Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk have been holding secret talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022, according to a report published Thursday by the Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper cited “several current and former U.S., European and Russian officials” as saying that Putin’s conversations with Musk, a Republican mega-donor and Pentagon contractor, revealed that Russia is a key U.S. ally. It was reported that the attack was carried out during the country’s brutal war against Ukraine. Topics ranged from business to personal to geopolitical issues.
In one instance, Putin pressured Musk to direct SpaceX’s powerful Starlink satellite internet communications service out of Taiwan as a favor to Chinese President Xi Jinping. , the newspaper reported, citing two people briefed on the request. Beijing is a key ally of the Kremlin. The version of Starlink available for military use is called StarShield.
“If the story of multiple conversations between Elon Musk and the Russian president is true, it’s especially concerning for NASA,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at the Semaphore conference in Washington, D.C., on Friday. I think that’s the case,” he said. Department of Defense and some intelligence agencies. He added that the matter “should be investigated.”
CNBC has not independently verified this conversation, but the Journal describes it as “top secret” even within the U.S. government.
But the report sheds new light on how Musk makes decisions at his company that affect geopolitics and national security, such as when and where to enable Starlink satellite communications technology. It raises questions. These questions extend to how Social Network X, which Musk owns and leads as CTO, operates.
Musk has been a major donor to the Republican Party this election cycle, making him one of former President Donald Trump’s most influential supporters in his campaign.
Elon Musk hugs Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show on October 5, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
In September, Congressman Mike Gallagher, chairman of the House Committee on China, returned with a congressional delegation from a visit to Taiwan, where he confirmed that StarShield was not being used against U.S. forces in and around the region. I learned. They sent a letter to SpaceX, demanding they flip the switch.
As NBC News previously reported, Musk and SpaceX denied the House’s claims, saying they are in full compliance with their contracts with the Pentagon. SpaceX then sought majority ownership of a Starlink-based venture requested by Taiwan, but Taiwan rejected the offer as being against the law.
Currently, SpaceX’s website states that “service date is unknown at this time” for Starlink for general customers in Taiwan.
Representatives for Musk, X, SpaceX and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.
Russia’s KGB and its successor agency, the FSB, have for decades been concerned with controlling media discourse and delivering anti-Western or pro-Kremlin messages to as many people as possible. Musk’s conversations with former KGB leader Putin reportedly took place during Musk’s leveraged acquisition and takeover of Twitter.
SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn Falcon 9 rocket is installed at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in preparation for another launch attempt on September 9, 2024, at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Joe Radle | Getty Images
It has long been known that Musk has met directly with President Putin at least once.
In 2022, Eurasia Group founder and political analyst Ian Bremer revealed that Musk had spoken to President Putin before the X owner posted a message on social media about Russia’s war with Ukraine in early October. I wrote.
Musk had suggested that Ukraine hand over Crimea to Russia and that Kiev remain “neutral” rather than seek to join NATO. Through X (formerly Twitter), he continued to promote the idea that some Ukrainian citizens want to join Russia.
Although Kremlin officials praised Musk’s comments at the time, he faced harsh criticism from many people, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and senators. lindsay grahamRS.C., Russian-born human rights activist and former chess champion Garry Kasparov.
Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter on October 27th.
“I’ve only spoken to President Putin once, and that was about 18 months ago,” Musk said at the time. The topic was space.
About a year later, in September 2023, President Putin publicly praised Musk, calling him a “talented businessman.” Putin’s praise came after Musk said he had rejected an urgent request by the Ukrainian government to extend the range of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites to Sevastopol, Crimea. President Putin made the comments at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, where he spoke about Russia’s space program after the failed moon landing.
On March 8, 2023, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, a Starlink satellite internet system is installed near the frontline town of Bakhmut during the Russian offensive against Ukraine.
Rishi Niesner | Reuters
Before that, Musk had been actively seeking deals with Russia for his companies SpaceX and Tesla for years.
“I went to Russia three times to try to buy some of their biggest[intercontinental ballistic missiles],” Musk told an audience at the 2013 interactive conference SXSW, praising his reusable rocket business. He talked about the challenges he faced when starting up.
Although the missile deal never materialized, SpaceX was partially financed by Yuri Milner, a Russian-born Israeli tech tycoon with deep ties to Silicon Valley companies. In August 2022, Milner officially denounced his Russian nationality. SpaceX now regularly conducts missions with cosmonauts from NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and this type of diplomatic cooperation is typical in the aerospace industry.
Musk and SpaceX are credited with influencing the passage of commercial space legislation by then-Republican congressmen. The Dana Rohrabacher Act was passed in 2004, allowing private companies to provide launch services to federal agencies.
Rohrabacher represented Orange County, California, in the House of Representatives for 30 years, but lost reelection in 2018. That defeat was due in part to the public acknowledgment of Mr. Rohrabacher’s interactions with the Kremlin, including a meeting in Moscow in 2016 that troubled U.S. intelligence officials.
As first reported by CNBC, Musk’s Tesla just recently forged a supply chain relationship with Russia, purchasing millions of euros worth of aluminum from Rusal starting in late 2020. Rusal was founded by sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, and at the time was also sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for Russia’s “malicious activities.” These sanctions were lifted in 2019 under the Trump administration.
If Trump wins, he has promised Musk a role on a “Government Efficiency” commission, which he said he would create at the suggestion of the tech mogul. Such a role would give Musk and his company influence over federal agencies, including those tasked with ensuring compliance with federal law.
Speaking at the New York Economic Club in September, President Trump said his commission would be “tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government.” Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that although Mr. Musk will lead the committee, he does not have to leave his company to do so.
