American billionaire Elon Musk has been communicating regularly with Russian President Vladimir Putin since the end of 2022. In private conversations, they discuss personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) writes about this with reference to its own sources among current and former officials of the USA, Europe and Russia.
The talks between Musk and Putin worry the current US administration. Musk has developed deep business ties with the US military and intelligence services through his company SpaceX, so the billionaire most likely has access to some classified US information.
Information about Muskʼs Kremlin contacts appears to be carefully concealed in the US government: several White House officials told the newspaper that they were not aware of them. According to WSJ sources, there is a big dilemma in the US government, because the States are very dependent on the space development of the billionaire, and they "donʼt like it".
In October 2022, Musk publicly stated that he had spoken with Putin only once. He said it was space talk around April 2021. However, after 2022, Musk communicated with several high-ranking Russian officials, including, according to two WSJ sources, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Russian Presidential Administration Serhiy Kiriyenko. It is not known what they talked about.
In the fall of 2022, political scientist Jan Bremmer said that Musk told him about his conversation with Putin and about the Kremlinʼs "red lines". According to Bremmer, Musk conveyed to him a message that Russia would preserve Crimea and the "neutrality" of Ukraine "at any cost" and that it would respond to a Ukrainian invasion of annexed Crimea with a nuclear strike. Musk denied saying that to Bremmer.
In addition, according to the publication, at the end of 2023, Putin asked Musk not to activate the Starlink satellite communication terminals in Taiwan in order to do a favor to the leader of the Peopleʼs Republic of China Xi Jinping. Starlink is not authorized to provide internet services in Taiwan, whose government restricts foreign satellite operators.
Musk has become a key supporter of US presidential candidate Donald Trumpʼs campaign this year and could find a role in his administration if he wins. At the same time, after Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the US and its allies reduced or completely stopped contacts with Putin. So his conversations with Musk, the WSJ writes, may signal the restoration of contacts with the Russian leader and the desire to settle "main differences", such as the war in Ukraine, which Trump has repeatedly said.
- Thousands of Starlink terminals helped Ukraine maintain communication at the beginning of the great invasion and during the winter blackouts — all thanks to the good will of Elon Musk. However, the longer the war lasted, the more controversial statements the billionaire made about Ukraine — he wrote about successful Russian mobilization, urged not to irritate Russia and recognize its right to the occupied territories.
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