Elon Musk has been in regular contact with Vladimir Putin and his aides since late 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Current and former U.S., European and Russian officials have revealed that the billionaire has worked with Russian presidents, including those tasked with spreading Russian disinformation on Musk’s social media platform X. He reportedly had secret conversations with other senior officials about business, geopolitics and personal matters. journal.
The report is alarming on several fronts, given Musk’s prominent role in former President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign. He has top-secret authority as head of SpaceX, which launches satellites vital to U.S. national security, and is also the owner of social media platform X, which has 600 million active users.
According to the Wall Street Journal, one of his Russian contacts is Putin’s chief of staff, Sergei Kiriyenko, who the U.S. Department of Justice has ordered into 30 offices for spreading disinformation, including information about X. They are accusing them of creating Internet domains.
It is not clear from the report whether Musk was already in talks with the Russians when he was pursuing the acquisition of Company X (formerly Twitter) in the fall of 2022. But since the contacts began, Moscow has acknowledged that Musk has begun to criticize U.S. military aid in Ukraine. Disinformation will run rampant on X, becoming Trump’s second biggest electoral boost.
Musk did not respond to The Wall Street Journal’s request for comment, but after the article was published, he responded to political commentator Keith Olbermann’s post about X, saying Musk is working on behalf of Russia. , said he needed to be detained “immediately.”
“Olbermann has achieved the impossible,” Musk wrote, before referring to Olbermann with an offensive slur. “SpaceX is the main communication system of the frontline Ukrainian military, because everything else is destroyed or jammed by Russia!”
However, he did not deny having had contact with President Putin.
When Russia first invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Musk posted messages of support for Kiev on Twitter and announced that his company was working to provide internet access to areas where Russian bombs had destroyed Ukraine’s communications infrastructure. donated 15,000 Starlink devices.
However, as the war progressed, Russia began to apply public and private pressure on Musk, making implicit threats, The Wall Street Journal reported. By September 2022, apparently around the time his conversations with Putin began, Musk was restricting how the Ukrainian military could use Starlink terminals.
Musk reportedly spoke to President Vladimir Putin as his views on the Ukraine war change in public/Anadolu (via Getty Images)
Earlier this year, the world’s richest man began criticizing U.S. military aid to Ukraine, a common talking point for the Trump campaign, and in July said he would spearhead a major push for Trump’s re-election. Announced.
In the past three months, Musk has poured more than $122 million into pro-Trump super PACs that are struggling in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania. If Trump wins, Musk is likely to receive a government appointment in return.
Asked by the Wall Street Journal to comment on Putin’s relationship with Musk, a Trump campaign spokesperson praised Musk as a “once-in-a-generation industry leader.” She also repeated Trump’s usual refrain that if he were elected on grounds of “strength” and “deterrence,” the war in Ukraine would end abruptly and inexplicably.
According to veteran journalist Bob Woodward, President Trump has met with Putin at least seven times since leaving office. The Republican presidential candidate has denied such a meeting, saying it would be a “wise move.” He has long expressed admiration for authoritarian leaders, even calling the Ukraine war “genius.”
