Vladimir Putin asked Elon Musk to turn off the internet over Taiwan as a “favour to China”, western security officials believe.
The world’s richest man and Russia’s leader have been in regular contact since 2022, according to several former and current officials in the US, Europe and Russia.
The SpaceX founder was reportedly once asked by the Russian leader to avoid activating his Starlink satellite internet service over the small Asian country, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
It was not reported whether Musk took any action in response to Putin’s request.
Vladimir Putin asked Elon Musk to turn off the internet over Taiwan as a 'favour to China', western security officials believe
Reuters
Other topics of conversations between the two men include business, geopolitical tensions, as well as more personal subjects.
Musk, who is a regular critic of the publication on his platform X, has yet to comment on the alleged communication.
He faced allegations earlier this year that he had sold Starlink terminals to Russia to help their invasion of Ukraine.
The billionaire gave Kyiv free access to the system, with the company delivering 5,000 terminals to Ukraine. It has been vital to Ukrainian forces over the nearly three-year conflict.
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Space X, the company that launches the satellites, has extensive contracts with the US Department of Defence
ReutersMusk has slammed the reports as “categorically false” and “absurd”, stating that they do not do business with Russia.
Space X, the company that launches the satellites, has extensive contracts with the US Department of Defence. This gives him security clearance to classified information.
The firm is the primary rocket launcher for both Nasa and the Pentagon.
According to The New York Times, the billionaire was promised $3billion across 100 different contracts last year with over numerous federal agencies.
Vladimir Putin asked Elon Musk to turn off the internet over Taiwan as a 'favour to China'
ReutersThe Kremlin has slammed the claims as “not true” and “absolutely false”
Starlink is not available in Taiwan, with a map of global availability stating that “service date is unknown at this time”.
Beijing remains officially neutral on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, though it has supported Putin's claims that the war was caused by western aggression.
China views Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to take over the island, with force if necessary. It has insisted that “reunification” is inevitable.
However, the island has maintained that any “external forces” would not be allowed to interfere with the Taiwanese government.
