Putin calls Musk a 'real genius' for satellite network as Russia builds its own

Russian President Vladimir Putin called Elon Musk "a real genius" for deploying thousands of satellites in orbit, as Moscow seeks to build its own satellite internet network. Putin made the remarks Wednesday during a Russia-Africa summit exhibition visit. Putin noted Musk has over 5,000 satellites in orbit while Russia is "taking its first steps." He said Moscow maintains close contact with American partners, including Musk, to avoid orbital interference. Russia has long pursued a satellite internet constellation for both civilian and military purposes. The comments come amid ongoing Ukraine-US tensions over access to Starshield, a military-grade satellite network powered by Musk's SpaceX. Ukraine reported service disruptions this month following a dispute between President Zelensky and President Trump over a US-Russia diesel agreement, with Ukraine claiming the outages hampered drone interception and frontline logistics.