The Russian president praises Starlink and calls Elon Musk a 'genius'.
Vietnam.vn reported: The Russian president praises Starlink and calls Elon Musk a 'genius'.
Russia1 sourcesThe Musk tracker
Elon Musk and governments worldwide
A sourced record of 212 statements and actions by Elon Musk and his companies since 2022: interventions in the politics, governments, courts and regulation of 43 countries and the European Union, threats and legal action against critics, and the use of market power against competitors. Each entry sets out what he said or did, the background, the response and what happened next.
212entries
44countries and the EU
147with an official response
35with a fact-check or court finding
2026 4
Russia1 sourcesTrump privately raged at Elon Musk amid mounting Starlink backlash: WSJ
Raw Story reported: Trump privately raged at Elon Musk amid mounting Starlink backlash: WSJ.
Russia1 sources23 US congressmen urged Trump to ask Musk to expand Starlink permits for Ukraine – this is necessary to search for missile launchers on the territory of the Russian Federation
Ukr.net reported: 23 US congressmen urged Trump to ask Musk to expand Starlink permits for Ukraine – this is necessary to search for missile launchers on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Russia1 sourcesMusk says SpaceX steps to stop Russian use of Starlink 'have worked' as Ukraine adopts terminal whitelist
After Ukraine's defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov asked SpaceX to act against Russian use of Starlink, Musk wrote: Looks like the steps we took to stop the unauthorized use of Starlink by Russia have worked.
Response: Fedorov wrote that the next step was a system that will allow only authorized terminals to operate on the territory of Ukraine.
Ukraine2024 2
Kremlin denies Wall Street Journal report of regular Musk–Putin contact since 2022
The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk and Vladimir Putin had been in regular contact since 2022, discussing personal, business and geopolitical matters, and that Putin asked Musk to avoid activating Starlink over Taiwan as a favour to Xi Jinping.
Response: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: It's all untrue, absolutely false information,
acknowledging only one earlier phone call with Musk about space and technology.
Russia2 sourcesUkraine says Russian forces use Starlink at the front; Musk calls sales reports 'categorically false'
Ukraine's military intelligence said Russian units were using Starlink terminals and released audio it attributed to Russian soldiers. Musk wrote that reports of SpaceX selling terminals to Russia were categorically false
and that "To the best of our knowle…
Response: Ukrainian intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov said Russian use was becoming systemic.
2023 1
Musk confirms he declined Ukraine's 2022 request to enable Starlink near Sevastopol for an attack
Responding to excerpts of Walter Isaacson's biography, Musk wrote that there was an emergency request from government authorities to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol
and that agreeing would have made SpaceX explicitly complicit
in a major act o…
Response: Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote that civilians, children are being killed
as a result. Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev praised Musk on X.
2022 2
Disputed claimsPost
Musk posts Ukraine 'peace plan' poll proposing Crimea become part of Russia
Musk posted a Twitter poll on a plan to end the war: UN-supervised re-runs of the annexation referendums, Crimea formally part of Russia, assured water supply to Crimea, and Ukraine remaining neutral. A follow-up poll asked whether people of Donbas and Crimea…
Response: President Zelensky posted a poll asking Which @elonmusk do you like more?
(one supporting Ukraine, one supporting Russia). Diplomat Andrij Melnyk replied with an expletive. The Kremlin called it a…
Musk challenges Putin to 'single combat' with Ukraine as the stakes
Musk tweeted: I hereby challenge Vladimir Putin to single combat,
naming Ukraine as the stakes.
Response: Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin replied by citing a poem about a young little devil
; Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov mocked Musk and invited him to train in Chechnya; Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov sa…