Businessman Elon Musk explained that his refusal to activate the Starlink satellite communication service in Crimea in 2022, as Kyiv requested, was caused by anti-Russian sanctions.
Speaking at the All-In Summit technology conference, Musk said that at the time of the request, Starlink in the “Crimea region was turned off”, “as the United States imposed sanctions on Russia.” “We are not allowed to turn on the connection,” the businessman explained. According to him, such actions require “approval from the US government.”
“In fact, they (Ukrainian authorities – ed.) approached us with a request to take part in a major military action,” Musk said, comparing such sabotage to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. However, according to him, if there was a directive from US President Joe Biden, Starlink would be turned on in Crimea.
In a recently published book by biographer Walter Isaacson, it was reported that Musk gave instructions to turn off Starlink over Crimea so that the Ukrainian Armed Forces would not use it to attack the Black Sea Fleet. A little later, Musk clarified that he did not give instructions to turn off the system before the attack, but refused to turn it on. He explained this decision by the fact that the user agreement does not allow the use of the service for attacks on the population. In addition, the businessman believed that such an attack could provoke a nuclear response. This information caused criticism from some American politicians.
Source: Rosbalt
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