Russian President Vladimir Putin called Elon Musk a "real genius" on Wednesday and said the two are in direct contact over satellite technology, as Moscow promotes its own satellite internet project as a homegrown alternative to Musk's Starlink.
Speaking at the Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow, Putin discussed Rassvet, Russia's satellite internet venture, and said coordination with Musk is necessary to keep the two companies' satellites from interfering with each other in orbit. "He's a genius, a real genius," Putin said, according to a BBC translation. "We are in close contact with our American partners, including Mr. Musk."
A Mismatch in Scale
The comparison between the two networks is lopsided: Starlink has launched roughly 13,000 satellites, according to SpaceX, while online satellite trackers put Rassvet's current constellation at only a couple of dozen. The Russian Embassy in South Africa described Rassvet on Wednesday as "Russia's Starlink alternative," while acknowledging it "marks only the country's first steps in this field." SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment on Putin's remarks.
The comments come as US-Russia relations show signs of a thaw even as the war in Ukraine approaches its fifth year. Ukraine has relied heavily on Starlink to keep communications running during the war, but its military reported sudden connectivity problems with the network last week — outages Musk has acknowledged were intentional on SpaceX's part.
A Wider Pattern of Rapprochement
Putin's praise for Musk follows a string of other gestures between Washington and Moscow this month: President Trump said he had struck a deal with Russia to import diesel in an effort to ease gas prices that have climbed because of the US war with Iran, and Trump subsequently waived sanctions against Russia that had been set to take effect. A US citizen was released from Russian custody shortly afterward, with US envoy Steve Witkoff referring to Putin as a "humanitarian."
Musk, who has become one of the biggest financial backers of Trump and other Republican politicians, has not commented publicly on Putin's remarks. The satellite diplomacy underscores how commercial space infrastructure has become entangled with great-power politics even as the underlying war in Ukraine, where Starlink connectivity has been a battlefield factor, continues.