Russian Security Council says Starlink/Oneweb satellite services pose risk to sovereign countries, RIA reports

Experts ​on Russia's Security Council have said ‌that ​Western satellite communications services such as Starlink and OneWeb could be used to destabilise the socio-political situation in sovereign ‌countries and therefore pose a risk, Russia's state RIA news agency reported on Friday.

The statement followed a gathering of the body's presidium of the Scientific and Expert Council ‌where they discussed information security issues and the use of Russia's own low-Earth orbit ‌satellite system and internet access, RIA reported. “During the meeting, the main risks and threats posed by the use of Western space-based communications systems over the territory of sovereign states to destabilise the ⁠socio-political situation were ​highlighted. This applies, ⁠first and foremost, to the widely used satellite communications services Starlink and OneWeb, which are actively expanding ⁠in countries interested in the accelerated digitalisation of their national economies,” RIA cited a Security Council ​statement as saying.

President Vladimir Putin last month hailed Elon Musk as ⁠a genius, acknowledging Russia is only beginning to roll out its answer to his Starlink satellite internet ⁠system. Putin's ​statement was all the more striking because a version of Starlink, developed by Musk's SpaceX, has been used by Ukraine's military throughout the war with Russia ⁠as a key component of drone operations and battlefield communications.

Russian Digital Development Minister Maksut ⁠Shadayev told Putin ⁠at the time that Russia has so far launched more than 30 satellites of its own as it builds its ‌homegrown equivalent ‌to Starlink, which is called Rassvet (Dawn).