Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Elon Musk as an outstanding individual for his work in space travel on Thursday.
Putin was speaking to university students about space policy when he mentioned Musk’s ambitions and accomplishments in the field. Musk founded his own rocket company, SpaceX, in 2002 with the goal of colonizing Mars.
“You know, there’s a man — he lives in the States — Musk, who, one might say, raves about Mars. It is not often that such people, charged with a certain idea, appear in the human population,” Putin said, per a translation from the state-owned news agency TASS.
Putin went on to compare Musk to the late Soviet rocket pioneer, Sergei Korolev. Korolev, who died in 1966, was the lead rocket engineer and designer for the Soviet Union’s satellites and rockets. He was also responsible for the first human spaceflight when the Soviet Union sent cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961.
“Just like in their time the ideas of Korolev, our other pioneers, got to materialize. They seemed incredible, some of the plans they made. But they all materialized,” Putin said on Thursday, per TASS.
“A mission to Mars would be very hard. It now seems very difficult to implement,” Putin said. “If you take an interest in this, you probably know.”
Putin’s compliments put Musk in a unique position of being held in high regard by leaders in Russia and the US. Musk is a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump and is currently leading the administration’s efforts to cut government spending.
“Elon has done a fantastic job. Look, he’s sitting here, and I don’t care. I don’t need Elon for anything other than I happen to like him,” Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting on April 10.
Musk has been criticized for his position on the Ukraine war. Last month, Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, said his country “will be forced to look for other suppliers” of satellite internet services if SpaceX “proves to be an unreliable provider.”
“To be extremely clear, no matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals,” Musk wrote on X on March 9, referencing SpaceX’s satellite internet service.
“We would never do such a thing or use it as a bargaining chip,” Musk continued.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO initially supported Ukraine when the war started in 2022. In addition to delivering Starlink terminals to Ukraine, Musk also challenged Putin to single combat and suggested Putin could “bring his bear” to their fight.
But Musk later changed his position on the war. In October 2022, Musk posted a peace plan on X proposing that Ukraine recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea. The Kremlin praised Musk’s plan.
Last year, Musk said in an X Spaces event with GOP senators that the US should stop funding Ukraine. Musk said he thought there was “no way in hell” Putin would lose the war.
Russia’s foreign ministry and Musk did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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