Musk’s growing support for Trump led to discussions about Starlink and Ukraine, as well as personal matters.
The Wall Street Journal reports Elon Musk, world’s richest man and a key figure for US space efforts, has maintained regular contact with Russian president Vladimir Putin since the end of 2022.
According to WSJ, the discussions include personal topics, business issues, and geopolitical concerns. Two people who were briefed in the matter told WSJ, that Putin asked Musk to refrain from activating Starlink satellite Internet service over Taiwan to show his gratitude to Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The contacts could raise national-security concerns for some members of the current administration. This is due to the fact that Putin is one of America’s main adversaries, and Musk has deep business ties to US military and intelligence agencies via SpaceX, an American spacecraft manufacturer and launch service provider.
Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman, told WSJ the only communication between Musk and Putin was a telephone call in which they discussed “space and current and future technologies.”
According to WSJ’s report, the White House is not aware of these contacts, and several officials have said that they were unaware of them. This issue is especially sensitive, given Musk’s growing involvement in Donald Trump‘s presidential campaign.
A person familiar with these interactions told WSJ in 2022 that Musk was regularly having conversations with “high level Russians,” and that the Kremlin was exerting pressure on Musk’s business and making “implicit threat against him.”
One person familiar with the conversations told WSJ that the government was not happy about the Musk-Putin contact, but noted that no alerts had been raised regarding possible security breaches.
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