Elon Musk's secret talks with Putin ramped up during his Twitter takeover: WSJ report

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has engaged successful concealed talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin since precocious 2022, according to reporting published Thursday by The Wall Street Journal.

Citing "several existent and erstwhile U.S., European and Russian officials," the Journal reported that conversations betwixt Putin and Musk, a Republican megadonor and Pentagon contractor, took spot portion Russia was waging a brutal warfare connected Ukraine, a apical U.S. ally. Topics ranged from concern to idiosyncratic and geopolitical issues.

In 1 instance, Putin pressured Musk to nonstop SpaceX to withold Starlink, its almighty outer net communications service, from Taiwan arsenic a favour to Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Journal reported, citing 2 radical briefed connected the request. Beijing is simply a important state to the Kremlin. A mentation of Starlink that is disposable for subject usage is called StarShield.

Speaking astatine a Semafor conference successful Washington D.C. connected Friday, NASA head Bill Nelson said, "If the communicative is existent that determination person been aggregate conversations betwixt Elon Musk and the president of Russia past I deliberation that would beryllium concerning, peculiarly for NASA, for the Department of Defense, for immoderate of the quality agencies." He besides said the substance "should beryllium investigated."

CNBC has not independently verified the conversations, which the Journal described arsenic a "closely held secret" adjacent wrong the U.S. government.

But the study raises caller questions astir however Musk makes decisions astatine his companies that interaction geopolitics and nationalist security, specified arsenic wherever and erstwhile to alteration Starlink's outer communications technology. Those questions widen to the mode Musk operates the societal web X, which helium owns and leads arsenic CTO.

Musk has go a large Republican donor this predetermination cycle, and is among the astir influential supporters of erstwhile President Donald Trump's campaign.

In September, the seat of a House committee connected China, Rep. Mike Gallagher returned from a Taiwan sojourn with a legislature delegation, wherever they learned that StarShield was not operational for American troops successful and astir the region. They sent a missive to SpaceX demanding that the institution power it on.

As NBC News antecedently reported, Musk and SpaceX said they were successful afloat compliance with their Pentagon contract, and denied the House's claim. SpaceX aboriginal sought bulk ownership of a Starlink-based task requested by Taiwan, a connection the land federation rejected, calling it incompatible with its laws.

Currently, the SpaceX website says that a "service day is chartless astatine this time," for Starlink successful Taiwan for wide customers.

Musk and representatives for X, SpaceX and Tesla did not instantly respond to requests for comment.

Russia's KGB, and its successor bureau the FSB have, for decades, been funny successful controlling media narratives and reaching arsenic galore radical arsenic imaginable with anti-Western oregon pro-Kremlin messages. The conversations betwixt Musk and Putin, who erstwhile ran the KGB, reportedly occurred arsenic Musk was successful the midst of a leveraged buyout and takeover of Twitter.

It was antecedently known that Musk had engaged successful astatine slightest 1 treatment with Putin directly.

In 2022, Eurasia Group laminitis and governmental expert Ian Bremmer wrote that Musk had spoken to Putin earlier the X proprietor posted social media messages successful aboriginal October astir Russia's warfare connected Ukraine.

Musk had projected that Ukraine should manus implicit Crimea to Russia and that Kyiv should stay "neutral" alternatively than attempting to articulation NATO. He continued to beforehand the idea, via X (formerly Twitter) that immoderate Ukraine citizens would similar to articulation Russia.

Kremlin officials praised Musk for his sentiment then, portion Musk drew crisp disapproval from galore others, including Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., and Russia-born quality rights activistic and erstwhile chess champion Garry Kasparov.

Musk closed his acquisition of Twitter for $44 cardinal connected Oct. 27.

"I person spoken to Putin lone erstwhile and that was astir 18 months ago," Musk said astatine that time. "The taxable substance was space."

About a twelvemonth later, successful September 2023, Putin publically praised Musk, calling him a "talented businessman." Putin's praise came aft Musk said helium had refused an exigency petition by the Ukrainian authorities to widen sum of SpaceX's Starlink satellites to Sevastopol successful Crimea. Putin made the comments astatine the Eastern Economic Forum successful Vladivostok, Russia, wherever helium spoke astir Russia's abstraction programme aft a failed satellite landing.

Before that, Musk actively sought to bash concern with Russia astatine his companies SpaceX and Tesla implicit the years.

"I went to Russia 3 times to effort to bargain a mates of their biggest [intercontinental ballistic missiles]," Musk told an assemblage astatine the SXSW interactive league successful 2013, wherever helium recounted the challenges of starting up his re-usable rocket business.

While the rocket woody ne'er manifested, SpaceX was funded successful portion by Russian tech magnate Yuri Milner, who has heavy ties to Silicon Valley firms. And SpaceX present regularly conducts missions with NASA astronauts and cosmonauts from Roscosmos, the Russian Space agency, though diplomatic collaboration of this benignant is emblematic successful the aerospace industry.

Musk and SpaceX are credited with inspiring the instauration of the Commercial Space Act by Republican then-Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, which passed successful 2004, enabling backstage assemblage companies to supply motorboat services to national agencies.

Rohrabacher represented Orange County, California, successful the House for 30 years, but mislaid his reelection bid successful 2018. That loss was partially due to Rohrabacher's publically acknowledged connection with the Kremlin, which included a gathering successful Moscow successful 2016 that troubled U.S. quality officials.

Musk's Tesla has forged proviso concatenation ties to Russia much recently, purchasing millions of euros worthy of aluminum from Rusal since precocious 2020, arsenic CNBC archetypal reported. Rusal was founded by sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and was once sanctioned by the US Treasury, which cited Russia's "malign activities" astatine the time. Those sanctions were lifted nether Trump successful 2019.

Should Trump win, helium has promised Musk a relation successful a "government efficiency" commission, which helium said helium would make astatine the tech magnate's suggestion. Such a relation would springiness Musk sway implicit national agencies including those tasked with ensuring that helium and his companies comply with national laws.

Speaking astatine the New York Economic Club in September, Trump said the committee arsenic helium envisions it would beryllium "tasked with conducting a implicit fiscal and show audit of the full national government." Trump has repeatedly said Musk would pb the committee but would not person to permission his companies to bash so.