Elon Musk regularly communicates with Putin since late 2022 – WSJ
American billionaire Elon Musk has been regularly in contact with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin since late 2022.
According to The Wall Street Journal, discussions between Musk and Putin involve personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions.
Two officials reported that at one point, Putin asked the billionaire to refrain from activating his Starlink satellite internet service over Taiwan as a favour to Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The Wall Street Journal noted that knowledge of Musk's contacts with the Kremlin appears to be a significant secret within the government. Specifically, several White House officials stated that they were unaware of these communications.
As journalists reported, during his campaign tour in Pennsylvania last week, Musk spoke about the importance of government transparency and mentioned that he had access to government secrets.
"I do have a top-secret clearance, but, I’d have to say, like most of the stuff that I'm aware of…the reason they keep it top secret is because it’s so boring," The Wall Street Journal quoted Musk.
Nonetheless, a Pentagon representative said: "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."
An informed source said that the government is currently facing a dilemma, as it is heavily dependent on Musk's technology.
As is known, SpaceX launches vital national security satellites into orbit and is the company that NASA relies on to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
"They don’t love it," the source said, referring to the Musk-Putin contacts.
At the same time, the source noted that the administration had not expressed any reservations about possible security violations by Musk.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, for his part, said that the only contact between the Kremlin and Musk was a phone call during which Musk and Putin discussed "space, as well as current and future technologies".
Peskov also added that neither Putin nor Kremlin officials have regular conversations with Musk. Musk confirmed the same information in 2022.
A spokeswoman for the Trump campaign also called Musk "a once-in-a-generation industry leader" and said "our broken federal bureaucracy could certainly benefit from his ideas and efficiency".
"As for Putin. There’s only one candidate in the race that he did not invade another country under, and it’s President Trump. President Trump has long said that he will re-establish his peace through strength foreign policy to deter Russia’s aggression and end the war in Ukraine," the spokeswoman for the Trump campaign said.
It is worth noting that this year Musk has become a key supporter of Trump's election campaign, and if Trump wins, Musk may get a role in the administration.
Musk is known to have established deep business ties with the US military and intelligence agencies, giving him unique access to some of the most sensitive US space programmes. SpaceX, which operates the Starlink service, won a secret US$1.8 billion contract in 2021.
In early October, it was reported that Trump might have spoken to Putin seven times over the past four years and at least once since the beginning of 2024. He refused to confirm or deny this information.