The Wall Street Journal revealed Thursday night that the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has been in “regular contact” with Russian President Vladimir Putin since 2022.

Musk’s discussions with Putin, which were confirmed by several current and former US, European and Russian officials, revolved around personal issues as well as business and geopolitical tensions.

According to the newspaper, Elon Musk has been in regular communication with Vladimir Putin, who in one of their conversations asked him not to activate the Starlink network in Taiwan as a “favor” to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Starlink never secured a license to offer Internet services in Taiwan, whose government imposes restrictions on non-Taiwanese satellite companies.

In fact, a Starlink map over Taiwan has the word “coming soon”.

The exact nature of Musk’s relationship with Putin remains unclear. The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has spent years securing contracts with the US Department of Defense and his companies are heavily subsidized.

Musk emerged this year as a major supporter of Donald Trump’s election campaign, and if Trump wins, he could have a role in the new administration.

While the US and its allies have isolated Putin in recent years, Musk’s dialogue with him could mark the start of a new round of talks with the Russian leader, bolstering Trump’s expressed desire to strike a deal with Russia on the war in Ukraine.

At the same time, the contacts also raise potential national security concerns given the role of Putin, who is one of America’s main adversaries.

News of Musk’s alleged hotline with Putin comes two weeks after Bob Woodward claimed Trump had remained in contact with the Russian leader since leaving office in 2021.

The Trump campaign denied Woodward’s claim, which was made in his new book War.