Report details how Russia obtains Starlink terminals for war in Ukraine
Enlarge / A Starlink terminal at the Everything Electric London conference on March 28, 2024 in England. (credit: Getty Images | John Keeble )
A report published today describes how Russia obtained Starlink terminals for its war in Ukraine despite US sanctions and SpaceX's insistence that Russia hasn't bought the terminals either directly or indirectly.
The Wall Street Journal report describes black market sales to Russians and a Sudanese paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently determined that the Rapid Support Forces and allied militias committed war crimes and are responsible for ethnic cleansing in Darfur.
The WSJ said it "tracked Starlink sales on numerous Russian online retail platforms," "interviewed Russian and Sudanese middlemen and resellers, and followed Russian volunteer groups that deliver SpaceX hardware to the front line."