Elon Musk's secret talks with Putin ramped up during his Twitter takeover: WSJ report

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has engaged in secret talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022, according to reporting published Thursday by The Wall Street Journal.

Citing "several current and former U.S., European and Russian officials," the Journal reported that conversations between Putin and Musk, a Republican megadonor and Pentagon contractor, took place while Russia was waging a brutal war on Ukraine, a top U.S. ally. Topics ranged from business to personal and geopolitical issues.

In one instance, Putin pressured Musk to direct SpaceX to withold Starlink, its powerful satellite internet communications service, from Taiwan as a favor to Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Journal reported, citing two people briefed on the request. Beijing is a crucial ally to the Kremlin. A version of Starlink that is available for military use is called StarShield.

Speaking at a Semafor conference in Washington D.C. on Friday, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said, "If the story is true that there have been multiple conversations between Elon Musk and the president of Russia then I think that would be concerning, particularly for NASA, for the Department of Defense, for some of the intelligence agencies." He also said the matter "should be investigated."

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