Euroview Daily-Translated from the Belgian Edition 10-12-04

From the SLUGS forum:

MOSCOW - Russian President Putin's government has issued a quick response to NATO's report on the since-designated 'Thor's Hammer' bomb that devastated Montreal, Canada. While admitting that the weapon did in fact originate from a 2001 Russian orbital satellite, Moscow completely denies that the satellite was military in nature or that the attack on Canada was any reflection on Russia's policy. The satellite, reports Putin, was designed and built for tracking and classifying Arctic weather patterns and had no military significance whatsoever. When asked what purpose any weapon of mass destruction could have aboard a weather satellite, Putin declared that the entire project was not only Russian but also an Iranian effort, and that inquiries are currently being made with the Iranian government.