Putin praises Musk’s Mars plans and compares tech billionaire to Soviet icon

Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised SpaceX founder Elon Musk, comparing the South African-born billionaire to a Soviet rocket pioneer. 

Speaking to students in Moscow, Putin singled out Musk’s ambitions to establish human colonies on Mars.

“One might say, (Elon Musk) is crazy about Mars. Such people rarely appear in the human population, inspired by a certain idea,” he said.

Putin went on to make a direct comparison between Musk and the Soviet-era rocket scientist Sergei Korolev, regarded as the lead engineer in the Sputnik programme which took mankind into space for the first time.

During his visit, Putin expressed the hope that hurdles around deep-space travel would soon be overcome, adding that Russia itself had “certain plans” regarding future space projects.

Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, was sanctioned following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with the European Space Agency (ESA) forced to rely on Musk’s SpaceX rocket system until the premiere of its own Ariane6 launcher last year.

Musk has been repeatedly criticised for calling for the end of US military aid to Ukraine.

Kyiv has accused him of using Kremlin talking points and spreading pro-Russian propaganda.