Russia denies report Musk, Putin have been in regular contact since late 2022

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Russia President Vladimir Putin have reportedly been in regular contact in private since late 2022.

The purported conversations were reported Thursday by The Wall Street Journal, citing intelligence sources.

Russia on Friday said the report is false.

“It’s all untrue, absolutely false information published in the newspaper,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to Agence France-Presse.

Sources told the newspaper that Putin had asked Musk not to activate his Starlink satellite internet service over Taiwan as a favor for Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

The WSJ's report also said that Musk and Putin have spoken this year in secret.