U.S. billionaire Elon Musk reportedly had secret talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the war in Ukraine, shifting his initial support for Kyiv in favor of Moscow. The Wall Street Journal revealed that the discussions covered personal, business, and geopolitical matters from October 2022 and continued into this year.
Despite Musk’s criticism of U.S. military aid to Ukraine and endorsement of Donald Trump, he maintained contact with Putin and high-level Russian officials. The Kremlin allegedly pressured Musk’s businesses and implied threats against him, leading to regular communication between them.
While sources suggest the U.S. government is wary of these interactions, they have not raised alarms over security concerns yet. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed only one phone call between Musk and Putin, focusing on space and technology discussions.
However, the Kremlin denied WSJ’s claims that Putin asked Musk to withhold Starlink services from Taiwan at Xi Jinping’s request. The alleged misinformation prompted Peskov to clarify that the single conversation occurred before 2022 and centered around visionary technologies.