Musk has been in regular contact with Putin for two years, claims report

Elon Musk, the world's richest man who is now central to Donald Trump's election campaign, has been in regular contact with Vladimir Putin for the past two years, according to a report in the US.

- Julian Borger

The Wall Street Journal, citing several current and former US, European and Russian officials, reported that the conversations between the two men ranged from the personal to the geopolitical and included a request from the Russian leader for Musk not to activate his Starlink satellite internet service over Taiwan as a favor to the Chinese leader and Putin ally, Xi Jinping.

The implications of a secret channel of communication between Musk and Putin are enormous for western security. The Tesla tycoon is a key player in the US space program and has a high-level security clearance. His company SpaceX launches US national security satellites, his Starlink satellite communications system is critical to the war in Ukraine, and he runs one of the world's biggest and most influential social media platforms, X, which has provided a vehicle for Russian disinformation campaigns.

Furthermore, if Trump is elected on 5 November, Musk could play an important part in a new US administration.