The United States has challenged Russia about a satellite orbiting the earth exhibiting "abnormal behaviour", raising questions about Moscow’s intentions to develop space weapons.

A US official said the satellite was acting suspiciously, describing its recent launch as “a very troubling development” that appears to justify Donald Trump’s plans for a new Space Force branch of the armed forces.

“Its behaviour on-orbit was inconsistent with anything seen before,” Yleem Poblete, the assistant secretary at the state department’s bureau of arms control, verification and compliance, told a UN disarmament conference in Geneva on Tuesday.

“We are concerned with what appears to be very abnormal behaviour.”…