Russian President Vladimir Putin has described SpaceX CEO Elon Musk as a "genius" and said the two are in "close contact" as Russia works on its own alternative to Starlink.
Speaking at the Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow on Wednesday, Putin said: "Elon Musk is a genius, truly a genius." He noted that Musk already has more than 5,000 such satellites in orbit, "while we are only taking the first steps." He was discussing Rassvet, Russia's satellite connectivity project.
Rassvet is a low Earth orbit satellite internet constellation built by the Russian private aerospace company Bureau 1440. According to the tracker Orbital Radar, 32 satellites have been launched since March, and 31 are currently in orbit. Twenty-six of them have reached their working orbit at about 509 kilometers.
"We are proud that we have begun doing this and that we have started doing it independently," Putin said, according to a translation. "We are in close contact with our U.S. partners, including Mr Musk." He added that orbital operators must avoid interfering with one another and follow rules, discipline and order. "Together with Mr. Musk, despite all the political issues, we continue to work closely," he said.
SpaceX, which owns Starlink, did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment. The company says Starlink operates more than 11,000 satellites and provides high-speed internet access in 174 countries.
The service drew attention earlier this month when Ukraine accused SpaceX and Musk of imposing restrictions that slowed its military satellite internet access. Ukrainian officials said the limits affected Starshield, SpaceX's service for governments, causing drones and other moving terminals to lose or suffer degraded connectivity above roughly 100 miles per hour. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed the restrictions for disrupting air defenses during frequent Russian air attacks.
Musk has said Starshield is controlled by the U.S. government and ultimately the president, though other reports have said Musk imposed the restriction. U.S. President Donald Trump has denied ordering it. The White House and SpaceX did not respond to CNBC about whether service was limited or where an order originated. Musk later said Ukraine had breached Starlink's terms of service by using a civilian commercial network for offensive drone strikes, a claim Ukraine denies.
Putin's remarks came as fighting continued with the war nearing its fifth year. Early Thursday, a Russian jet-powered drone attack on a railway station in Dnipro killed 13 people and injured 10, according to regional governor Oleksandr Ganzha. Russia also struck Kharkiv, damaging an educational institution, Mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram. Russia's Ministry of Defense said it destroyed 1,214 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones overnight.
U.S.-brokered peace talks involving Putin, Zelenskyy and Trump could take place next month. Zelenskyy said Wednesday that preparations are underway for a trilateral meeting in Abu Dhabi by Nov. 10. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said Moscow has not proposed a date, and that timing depends on the battlefield and the situation in the Middle East, which he said "just doesn't allow us to hold it in the near future."
