(Credit: Oleh Dubyna)
Not unlike former president Donald Trump, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been "in regular contact" with Russian President Vladimir Putin for years, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.
Putin, whom the US blacklisted in 2022, reportedly asked Musk not to deploy SpaceX's satellite internet service Starlink in Taiwan because China's leader Xi Jinping doesn't want it to happen, framing it as a favor.
Taiwan's Ministry of Digital Affairs has since said it would welcome applications from satellite companies like Starlink. Starlink's coverage map shows Taiwan as "Coming Soon," but with the note that "service date is unknown at this time."
Musk's relationship with Putin poses a concern to some in the US government because Musk has top-secret security clearance in the US—and Russia is a US-sanctioned entity and national rival. Starlink secured a $1.8 billion classified contract with the US back in 2021, as well, which could be a spy satellite project that's irked Russia.
"We do not comment on any individual’s security clearance, review or status, or about personnel security policy matters in the context of reports about any individual’s actions," the Pentagon told WSJ.
A Kremlin spokesperson claimed that Musk and Putin have only had one telephone call where they discussed "space as well as current and future technologies." Two years ago, Musk said he had only spoken with Putin once in a 2021 phone call about space.
But Musk has reportedly spoke with Putin multiple times again since. Musk has also reportedly spoken with Russian officials like Putin's first deputy chief of staff, whom the Justice Department has blamed for a rash of Russian disinformation on Musk-owned X.
SpaceX, however, later denied claims that Russia has anything to do with Taiwan's lack of Starlink access. "Regarding Taiwan, as even the Taiwan government has confirmed, Starlink is not available there because Taiwan has not given us a license to operate, and regulators declined to remove a requirement that a foreign entity own 51% of Starlink to operate there," SpaceX wrote on Friday.
"SpaceX has not accepted such a condition for any market in which it operates. This has nothing to do with Russia or China," it continued.
Russia has repeatedly threatened to attack Starlink over surveillance concerns, but its military had also procured dishes through black-market websites for communications as it continues its attack on Ukraine this year.
In May, the US Department of Defense claimed it had stopped Russian Starlink use in Ukraine, but admitted Russia may try new ways to get new dishes or old ones to work again in the future. That month, Russia managed to trigger a widespread Starlink outage in Ukraine that may have been caused by a kind of anti-satellite system.
More recently, a report suggested that Russia may be fitting Starlink dishes on its military drones to attack Ukraine, suggesting the nation found a loophole to get around US restrictions.
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to include a response from SpaceX.