Elon Musk and the Kremlin deny that Russian forces are using Starlink

Elon Musk and the Kremlin deny that Russian forces are using Starlink

He stated, referring to the Ukrainian government, "That's why, potentially we should not interfere in talks between the Kiev regime as well as the entrepreneur Musk".

MOSCOW, Russia: On Monday, the Kremlin dismissed allegations from Ukraine that Russian soldiers engaged in front-line combat were using Starlink terminals.

The military intelligence organization GUR in Kiev claimed to have proof that Russian forces were "smuggling" Starlink internet terminals into the nation on a "systematic" basis.

Elon Musk's SpaceX company owns Starlink, a network of satellites in low Earth orbit that can provide internet service to isolated regions or places where regular communications infrastructure is unavailable.

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin, told reporters on Monday that "it cannot be officially supplied here as well as cannot be officially supplied here."

"Accordingly, it cannot be utilised here officially in any way," he said.

Since this technology is not in use in Russia, no device can connect there either.

However, Moscow is allegedly employing the technology on the front lines of Ukraine, according to Kiev.

In Russia, Starlink is free of charge. GUR spokesperson Andrey Yusov said on state television on Monday that "the use of Starlink on the front position in the Russian army has now become more planned compared with last year."

It "will not reveal all the details" of its accusations, according to him.

Throughout the two-year conflict, Ukraine has made extensive use of Starlink to guarantee connectivity and communications for its soldiers.

In a tweet on his X social media site, Musk disputed allegations that SpaceX was selling the Starlink terminal to Russia "categorically false".

"As far as we are aware, neither a direct nor an indirect Starlink has been sold to Russia."

According to Yusov of Ukraine, Kiev has admitted that Starlink "is not officially being sold to the Russians."

According to him, Russia bought them "by means of parallel imports, which is effectively smuggling."

Moscow has established a network of dealers and intermediaries in foreign countries to get prohibited commodities and other things that are no longer accessible within Russia since it invaded Ukraine and was punished by Western sanctions.

Musk and Kiev have already battled over Starlink once before.

The proposal to activate the network in the Crimean city of Sevastopol in order to help a Ukrainian assault on Russia's naval force was turned down by the Tesla and SpaceX billionaire last year.

He declared that SpaceX would have been "clearly engaging in a gross activity of escalating war and conflict" if he had given his consent.

He said earlier in the year that his business could not finance service in Ukraine forever before agreeing to keep the link going.