Space.com By Mike Wall 8/15/2018
A Russian satellite that launched to Earth orbit last October has been behaving oddly, raising the possibility that the craft could be some sort of space weapon, a U.S. diplomat warned.
Russia has described the satellite in question as a "space apparatus inspector," Yleem Poblete, assistant secretary for arms control, verification and compliance at the U.S. State Department, said at a conference on disarmament in Geneva yesterday (Aug. 14).
"But its behavior on orbit was inconsistent with anything seen before from on-orbit inspection or space situational-awareness capabilities, including other Russian inspection-satellite activities. We are concerned with what appears to be very abnormal behavior by a declared 'space apparatus inspector,''' Poblete said. [The Most Dangerous Space Weapons Concepts]
"We don't know for certain what it is, and there is no way to verify it," she added. "But Russian intentions with respect to this satellite are unclear and are obviously a very troubling development — particularly when considered in concert with statements by Russia’s Space Force commander, who highlighted that 'assimilate[ing] new prototypes of weapons [into] Space Forces' military units' is a 'main task facing the Aerospace Forces space troops.'"
In addition, Poblete said, the Russian Ministry of Defence has repeatedly affirmed over the past decade that it's developing anti-satellite capabilities. And a Russian Air Force official said in February 2017 "that Russia is developing new missiles with the express intent of destroying satellites," Poblete added in her 1,800-word speech, which you can read in full at the State Department's website.
More:
https://www.space.com/41503-russian-satellite-possible-space-weapon.html
