The head of Ukraine's military intelligence said Russian companies bought Starlink equipment through intermediaries under the guise of personal use.
Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Main Directorate of Military Intelligence of Ukraine (GUR), said on February 15 that Russian forces "are using thousands of terminals" of the Starlink satellite Internet service.
This network has been used by Russia in the areas it controls for quite a long time and its scale could undermine Ukraine's large battlefield advantage, Mr. Budanov commented.
According to Budanov, Russian private companies use intermediaries to buy Starlink terminals. The intermediaries register the equipment for personal use and then ship it to Russia via neighboring countries, including those that were once part of the Soviet Union.
“Russian company-level units are looking to acquire Starlink terminals and often pool money to buy them,” Budanov said. “This is an open market. This equipment is not military equipment.”
The antenna of the Starlink terminal in Izyum, Kharkov, September 2022. Photo: AFP
Several dealers in Moscow and the surrounding region sell Starlink equipment and offer support for installing the system across Russia or in areas under its control.
One website promises the system will work effectively in Crimea, Kherson, Donetsk and Lugansk regions for $100 a month. Another site is selling Starlink terminals for nearly 300,000 rubles (more than $3,000).
The Starlink service, which provides a connection that is considered more secure than cellular or radio signals, is so important to the Ukrainian military's operations that the Pentagon has agreed to pay SpaceX to continue using it.
Western experts say Russian forces do not yet have a secure communications system similar to Starlink and have not been successful in their efforts to disable the satellite Internet service.
US billionaire Elon Musk, owner of SpaceX, announced that the company did not sell Starlink equipment to Russia "directly or indirectly". SpaceX affirmed that it does not do business with Russia or operate on its territory, warning that it would disable the terminals "if they are used by any party without permission".
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on February 12 denied that the Russian military was using the Starlink system on the battlefield. According to Mr. Peskov, Russia has not yet tested the Starlink system and will not provide related equipment to units on the front line.
According to a Ukrainian engineer, the Starlink equipment that Russia owns shares the same channel and satellite setup as the system of its military, which causes the Ukrainian equipment to stop working if the Russian force's transceiver is disabled.
Nguyen Tien (According to AFP, Reuters, BI )
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