GENEVA, February 16. /TASS/. Western media reports on alleged Russian plans to put nuclear weapons into space are untrue and ridiculous, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Office and Other International Organizations in Geneva Gennady Gatilov said.

"We believe these insinuations to be Washington’s attempt to launch another anti-Russian campaign, aimed at justifying its own military plans in space, which are clearly defined in the US military doctrines," the diplomat said in a statement published on the Russian diplomatic mission’s website.

Gatilov explained that these documents identify near-Earth space as another "operational environment for conducting combat operations", with Russia and China labelled as the main "adversaries" and "threats."

Western media reports concerning Russia’s alleged plans to deploy nuclear weapons in space "can only be considered as false and absurd," Gatilov said. He recalled that "international law stipulates a direct prohibition on the deployment of any objects armed with any types of weapons of mass destruction in space."

Earlier, ABC News claimed that Moscow was allegedly hatching plans to deploy nuclear weapons in space. Later, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that such Western media reports were another ploy by the White House, which "rightly or wrongly, is trying to push Congress to vote on the appropriations bill" for aid to Ukraine.