Elon Musk has reportedly been in regular contact with Vladimir Putin

Elon Musk has secretly been in “common contact” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Wall Road Journal reported right this moment.

The paper attributed the data to present and former officers within the U.S., Europe and Russia. The sources mentioned the calls between Musk and Putin started greater than two years in the past. In 2022, Musk said that he had spoken with Putin solely as soon as over 18 months earlier.

The Journal reported that the calls lined private subjects, enterprise and geopolitics. Through the talks, Musk is believed to spoken with a number of high-ranking Russian officers. On one event, Putin reportedly requested Musk to keep away from activating Starlink over Taiwan as a favor to Chinese language President Xi Jinping.

Starlink is a constellation of web satellites that SpaceX Corp. started deploying in 2019. At this time, it contains greater than 6,300 satellites perched in low Earth orbit. Customers hook up with the constellation utilizing compact antennas that SpaceX sells along with web subscriptions.

In response to the Journal, Musk has “distinctive visibility” into a number of U.S. house applications in his capability as SpaceX’s chief government. He reportedly possesses a safety clearance that offers him entry to some categorised data.

On Wednesday, SpaceX used a reusable Falcon 9 rocket to deploy a group of satellites for the U.S. Nationwide Reconnaissance Workplace. It’s the third launch the corporate has carried as a part of an NRO initiative centered on making a so-called proliferated structure. That’s reportedly a kind of satellite tv for pc constellation comprising quite a few, comparatively small methods designed for “functionality and resilience.”

SpaceX additionally works with a number of different authorities companies together with NASA. Early right this moment, a SpaceX spacecraft splashed down within the Gulf Of Mexico with a crew of astronauts aboard. The Crew Dragon capsule returned the astronauts from the Worldwide Area Station following a monthslong keep in orbit.

Additionally this week, Yahoo Finance reported that Musk has grow to be the second-largest monetary backer of Donald Trump’s election marketing campaign. New regulatory filings present that the SpaceX CEO has spent greater than $118 million bankrolling an excellent PAC that helps the marketing campaign. In September, Trump said that he plans to make make Musk the pinnacle of a “authorities effectivity fee.”

NASA Administrator Invoice Nelson addressed the report about Musk’s talks with Putin throughout an occasion hosted by Semafor right this moment. He mentioned the matter “ought to be investigated.”

“If it’s true there have been a number of conversations with Elon Musk and the president of Russia, then that might be regarding, significantly for NASA and the Division of Protection,” Nelson mentioned.

Picture: SpaceX