Space nukes are raising tensions between Moscow and Washington. Here’s what you need to know

• A fresh spat between Washington and Moscow has raised alarm about the potential risk of a space-based nuclear satellite attack.
• Russia on Tuesday denied U.S. claims that it was developing a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon whose detonation could cause chaos to communications systems on Earth.
• Space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapons — or so-called space nukes — are a type of weapon designed to damage or destroy satellite systems, either for strategic military or disruptive purposes.

A fresh spat between Washington and Moscow has raised alarm about the potential risk of a space-based nuclear satellite attack which could cause chaos to critical communications systems on Earth.

Russia denied U.S. claims that it was developing a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon, with President Vladimir Putin saying Tuesday that the Kremlin was "categorically against" the deployment of nuclear weapons in space, and accusing the White House of scaring lawmakers into passing a new aid package for Ukraine.

It comes after a Reuters report emerged earlier Tuesday, citing one source, that the U.S. believes Moscow is developing a space nuke whose detonation could knock out the satellites underpinning critical U.S. infrastructure, including military communications and mobile phone services. CNBC could not independently verify the report.

Alarm bells around Russia's nuclear advancements were first raised last week when U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner warned of a "serious national security threat" related to Russian capabilities in space.

President Joe Biden later said that Moscow appears to be developing an anti-satellite weapon but noted that it posed no urgent "nuclear threat" to U.S. people, and said that