Putin says U.S. ramping up its military forces for space

SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that the United States was rapidly developing its military forces for potential operations in space and that Washington openly viewed space as a potential theatre of war.

Putin, who was speaking in the Black Sea city of Sochi in southern Russia, said that Moscow categorically opposed the militarisation of space but that the U.S. moves meant Russia had to further develop its own space sector.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Hugh Lawson)