Russia’s space agency Roscosmos on Wednesday dismissed claims that hacker group Anonymous had hacked its satellites, and warned that any attempt to hack Russian satellites would be used as justification of war.

Commenting on the claimed attack on Russian satellites, Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin tweeted, “The information of these scammers and petty swindlers is not true. All our space activity control centers are operating normally.”

“Offlining the satellites of any country is actually a casus belli, a cause for war,” Rogozin further said, as per a report by The Associated Press, which cited Russian news agency Interfax.

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However, as per Interfax, the Roscosmos head admitted that a cyberattack had indeed been carried out, but that it had targeted a corporate transport monitoring system rather than Russian satellites.

“This system is completely unrelated to Roscosmos’ satellite control systems. The attack was detected in time. It was done automatically, and prevented,” Rogozin said via telegram.

Simultaneously, the Roscosmos chief also demanded guarantees from Britain-based tech firm OneWeb stating that its satellites would not be used against Russia.

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Without such guarantees, the 58-year-old said that Russia would cancel the March 4 launch of 38 OneWeb satellites from the Russian-operated Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan without compensating the company.

“The contract has been fully paid for. We have received a full payment for the production of launch vehicles and upper stages and the provision of launch services. Due to the force majeure created by the aggressive policy of the West and the anti-Russian sanctions, Russia will keep the money,” the Roscosmos chief said as per Interfax.

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Rogozin’s comments come a day after NB65, a group affiliated with the loose, internet hacker collective Anonymous, claimed that it had shut down a Russian control centre for satellites.

“The Russian space agency sure does love their satellite imaging. Better yet they sure do love their vehicle monitoring system. The WS02 was deleted, credentials were rotated and the server is shut down,” NB65 tweeted.

“We won’t stop until you stop,” the group further said.