NASA urges investigation into Musk-Putin communications

Head of the American space agency NASA, Bill Nelson, has called for an investigation into possible contacts between SpaceX founder Elon Musk and Vladimir Putin.

CNN reports this, according to Ukrinform.

“If the story is true that there have been multiple conversations between Elon Musk and the president of Russia, then I think that would be concerning, particularly for NASA, for the Department of Defense, for some of the intelligence agencies,” Nelson said.

The article mentions that some U.S. officials raised counterintelligence concerns in the last year about Musk’s interactions with Russia. However, authorities are wary of looking into those interactions .

The Pentagon refused to comment on the media reports, while Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that Musk and Putin had only one telephone call in which they discussed “space as well as current and future technologies.”

It was previously reported by the Wall Street Journal that American businessman Elon Musk had been in regular contact with Russian leader Vladimir Putin since 2022, discussing even personal matters.

According to the WSJ, Musk has access to certain classified information due to his business dealings with U.S. military and intelligence agencies. His company SpaceX secured a USD 1.8 billion classified contract in 2021 and is a primary rocket supplier for the Pentagon and NASA.