Russian President Vladimir Putin called space x CEO Elon Musk is a “genius” and revealed that the two companies are “in close contact” about developing a Russian replacement for Starlink.
“Elon Musk is a genius, a real genius,” President Putin said Wednesday at the Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow. “He already has more than 5,000 such satellites in orbit, and we have only just taken the first steps,” he said at an event discussing Russia’s own satellite connectivity project “Rusvet.”
Lasvet is a constellation of Internet satellites in low Earth orbit built by the Russian private aerospace company Bureau 1440. According to satellite tracking company Orbital Radar, 31 satellites are currently in orbit, out of 32 launched since March of this year. The 26 aircraft are on a working orbit of approximately 509 kilometers.
“I’m proud that we started this and that we started doing it independently,” Putin said, according to a translation. “We are in close contact with our partners in the United States, including Mr. Musk.”
“In orbit, it is very important to not interfere with each other and to maintain certain rules, discipline and order. Both we and our American partners value this mutual understanding. Despite all the political challenges, we continue to work closely together with Mr. Musk.”
Starlink owner SpaceX did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Starlink operates a constellation of more than 11,000 satellites in orbit, providing high-speed internet access to 174 countries, according to the company.
The service gained attention earlier this month when Ukraine accused SpaceX and Musk of imposing restrictions that slowed access to the country’s military satellite internet and thereby undermined its defense capabilities.
Ukrainian officials said the restrictions affect StarShield, SpaceX’s government satellite communications service, which causes drones and other mobile devices to lose or degrade connectivity at speeds above about 100 miles per hour.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy blamed mission limitations for frequent Russian air attacks that disrupted air defense capabilities.
Musk has said that StarShield is controlled by the U.S. government and ultimately the president, but other reports say the restrictions were imposed by Musk. US President Donald Trump denied the restraining order.
The White House and SpaceX did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment on whether services were being restricted or where such orders came from.
Musk later said Ukraine violated Starlink’s terms of service by using a private commercial network for offensive drone attacks. Ukraine denies doing so.
Putin’s comments late Wednesday came amid continued attacks between Russia and Ukraine as the war approaches its fifth year.
An attack by a Russian jet-powered drone on a train station in eastern Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk early Thursday morning killed 13 people and injured 10 others, regional governor Oleksandr Ganza announced.
Russia also attacked Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, damaging an educational institution, the city’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, wrote in a telegram, while the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that it had intercepted and destroyed 1,214 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles overnight.
US-brokered peace talks between Putin, Zelensky and Trump could take place next month.
President Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that preparations are underway for a tripartite meeting to be held in Abu Dhabi by November 10.
The Russian government has not yet proposed a specific date for the talks, which will depend on several factors, including the Iran war, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said on Wednesday.
“It will depend on the situation on the battlefield and the general situation. We can see from the current situation in the Middle East that it cannot be maintained in the near future. That is my guess,” Ushakov told reporters, Reuters reported, citing Russian media.
-CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.
