Russia has intercepted communications from at least a dozen European satellites, including those carrying Government and military data, officials warn.

14:33, Wed, Feb 4, 2026 Updated: 14:35, Wed, Feb 4, 2026

Vladimir Putin Visits The Moscow Institute Of Physics And Technology in Dolgoprudny

Russian vehicles have come in close proximity of key European satellites, officials say (Image: Getty)

Sensitive information transmitted by European satellites may be at high risk of interception by Russia, security officials have warned. Two Russian space vehicles, known as Luch-1 and Luch-2, have reportedly already hijacked at least a dozen satellites over Europe, with fears also surrounding the potential manipulation or sabotage of their trajectories. The two vehicles have come within close approach of some of the continent's most important satellites, which serve the continent as well as parts of Africa and the Middle East and orbit around 350,000 km above Earth, according to the Financial Times.

German defence minister Boris Pistorius warned that satellite networks are "an Achilles heel of modern societies" in a speech last year. "The Russian activities are a fundamental threat to all of us, especially in space. A threat we must no longer ignore," he said. While the satellites approached by the Luch vehicles are most commonly used for civilian purposes, including television, some carry sensitive Government and military data.

Sci-Fi sattellite on the orbit of the Earth

The satellites could become Europe's 'Achilles heel' (Image: Getty)

Analysts have warned that intelligence-gathering from satellites could enable Russia to coordinate covert attacks on the west, especially linked to jamming and hacking operations.

Interception of the satellite "command link", which connects them to ground controllers, also means Moscow could mimic commands from the ground and manipulate their positioning.

Luch-2 has moved towards at least 17 geostationary satellites since its launch in 2023, according to data from Slingshot, in what experts say must be a calculated effort.

Norbert Puzin, senior orbital analyst at French satellite tracking company Aldoria, told the FT: "These are all NATO-based operators.

"Even if they cannot decrypt messages, they can still extract a lot of information ... they can map how a satellite is being used, work out the location of ground terminals, for example."

As global tensions continue to mount between Russia and the West, including the continued escalation of Vladimir Putin's shadow war in Europe in response to aid given to Ukraine, his reconnaissance work in space has also amped up.

Two new satellites, named Cosmos 2589 and Cosmos 2590, were launched last year and tracked moving into the same range as Europe's geostationary vehicles.

Major General Paul Tedman, head of the UK Space Command, said in October that Russia was targeting UK military satellites on a weekly basis.

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"We're seeing our satellites being jammed by the Russians on a reasonably persistent basis," he told the BBC. "They've got payloads on board that can see our satellites and are trying to collect information from them."

Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chair of the NATO Military Committee, also said last year that the alliance should take a more "aggressive" approach to deter Putin from launching more hybrid attacks.