Elon Musk denies Starlink being sold to Russia

Another controversy concerning Starlink is brewing, with accusations being made that say Russian forces have started using the technology in parts of occupied Ukraine. The main claim apparently comes from a representative of the Ukrainian Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR), who stated that “Starlink is freely available in Russia”.

In response, Elon Musk has made this statement on X:

A number of false news reports claim that SpaceX is selling Starlink terminals to Russia. This is categorically false. To the best of our knowledge, no Starlinks have been sold directly or indirectly to Russia.

In addition, the account from SpaceX for Starlink had this to add in a lengthier post:

SpaceX has never sold or marketed Starlink in Russia, nor has it shipped equipment to locations in Russia. If Russian stores are claiming to sell Starlink for service in that country, they are scamming their customers.

But there was more from the Ukrainian spokesperson that seemed to be missing from various media reports about the situation, making it clear that "sales" were being made via third countries rather than from official sources:

Russia continues to work through so-called parallel imports, which is essentially smuggling.

Dubai (United Arab Emirates) has purportedly been accused of being one of these suppliers; however, this claim was also denied by SpaceX/Starlink.

There is some backing for the statements made by Elon Musk and SpaceX in the form of both the Starlink availability map (no support for Russia; UAE "pending regulatory approval") and a third-party Starlink satellite map (showing very few satellites over Russia). Obviously, either of these could be altered to look favorable for Musk and his company, but the likelihood is that any Russian possession of Starlink equipment has come from procuring it from bad actors or simply obtaining the tech from captured Ukrainian forces.

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