MUMBAI—US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that decisions regarding Ukraine’s access to Starlink were up to its parent company SpaceX and Elon Musk, not the White House, comments that suggested Musk may have restricted Kyiv’s access to the service.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Musk had ordered the slowdown of Starshield, a military-grade version of Starlink that ​Ukraine relies on to defend itself against missile attacks from Russia.
The Journal cited one person saying that SpaceX CEO Musk, President Donald Trump and White House officials discussed the matter beforehand, and two people saying that Musk and the president discussed the matter in the days after the slowdown.
“I’m not aware that we knew about this decision beforehand. But that’s irrelevant,” Rubio told reporters during a trip to India.
“The bottom line is that that is governed by a private commercial contract as to how their stuff can be used and what speeds they’ll allow it to be used at.”
Musk and SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment.
Trump, asked by reporters on Wednesday whether Musk ordered the slowdown, said: “I don’t know who did it, but I was not involved.”
Reuters has cited two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter saying the decision ultimately came from the White House. This version was also asserted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, but denied by the administration.
Rubio’s comments are likely to intensify concerns in Washington regarding Musk’s ability to influence US foreign policy. They also represent an apparent shift in position for the administration.
Trump has previously said publicly he believed neither he nor Musk was behind the slowdown. Departing for a trip to Uzbekistan and India on Saturday, Rubio had said no one ordered the slowdown, an assertion that drew criticism from lawmakers in both parties.
“I’m not sure Zelenskiy knows what he’s talking about, but it wasn’t deliberate,” Rubio said at the time.
“We have nothing to do with that. I don’t – the United States, nobody ordered that Starlink speed to be slowed down. It sort of happened, but my understanding is it’s been restored,” Rubio said.
