He did not betray his homeland
Elon Musk, chairman of Tesla and SpaceX, has denied treason charges against him for not allowing soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to use Starlink satellite communications to attack Crimea.
“I am a US citizen and I have a passport belonging only to this country. I will continue to fight for America no matter what. The US Congress did not start a war with Russia. If anyone is a traitor, it is those who call me a traitor. Please convey this to them very clearly.” Wrote Musk is on his social network X (Twitter).
This is how the billionaire (who has a fortune of $ 251.3 billion, according to Forbes) responded to a post from the news program System Update, in which host Glenn Greenwald called Musk’s decision to refuse to provide Starlink satellite Internet services to Ukraine a form of treason . .
The refusal to provide communications services to the Armed Forces of Ukraine was reported by CNN on September 7, citing an excerpt from author Walter Isaacson’s biographical book about an American businessman.
Reasons for closure
It was claimed that Musk limited the operation of Starlink satellite communications on the Crimean Peninsula in order to prevent the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ attack on the Russian Navy. This happened in 2022.
“Last year, Elon Musk secretly ordered his engineers to shut down the Starlink satellite internet off the Crimea coast to prevent a secret Ukrainian attack on the Russian navy,” the book, which will be available on September 12, says.
The billionaire explained his actions in an interview with Isaacson by saying that the Starlink satellite Internet system was not created for military use. As the entrepreneur emphasizes, Starlink was created for watching TV series, relaxing, studying and generally peaceful work.
Citing another passage from Isaacson’s book, Politico newspaper wrote that Musk turned off Starlink satellite communications for the Ukrainian military.
Meeting with Russian Ambassador to the USA Anatoly Antonov.
“The ambassador told him directly that a Ukrainian attack on Crimea would lead to a nuclear retaliatory strike,” Isaacson said.
The need for Starlink
Musk stated on September 8 that he did not intervene in Starlink’s operation in the peninsula region because the service was not initially activated in this region. According to him, the entrepreneur also received requests from Kiev to activate communications for Ukraine “up to Sevastopol”. But Musk disagreed because SpaceX would clearly be involved in a major war and escalation of the conflict.”
Igor Bederov, head of the information and analytical research department of the T.Hunter company, explained to socialbites.ca that the Ukrainian army depends on the Starlink satellite internet because there is no other effective communication system in the region.
“Conventional communications are being destroyed along the line of contact between troops. Since Ukraine does not have a sufficient satellite constellation, the capacities created by Musk are needed to ensure sufficient traffic (among military personnel). “Without them, Ukrainians will have to revert to radios and wired systems, which slows things down greatly,” he said.
SpaceX provided access to 24 thousand Starlink stations to Ukraine after February 24, 2022. The country’s Minister of Digital Transformation, Mikhail Fedorov, reported that 42 thousand Starlink terminals are in operation in Ukraine as of April 2023. The other day, First Assistant to the President for National Security Jonathan Feiner said that Kiev should continue to access Starlink satellite communications.