A Russian satellite tried last year to spy on a Franco-Italian satellite Athena Fidus to follow secured military communications, denounced Friday, September 7 the French minister of armies Florence Parly in a speech dedicated to space. 

“this big-eared satellite is called Louch-Olymp, it's a well-known Russian satellite but a bit … Indiscreet,” she continued. She said it approached the French-Italian satellite launched in 2014 and used for secure military communications and the planning of operations. Parly said the satellite came so close “that one really could believe that it was trying to capture our communications.” She added: “attempting to listen to your neighbours is not only unfriendly, it’s an act of espionage. “we had seen it happen and took the necessary measures, we watched it closely, and we observed that it continued to actively manoeuvre the following months with other targets, but tomorrow, who says that it will not come back to one of our satellites? “she asked herself.

Athena-Fidus consists of two payloads French and Italian.  Built by Thales Alenia space, the satellite provides secure communications to the French and Italian armed forces and emergency services.

The United States has recently denounced “the very abnormal behaviour” of a “space object” deployed by Russia in October 2017.

She added that “this little stars wars didn’t happen a long time ago in a galaxy far away. It happened a year ago, 36 thousand kilometres above our heads.”

In august 23, 2017, the Russian ministry of defence issued a press release that said “today, a small-sized spacecraft has separated from the space platform in order to inspect condition of the Russian satellite.”