Russia: SpaceX co-founder Elon Musk has denied selling his Starlink internet service to Russia after Ukraine claimed the terminals were being used by Russian troops on the front lines of the war.
“A number of false news reports claim that SpaceX is selling Starlink terminals to Russia. This is categorically false,” Musk, who leads SpaceX and several other companies including Tesla, said in the post on X.
Moscow also rejected Kyiv’s claim that Starlink terminals had been smuggled into Russia and were being used on a “systematic” basis in Russian-occupied Donetsk.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Starlink is not certified for use in Russia. “It cannot be officially supplied here and is not officially supplied here,” Peskov told reporters.
Starlink said in a post on X last week that it “does not do business of any kind with the Russian Government or its military” and the service “will not work” in the country.
Ukraine’s GUR agency stated that it had intercepted an exchange between two soldiers discussing setting up the terminals. It posted what it said was an audio clip of the exchange on the Telegram messenger by way of evidence.
Ukraine’s military has credited Starlink for allowing its forces to communicate, gather intelligence, and coordinate attacks more quickly and securely than would be possible using radio or phone communications.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Musk assisted the besieged country by giving it thousands of Starlink terminals for internet access but has limited their use to certain areas, leading to criticism.
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