Ukraine sees Arab countries behind Starlink smuggling to Russia
The US company SpaceX and its boss Elon Musk deny supplying Russia with terminals Russian troops use the Starlink satellite service can. However, according to US reports and Ukrainian information, the terminals are used by Russian soldiers. According to Ukrainian military intelligence HUR, they are smuggled into the country: “The occupiers are buying the Starlink terminals in Arab countries“, shared the HUR with.
That’s going out intercepted conversations of Russian military personnel according to the HUR statement. A terminal from Arab countries is available for 200,000 rubles (around 2,000 euros). The Information provided by HUR cannot be independently verified become. However, allegations also appeared in the US media that the terminals were being brought to Russia via Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently visited the United Arab Emirates and talked about economic relations between the country and Russia.
The independent Russian investigative media IStories reported also that Starlink terminals available in Russia for frontline use be. In conversations with sellers in Russia, to whom journalists from IStories as a possible buyer, prices similar to those quoted by the HUR were quoted. Accordingly, the terminals only worked near the border with Ukraine.
According to SpaceX, Starlink is not available in Russia. According to the service’s website However, this does not apply to one large part of Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine. If SpaceX learns of cases in which Starlink terminals are being used without permission, the company will investigate and If necessary, switch off the affected terminalsthe company announced.
Its boss, Elon Musk, delivered the terminals to Ukraine at the start of the war, where they were installed big role in communication in the front zone play. Later there was a falling out between him and the Ukrainian government because Musk had prevented the service from being used in Ukrainian attacks on Russian-occupied Crimea. In public statements, Musk advocates End of international military aid to Ukraine out of.