SpaceX said that it does not conduct business with the Russian government and said Starlink does not work in the country. However, Russia is accused of using Starlink in parts of occupied Ukraine.
“If SpaceX obtains knowledge that a Starlink terminal is being used by a sanctioned or unauthorised party, we investigate the claim and take actions to deactivate the terminal if confirmed,” it said on Thursday.
Analysts, though, said that frontline Russian soldiers may be able to hide their exact location from Starlink satellites by sending out false GPS data. Russian internet sellers are also advertising Starlink equipment for sale, in breach of Western sanctions.
Starlink, which is owned and run by Mr Musk’s SpaceX, has been vital for Ukrainian force’s communications throughout the two-year war.
Shortly after the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Mr Musk said that he would make Starlink free and widely available in Ukraine. Since then Ukrainian forces have become reliant on the system, which uses hundreds of satellites.
But relations between Mr Musk and the Ukrainian government are strained. In 2022, Mr Musk ordered Starlink engineers to turn off satellites covering the coast of occupied Crimea because he was concerned that they would be used in an attack by Ukrainian drones against Russian forces.
In response, Mr Musk said: “There was an emergency request from government authorities to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol. The obvious intent being to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor,” he said.
“If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation.”
