Putin calls Elon Musk 'truly a genius' over satellites

Russian President Vladimir Putin called Elon Musk "truly a genius" on Wednesday for deploying thousands of satellites into orbit, as Moscow seeks to develop its own satellite internet network.

Putin made the remarks while touring an exhibition on the sidelines of a Russia-Africa summit in Moscow. He said Musk had more than 5,000 units in orbit and that Russia was taking its first steps.

Putin said Russia was in close contact with American partners, including Musk, because it was important in orbit not to interfere with one another.

Musk owns SpaceX, which launches rockets for NASA and runs the Starlink communications network. Russia has long sought to develop its own satellite internet constellation for civilian and military use.

Putin's comments came amid a dispute between Ukraine and the United States over access to Starshield, a military-grade satellite network powered by SpaceX.

Ukraine began reporting problems using Starshield this month after a row between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump over a US-Russia diesel deal. Trump and Musk denied being responsible for the outages.

Musk later accused Ukraine of misusing SpaceX's Starlink internet service for military purposes. Ukraine says the outages have frustrated its efforts to intercept Russian drones and slowed front-line logistics as the Ukraine-Russia conflict continues through its fifth year.