Putin Calls Elon Musk a ‘Real Genius,’ Says Russia Coordinates With Him on Satellites

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Elon Musk on Wednesday, calling him a “real genius” and saying they work together on the coordination of satellites “despite all the political issues.” “We are in close contact with our American partners, including Mr. Musk, because in orbit it is very important not to interfere with each other and to observe certain discipline and order,” Putin said, according to an English-language translation by Bloomberg. Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Russian propaganda outlet RT, posted video of the comments to X with English subtitles. Vladimir Putin on Starlink and its Russian equivalent Rassvet: "Elon Musk is a genius, truly a genius. We are just taking our first steps, but we are proud that we started doing this and began doing it on our own. We are in close contact with our American partners, including… pic.twitter.com/R6anqmPlBg — Margarita Simonyan (@M_Simonyan) October 28, 2026 This is far from the first time Putin has praised the SpaceX trillionaire. Back in 2023, the Russian president called Musk an “outstanding person” and a “talented businessman.” The timing was significant, as Russia had invaded Ukraine in early 2022 and Musk received criticism for throttling Starlink so that Ukraine couldn’t fight back against the invasion. In 2024, shortly before the presidential election, it was revealed by reporting in The Wall Street Journal that Musk had been in “regular contact” with Putin since late 2022. Musk’s contact with Putin was described as a “closely held secret in government,” and while the U.S. oligarch criticized the Journal’s reporting, he didn’t deny the allegation that he had been in contact with Putin. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed Musk earlier this month for his country’s inability to fight back against Russia in a war that has killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands of civilians, according to the United Nations. There have been conflicting reports over whether it was Donald Trump or Elon Musk who has throttled the use of Starshield, the military-grade version of Starlink, in Ukraine. The service wasn’t turned off, but its capabilities were reduced, according to Zelenskyy, and it has meant Ukrainian forces are less able to protect themselves against Russian suicide drones. Musk has claimed that Ukraine violated Starlink’s terms of service with a so-called “loophole” that he’s now closed. The trillionaire said that he didn’t want Starlink to be used for “offensive drone strikes to kill people,” though obviously the terms offensive and defensive are all relative in the middle of a war Ukraine didn’t start. It’s unclear whether Musk or Trump has been the driving force behind hindering Ukraine’s ability to fight back against Russia, though Americans may be learning that it doesn’t matter. In an oligarchic system, the wealthiest civilians can have just as much power as government officials to dictate a given country’s direction. Nobody voted for Elon Musk, but he gets to choose how U.S. power is exercised when he holds the keys to the nation’s top tech. And that’s not going to change as long as he keeps spending on Republicans. Musk has spent at least $442 million on the midterms, and there’s a week to go until the midterm elections on Tuesday. READ MORE: