London —

Germany and the United Kingdom have warned of the growing threat posed by Russian and Chinese space satellites, which have been regularly spotted spying on satellites used by Western powers.

The countries have in recent weeks highlighted frequent instances of Russia stalking, jamming and interfering with their satellites in space.

“Russia’s actions, especially in space, pose a fundamental threat to us all. A threat we can no longer ignore,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told a Berlin conference of space industry leaders in September.

Targeting communications satellites can impact things like satellite imagery, telecoms and broadband satellite internet access. Disrupting navigation and positioning systems can impact military operations as well as civil aviation, according to the global think tank RAND.

The warnings come in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now well into its third year. Ukrainian officials say Moscow has increased its level of cooperation with China, with Beijing conducting satellite reconnaissance of Ukrainian territory on its behalf.

Here is what officials and experts say about the satellite threats in space.

What has Russia been doing?

Pistorius noted that two Russian reconnaissance satellites were recently spotted tracking two IntelSat satellites, which are used by the German Armed Forces and its allies. IntelSat is a commercial satellite services provider whose fleet is used by governments and companies in the US and Europe.

“Russia and China have rapidly expanded their space warfare ca