Putin Suddenly Praises Elon Musk: What’s Behind It?

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Elon Musk, describing him as a “genius”.

“Elon Musk is a genius, a real genius,” Putin said at the Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow on Wednesday (28 October 2026), local time.

“He already has more than 5,000 similar satellites in orbit, while we have only taken our first steps,” he added at an event discussing Russia’s Rassvet satellite connectivity project.

Rassvet is a low Earth orbit satellite internet constellation being developed by Bureau 1440, a Russian private space company.

“We are proud that we have started doing this and that we have begun doing it independently,” Putin added.

“We are in close contact with our partners in the US, including Musk,” he said.

“In orbit, it is very important not to interfere with one another and to observe certain rules, discipline and order. Both we and our US partners value this mutual understanding. With Musk, despite all the political problems, we continue to work closely together,” he said.