Does Starlink help Moscow? The Italian report that infuriates Musk
In a document that is circulating in Italian institutional circles and in the US business world, Russia's use of Starlink is described. Moscow would have managed to circumvent the restrictions of Elon Musk's company, which is targeting the Italian ultra-broadband market with the approval of the government. All the details of the report that enrages the Muskian galaxy
There is news after the meetings at the end of 2023 between the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Business and SpaceX, Elon Musk's aerospace company, regarding Starlink's participation in projects for the diffusion of ultra-broadband in Italy. Starlink is SpaceX's satellite system – with consolidated relationships with NASA and the Pentagon – which provides access to the Internet via a constellation of satellites in orbit and terminals on the ground.
In fact, there is a document – which is widely circulating in the institutional circles of the government majority, which has been read with amazement by the American business world and which has infuriated Musk's circle – which describes in detail the use of Starlink by the forces armies of Russia in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
DOES RUSSIA USE STARLINK IN UKRAINE? FACTS AND STATEMENTS
Already last February 11, the spokesperson of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Andrii Yusov, had confirmed the news, explaining how Kiev's intelligence had been aware of the matter for months and showing a video in which a Russian soldier in the Donetsk region explains to another that “Starlink works, there is the Internet”.
In short, it seems that Russia is using numerous terminals to capture the Starlink signal along the Ukrainian front, as the US specialized site Defense One also writes. SpaceX has denied doing business with the Russian government and military, saying it is not active in Russia and has never sold, shipped or sponsored its products to the country; SpaceX also claims that Starlink services do not work in Russia.
In the early days of the invasion of Ukraine, SpaceX provided Starlink terminals to the Kiev government, which used them to coordinate its activities. However, it seems that Musk did not like that the Ukrainian forces were also using Starlink for offensive operations, and for this reason he asked to deactivate the service in the waters of Crimea so as to prevent a drone attack on Russian naval ships.
It is not clear how many Starlink terminals are in Russia's possession today, nor how they were obtained. However, it seems that the Russian forces – according to what emerges from the report developed by technicians in the telecommunications sector and read by Start Magazine – have found a way to hide their GPS position from these terminals in order to make their deactivation more complicated.
As reported by Newsweek , it appears that Starlink's systems are for sale through several Russian online stores – some companies, such as iMiele and DJIRussia, even sponsor them – and are supplied by an intermediary located in Dubai. SpaceX said Starlink systems cannot be purchased in Dubai and that the company does not ship to the emirate.
DEBATE ON X
On the other hand, Russia could have purchased Starlink equipment in still other countries and then distributed it to its army in Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Starlink had never been certified for use in Russia and could not be officially supplied in the country. On X , Musk added that "as far as we know, no Starlink system has been sold directly or indirectly to Russia."
However, neither Musk nor Peskov said anything about the use of Starlink by Russian forces in Ukraine, nor about the system's operation in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories.
THE US ARMY ALSO USES STARLINK
Starlink is also used by the US military: last October, for example, SpaceX won a $70 million contract to provide Internet services via Starlink to the Space Force, the branch of the military responsible for space operations.
AN ANTI-MUSK SIGNAL SENT TO THE MELONI GOVERNMENT?
In December Il Sole 24 Ore reported on Musk's attempt to bring Starlink to Italy and include it in ultra-broadband projects. “The attempt”, specified the Confindustria newspaper, “although it appears very complicated considering the concession and awarding rules set by the government, is to propose to integrate the traditional coverage that Open Fiber and Tim must guarantee entirely with optical fiber or ( in the case of white areas) than with fixed wireless access".
Last November 30, Business Minister Adolfo Urso wrote in X that he had had a telephone conversation with Musk "in which we addressed a series of topics, starting from space and new frontier technologies. Ready to collaborate on the challenges of the future."
More recently, the minister made it known that he had made contact with Tesla – another of Musk's companies – with the aim of concluding an investment agreement and bringing at least a second car manufacturer to Italy to balance the disengagement of Stellantis.
There seems to be a certain personal affinity between Musk and Giorgia Meloni, to the point that the entrepreneur even participated in Atreju , the political event of Fratelli d'Italia, where he was interviewed by the journalist Nicola Porro, very close to the government. If it is possible that this ideological closeness proves useful for business, on the other hand it is probable that the evidence of the use of Starlink by the Russians – much highlighted in the document that is circulating in Roman political circles – points (directly or indirectly) to discourage the adoption of this technology, perhaps driven by companies in the sector .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/starlink-russia-ucraina/ on Thu, 07 Mar 2024 15:44:00 +0000.