Elon Musk’s secret phone calls with Vladimir Putin revealed

In a series of secret phone calls, Musk has reportedly touched on topics ranging from business to global tensions and has even been hit with requests from the controversial leader.

At one point, Putin reportedly asked Musk, currently the world’s richest man with unparalleled power in the business sphere, to steer clear of activating his Starlink satellite service over Taiwan. That request was made as a “favour” to Chinese President Xi Jinping, who currently has his sights on the sovereign island as part of China’s expansionary goals.

While the US government has tightened its stance against Putin, Musk’s dialogue with Russia’s leader has left many divided.

Increased communication between US figures and Moscow could be seen as a positive as whispers of a potential Trump-led “deal” with Putin to end the Ukraine war swirl.

But national security figures in US have still expressed concern with the behind-closed-doors chatter, given Musk’s unprecedented access to the US military and intelligence channels as the primary rocket launcher for NASA and the Pentagon. 

Although Musk’s Kremlin contacts have been largely kept under wraps, White House officials say they were not aware of the full extent of his discussions with Russian officials.

Musk has labelled accusations of cozying up to Putin “absurd,” maintaining that his companies “have done more to undermine Russia than anything.” 

On a campaign swing with Donald Trump through Pennsylvania last week, he spoke of transparency and his own government access.

“Like most of the stuff I’m aware of … the reason they keep it top secret is because it’s so boring,” he said.

Right.

Insiders speaking through US outlets like the Wall Street Journal have pointed out that the US relies heavily on Musk’s technologies and that conversations with Putin may be a risk.

“They don’t love it … but no security alerts have been flagged over Musk’s contact with Putin,” one source told the WSJ.

Meanwhile, Russian state media has played down the idea of frequent talks with the eccentric billionaire.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned only a single conversation between Putin and Musk, which reportedly involved a discussion over “space and future technologies”.

Musk’s deepening involvement in geopolitics hasn’t been isolated to Russia, and he recently met with figures like Argentina’s Javier Milei and Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro.

However, with Putin, the stakes for Musk’s interactions are much higher.

After Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Musk’s initial response was strongly pro-Kyiv, publicly posting messages of support and delivering thousands of Starlink terminals to aid Ukrainians. 

But by late 2022, Ukraine encountered issues using Starlink to guide drones targeting a Russian naval base in Crimea — an access Musk decided against activating, citing concerns about escalating the war into nuclear conflict. 

As the year went on, Musk ramped up comments against US military support for Ukraine and began backing Trump’s election bid. Conservative America has remained wary of just how many millions of dollars are being spent on Ukraine while the US battles severe issues on its own soil.

Last year, Musk even proposed a “peace plan” on Twitter (now X) that referenced parts of the Kremlin’s offers to Kyiv — such as continued Russian control of Crimea and Ukraine’s pledge of neutrality from NATO. 

He also facilitated one of the most controversial interviews of the year on his social media platform, X. 

Independent conservative commentator Tucker Carlson sat down with Putin and broadcast the entire chat exclusively to X, commenting on alleged censorship of more left-leaning social media platforms.

In that interview, which Putin hinted that Musk was “a smart person” and even suggested that “common ground” should be found with him.