Ukraine’s military intelligence agency released an audio recording Tuesday (Feb. 13) it alleges is an intercepted radio transmission of Russian soldiers discussing buying “means of communication, including Starlink satellite internet terminals.” The purchases, from “Arab countries,” appear to be intended for use in its war in Ukraine.
“According to one of the invaders, ‘Arabs bring everything: wires, Wi-Fi, router…’, and the cost of purchasing a Starlink device is 200 thousand rubles,” the Main Department of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (GUR) said in the post on Telegram (link in Russian). Two-hundred thousand rubles is equal to about $2,200.
Both the Kremlin and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk have denied previous reports by Ukraine’s military intelligence agency that Starlink terminals are being sold to and used by Russian troops in occupied parts of Ukraine.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said it had intercepted Russian radio conversations indicating “that Starlink terminals were installed, for example, in units of the 83rd Separate Air Assault Brigade of the Russian armed forces in order to establish Internet access.” Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for the agency, said Russia’s use of Starlink terminals “is growing” and “starting to become systemic.”
However, Musk responded to the reports in a post on X, saying it was “categorically false,” and that to the best of his and SpaceX’s knowledge, “no Starlinks have been sold directly or indirectly to Russia.” SpaceX did not immediately respond to Quartz’s request for comment.
On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov backed Musk’s claim by saying there “is not a certified system with us; accordingly, it cannot be officially supplied here and is not officially supplied” and therefore Starlink service “cannot be used officially in any way,” Reuters reported.
In the weeks leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, US government contractor DAI began searching for equipment to keep the Ukrainian government connected amid fears of Russian physical and cyberattacks, according to documents Quartz obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request in 2022. Thousands of Starlink’s satellite internet terminals were sent to Ukraine in March 2022.