Putin calls Musk a 'genius' as Russia builds its own Starlink rival

Russian president Vladimir Putin said he is in close contact with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk over Rassvet — Moscow’s attempt to build a satellite-internet network to rival Starlink. Speaking at the Russia-Africa Summit on Wednesday, Putin called Musk “truly a genius,” noting that Musk already has more than 5,000 satellites in orbit while Russia is only taking its first steps.

That dynamic carries real weight given Musk’s own recent clashes with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose country has been resisting a Russian invasion since 2022. After the US eased sanctions on Russia earlier this month, Ukrainian officials grew concerned Ukraine could lose access to Starshield, the military version of Starlink that Ukrainian forces rely on.

Those worries had some basis. For roughly 10 days earlier this month, Ukrainian drones lost connectivity frequently. The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk directed SpaceX to restrict Ukraine’s Starlink access, though other accounts attribute the order to the White House instead. Musk said on X that Ukraine had breached Starlink’s terms of service by deploying the technology for offensive drone strikes meant to kill people. Starlink service in Ukraine has since returned to normal.

Musk has argued the stakes of any cutoff are severe: turning off Starlink, he wrote on X, would make the Ukrainian front line collapse at once — a point he described as fact, not a threat.

Why it matters

A warmer Putin-Musk relationship, paired with Russia’s own satellite ambitions, raises the stakes of a technology that has already shown it can be switched on or off at the discretion of one company and its owner, with direct consequences for an active war.