Elon Musk, the tycoon who manages the private space race and the most ambitious satellite internet infrastructure, did not seem to need anything from the Kremlin or President Vladimir Putin. However, in the final months of 2022, the SpaceX founder and the Russian president began sharing a direct line of contact. Confirmation of their conversations, obtained by the US government and revealed by European and Russian sources, had already begun to send shivers through the halls of the White House and the Pentagon, especially after a particular request from Putin, according to a research published by The Wall Street Journal.
In one of those conversations, Putin – with the skill of a chess player in the middle of a game of shadows – slipped an unusual message: he asked Musk to refrain from activating Starlink over Taiwan. The reason, according to the informants, did not arise from Russia’s own territorial ambition, but as a direct favor to Xi Jinping, the head of the Chinese regime and Moscow’s strategic ally on the new geopolitical chessboard. Xi sought, according to the Kremlin, to ensure the disconnection from Taiwan, keep foreign influence under control and avoid an eventual escalation.
Musk’s response to the request was not revealed, but the facts seem to speak for themselves. Even as Starlink coverage has grown at a dizzying pace, Taiwan is still listed as “coming soon” on the service map.
Throughout these conversations, the tone between Musk and Putin remained calculatedly polite, almost familiar, according to sources, although the topics they discussed were anything but casual. Behind his words there seemed to be the gaze of two titans – one of industry and the other of geopolitical power – moving cautiously on the border of their respective interests. The Russian president, cold and pragmatic, found in Musk a kind of bridge to the Western world, someone with access to the secrets of American defense and, at the same time, outside the rigid diplomatic frameworks.
“We are interested in the future of technology in space,” Putin had said in a call earlier this year, referring to SpaceX and Musk’s advances in space. According to the information, the conversations revolved around the prospects for cooperation and rivalry in the space race, two strategic issues that both handled with suspicion and precision. There were no reproaches, but a strange diplomacy of convenience, born in the context of growing Russian isolation.
The most sensitive topic that emerged in the discussions was the expansion of Starlink and its potential presence in hot spots of global conflict. Along these lines, Putin was not limited to the request on Taiwan: in several of his interactions, he made it clear that the presence of Starlink over sensitive areas of Ukraine was a red line for Russia, particularly in the Crimean peninsula. As Moscow saw the situation, the satellite network should not become an offensive tool that would facilitate Ukrainian attacks on Russian targets.
Musk, according to witness reports, defended Starlink’s neutrality as a “civilian communications network,” highlighting that it was not intended to be an ally in offensive military operations. However, his decision to limit the use of Starlink in Ukraine for attack purposes and his response to Putin’s call on Taiwan reflected a growing interest in avoiding any direct escalation with Russia.
“Everything necessary to avoid a nuclear catastrophe,” Musk would have said, in another context, when referring to the Ukrainian crisis.
Elon Musk’s positions regarding Ukraine have transformed since the beginning of the Russian invasion, when his support seemed unequivocal. In February 2022, as soon as the Russian attacks began, Musk did not hesitate to send Starlink, his satellite internet network, to the Ukrainian forces, allowing vital communications in devastated areas.
Musk’s messages on X (formerly Twitter) were as forceful as they were symbolic: “Hold Strong, Ukraine,” he wrote, followed by emojis of Ukrainian flags. In March, he took the support even further by challenging Putin himself in a kind of public joke: a “one-on-one combat” for “Україна” (Ukraine, in Ukrainian).
However, as the conflict progressed and threats of nuclear escalation grew, Musk began to distance himself from that stance of unconditional support. By September 2022, a particularly controversial episode highlighted the change: during a planned operation in Crimea, Ukrainian units attempted to use Starlink terminals to guide attack drones towards a Russian naval base in the Black Sea. The operation failed because Musk decided not to enable coverage in that area, an act that surprised the Ukrainian forces and left their drones offline in full deployment.
When questioned, Musk defended his decision by saying that Starlink had been created for “civilian uses” and not as a weapon in offensive military operations. In his opinion, an attack on Crimea – annexed by Moscow in 2014 – could trigger a catastrophic reaction on the part of Russia, to the point of taking the conflict towards a nuclear exchange.
To reinforce his position, in October of that year Musk launched a survey on X with a peace proposal that surprised the world: he advocated keeping Crimea under Russian control, demanding the neutrality of Ukraine and allowing the Donetsk region to vote on its status. political. Within hours, thousands of users expressed their rejection, accusing him of giving in to the Kremlin’s demands. However, Musk stood firm and defended his proposal as a way to avoid a tragedy of global proportions.
Nothing was yet known about his contacts with Putin.
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