‘Musk could have shortened the war, but he didn’t want to’

Ukraine must give up parts of its territory and other rights to reach a peace deal with Russia. This was the proposal of the richest man in the world: Elon Musk. Time and time again, his views cause stomach ache in many people.

In October 2022, Tesla’s CEO had his idea of ​​a peace deal voted on on his platform X, formerly Twitter. “Repeat elections in the annexed regions under UN supervision. Russia will leave Ukraine if it is the will of the people. Crimea is formally part of Russia, as it has been since 1783,” he suggested. About 59 percent thought it was a bad idea.

New Musk biography reveals details about the incident

But the multibillionaire isn’t just trying to influence the war verbally: As is now clear, he would have prevented Ukrainian attacks on the Russians – using his Starlink satellite network.

Last year, Ukraine wanted to attack the Russian Crimean fleet with drones equipped with explosive charges. Musk feared an escalation of the war — and made a decision — in favor of Russia. Walter Isaacsons’ new Musk biography provides details.

Last year, according to CNN, Musk secretly ordered his engineers to shut down his company’s Starlink satellite communications network near the coast of Crimea. He probably crippled a Ukrainian surprise attack on the Russian naval fleet.

When Ukrainian submarine drones loaded with explosives approached the Russian fleet, “they lost contact and washed ashore harmlessly,” CNN quotes Isaacson as saying.

Ukraine begged him to turn the satellites back on, but Musk said the risk of escalation was too great. He feared that Russia would respond with nuclear weapons to a Ukrainian attack on Crimea.

This fear later turned out to be unfounded.

Elon Musk bases his decision on X

Musk’s decision shows the powerful position he is in when it comes to Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine. On X he now speaks out about the incident.

He is writing:

Musk also clarified that the satellites were not active and that he was pressured by the government to activate them so Ukraine could attack Russian ships in disputed territory.

Harsh criticism of Musk’s decision

The German economist Janis Kluge of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik apparently has little understanding for this statement.

“Elon has allowed the Russian Navy to fire missiles at Ukrainian civilians all winter long,” he writes on X.

Dimitri Nabokoff of the “Russia Watcher” podcast can’t understand Musk’s motives either. On X.

Fact is: Musk used his power to side with Russia, he says.

Political scientist Carlo Masala of the Bundeswehr University in Munich summarizes his criticism of Musk in a nutshell: