The US Senate Armed Services Committee is investigating why American billionaire Elon Musk decided to shut down Starlink satellites near Crimea when Ukraine was planning an attack on Russian warships.
Bloomberg writes about it.
According to the chairman of the committee Jack Reed, the reports on the work of Starlink revealed "serious national security concerns". He added that the committee will look at the broader satellite communications market, government contracts and "the big role that Mr. Musk and his company play here."
Jack Reed and other senators doubt that the decision to shut down Starlink near Crimea was made by a government official.
"Neither Elon Musk nor any private citizen can have the final say when it comes to US national security," Reed noted.
Democratic senators on the committee also demand an answer from the Pentagon why Elon Musk decides when Ukraine will use Starlink, and not US government officials.
- The head of Ukraineʼs Main Directorate of Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov confirmed that the Starlink systems were not working "for some time" near Crimea.
- Earlier, the CNN channel reported that in 2022, Musk secretly ordered the shutdown of Starlink communications near the coast of Crimea in order to disrupt Ukraineʼs attack on the Russian Navy in Sevastopol. The TV channel received a fragment of Muskʼs biography, written by the American journalist and writer Walter Isaacson, which will officially go on sale on September 12.
- Musk reacted to the scandal and declared that he did not turn off the Starlink satellite communication for drones, but refused to turn it on there at the request of Ukraine.