Putin praises Elon Musk, compares him to father of Soviet space success

17/4/2025 6:23

Russian President Vladimir

Putin on Thursday praised Elon Musk, comparing him to Sergei

Korolev, the chief engineer behind the Soviet Union's space

success in the 1950s and 1960s, state news agency TASS reported.



TASS cited Putin, who was speaking on Russia's space policy

at a meeting with students, as saying: "You know, there's a

person who lives in the States, you could say that he's

absolutely crazy about Mars."



It quoted him as drawing a comparison between Musk and

Sergei Korolev, a Soviet engineer who was instrumental in the

Soviet Union's success in sending Yuri Gagarin on the world's

first crewed spaceflight in 1961.



According to TASS, Putin said: "Such people rarely appear in

the human population, charged with a certain idea. Even though

it may seem incredible to me today, after a time such ideas are

often realised."



Putin has previously praised Musk, whose business interests

include the SpaceX space technology company, as "an outstanding

person".



Musk, a top advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, has

become increasingly vocal in his criticism of Ukraine, which has

been fighting against Russia since 2022, when the Kremlin

ordered tens of thousands of troops into its neighbour's

territory.