Russia has drawn renewed scrutiny following a series of reportedly unprecedented orbital maneuvers, in which one of its government-owned satellites operated in extreme proximity to a U.S.-operated satellite, highlighting growing concerns over the risks of confrontation in space.

The Russian satellite, designated Cosmos 2612, carried out a series of close-proximity maneuvers toward ICEYE-X36, a U.S.-registered commercial radar-imaging satellite, between October 15 and 19, based on data by space-tracking company LeoLabs. Cosmos 2612 spent two days at a close proximity of less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) with ICEYE-X36 before moving away to 62 miles (100 kilometers), according to Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist who tracks ongoing space activities.

Experts deemed it an unprecedented proximity operation and potentially dangerous, yet the intent behind it remains unclear. The ICEYE-X36 satellite is believed to be providing synthetic aperture radar imagery to Ukraine, according to Breaking Defense.

Cosmos 2612 launched on April 16 from a spaceport in northern Russia as one of six military satellites. U.S. military officials have been tracking the group of satellites over the past few months after four of the six satellites adjusted their orbit to align with the ICEYE spacecraft.

It wasn’t until last week that Cosmos 2612 began aggressively stalking the U.S.-operated satellite in orbit, coming within less than a third of a mile (500 meters) and shifting between positions behind and ahead of ICEYE-X36.

In a statement on Friday, LeoLabs said that the Russian spacecraft “conducted a deliberate series of maneuvers toward ICEYE-X36.” Marco Langbroek, a satellite-tracking specialist at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, wrote that while he was initially skeptical whether this was intentional, the series of maneuvers “were clearly designed to bring the two objects very close and synchronize their orbital periods, orbital altitude and eccentricity.”

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