Elon Musk in Contact With Putin Deputy Known For Pushing Fake News to ‘Manipulate’ Americans on X: Report
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Billionaire Elon Musk has been in contact with a deputy of Russian President Vladimir Putin who is known for pushing disinformation to “manipulate” Americans on social media, according to a new bombshell report.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Musk has had “regular contact” with Putin dating back to late 2022. At one point, the Russian ruler even asked Musk to not activate Starlink’s internet service in Taiwan as a “favor” to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Musk famously cut off Starlink in Ukraine ahead of a drone counter-attack by the Ukrainians against the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, crippling the Ukrainian drones.
The specific nature of Musk’s relationship with Putin is not known at this time as the billionaire currently manages contracts with the U.S. Defense Department while receiving subsidies for his companies Telsa and SpaceX.
Moreover, the paper notes that Musk has continued having dialogues with high-ranking Russian officials other than the Russian president since 2022. The WSJ reports that Sergei Kiriyenko, Putin’s first deputy chief of staff, has spoken with the billionaire although the nature of their conversation is not known.
The Justice Department last month alleged in an affidavit that Kiriyenko is responsible for spreading Russian disinformation online via 30 internet domains that he created. The DOJ revealed he created some of these accounts on Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, in order to “manipulate” American support for Ukraine in the upcoming November election.
During the initial Russian invasion of Ukraine, Musk voiced strong support for the country by donating hundreds of Starlink terminals to Ukraine in order to provide free internet access to areas of the country destroyed by the Russians.
However later that year, Musk’s view of the war changed as he began urging Ukraine to negotiate with Russians to bring an end to the war, including by giving up territory to Russia.
