Putin likens billionaire Musk to Soviet space hero, says Mars visionary is 'driven by a powerful idea’

MOSCOW, April 17 — Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Elon Musk yesterday, comparing him to legendary Soviet rocket engineer Sergei Korolev, calling Musk a pioneer.

Putin made these remarks during a visit to Bauman University, a Moscow institution known for its science and engineering programs, as he spoke to university students.

“You know, there’s a man — he lives in the United States — Musk, who, you could say, is obsessed with Mars,” Putin said. “People like him, charged with a powerful idea, don’t often appear in the human population.”

“If it seems unbelievable today, such ideas often become reality over time, just like Korolev’s ideas did when the time came,” he added.

Korolev is regarded as the father of the Soviet space program, responsible for launching the first satellite, Sputnik, and for Vostok 1, which carried Yuri Gagarin into orbit in 1961.

Musk, the world’s wealthiest individual and a key advisor to President Donald Trump, leads SpaceX, the US company that launches rockets for NASA and operates the Starlink satellite internet network.

Musk has been a vocal critic of Ukraine, currently engaged in a prolonged conflict with Russia. Last month, he accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of wanting a "forever war," and in February, he stated that Kyiv had gone “too far” in the conflict. — AFP