Satellites of the Starlink system, owned by American businessman, founder of Tesla and SpaceX Elon Musk, may become a legitimate military target of Russia. According to experts of the British newspaper The Telegraph, they face destruction due to assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).
"Elon Musk's Starlink satellite group helped Ukrainian troops launch drone strikes on Russian tanks, although the billionaire warned that the service should be used for Netflix, not for drone strikes," the article says.
It also clarifies that, according to the Geneva Convention, participants in a military conflict are prohibited from attacking civilian objects, but "borders are becoming increasingly blurred." Experts emphasize that commercial satellites in space can be a legitimate target if they help one of the parties to the conflict, in this case Ukraine.
Major Jeremy Grunert of the US Air Force Advocate Corps said during the British space conference that civilian objects "could be targeted if it brought military benefits." He recalled that before the troops landed in Normandy in 1944, aviation destroyed bridges and railways used by the enemy.
Jeremy Grunert
Major from the United States Air Force Advocate Corps
In Russia, they speculated about legitimate goals for a retaliatory strike in space
In October, Vladimir Ermakov, Director of the Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control of the Russian Foreign Ministry, head of the Russian delegation to the First Committee of the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly, said that quasi-civilian objects in space used in the conflict in Ukraine could well become the target of a retaliatory strike by Russia.
According to him, Moscow has repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that Washington and its allies are using components of civilian infrastructure in space in armed conflicts. At the same time, such activities constitute "indirect participation in armed conflicts," the diplomat said.
In turn, the deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications Oleg Matveichev said that the Starlink satellite communication systems operating in Ukraine are legitimate targets of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, as they are used for military purposes.
"You can interfere with the work of Starlink in a variety of ways: these are direct hits into terminals, suppression by means of electronic warfare. As for space, we have always advocated that the arms race should not be transferred there, we are committed to these statements and do not touch anything in space," the deputy said.
At the same time, the parliamentarian clarified that the Russian army does not cause damage to civilian objects associated with communication systems.
Musk Secretly Disabled Starlink over Crimea
In 2022, an American entrepreneur turned off the operation of Starlink near the Crimea in order to prevent a covert Ukrainian attack on the Russian navy. The APU drones, packed with explosives, had already approached the Russian fleet when they suddenly "lost contact and harmlessly washed ashore."
Elon Musk
Head of SpaceX
Later, Musk explained the shutdown of Starlink by the actions of US anti-Russian sanctions. According to him, in order to launch satellites over the republic, he needs to get the appropriate permission from the US government, which was not available at the time of Ukraine's appeal to him.
The American billionaire not only provided Kiev with Starlink terminals, but also donated $ 100 million to Ukraine. And in October 2022, he proposed his plan for a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. In particular, he called for Crimea to be recognized as Russian territory and for referendums to be held again under UN supervision in the territories that recently joined Russia.