Russian President Vladimir Putin praised SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk Tuesday as an “outstanding person” and “talented businessman” in remarks at the Eastern Economic Forum, according to Russia 24. “As for Elon Musk’s private business... He is definitely an outstanding person, it must be recognized,” Putin said. “I think this is recognized all over the world. An active and talented businessman.” The remarks comes just days after CNN reported that Musk secretly ordered his engineers to turn off his Starlink satellite system near Crimea in an attempt to hinder a Ukrainian sneak attack on Russia last year, according to an excerpt from a biography on Musk by Walter Isaacson. Musk said on Twitter or X he refused Ukraine’s request to use Starlink for the attack, indicating that he didn’t want his company to be “complicit” in an act of war. Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, confirmed in remarks Sunday that Starlink “did not work for some time” in Crimea.
