thorough understanding and a joint analysis, Kosachev believes.

"Irrespective of what type of satellite it was and what tasks it was performing, we can only wish our American partners to restore control over it and to experience minimum consequences in case of a disaster," he concluded.

A large US spy satellite has failed and is in an uncontrolled descent from its orbit, sources in the US president's administration told journalists on Saturday [26 January].

Source: BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union

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