‘Such people rarely appear’: Vladimir Putin compares Elon Musk to father of Soviet space programme

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has emerged as arguably the most powerful person in Donald Trump’s second term as US President. And while the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been a subject of criticism and protests for his growing influence over the federal government and its decisions, Musk has received appreciation from Russian President Vladimir Putin.On Thursday, Putin praised Elon Musk and compared him to a legendary Soviet-era rocket engineer, Sergei Korolev, the man behind the Soviet Union’s space success in the 1950s and 1960s.

Speaking with students at the Bauman University, a Moscow college specialising in science and engineering, Putin

said: “You know, there’s a person who lives in the States, you could say that he’s absolutely crazy about Mars.”
“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,” state news agency TASS quoted Putin as saying.He also praised the father of the Soviet space programme, Sergei Korolev, who developed the first satellite Sputnik as well as Vostok 1, which carried cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961.

This wasn’t the first time Putin had a word of appreciation for Musk. In the past, he’s referred to the SpaceX CEO as ‘an outstanding person’.

Over the past couple of years, and after Trump returned to the White House, Musk has become a vocal critic of Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

Just last month, Musk said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wanted a ‘forever war’. Before that, in February, he said Kyiv had gone ‘too far’ in the conflict.