Representatives of totalitarian regimes accused Elon Musk's company of violating international law and "blurring the lines" between civilian and military technologies, demanding to restrict the operation of the service, which has become critically important for the defense of Ukraine and the Iranian opposition.
Representatives of totalitarian regimes accused Elon Musk's company of violating international law and "blurring the lines" between civilian and military technologies, demanding to restrict the operation of the service, which has become critically important for the defense of Ukraine and the Iranian opposition.
Elon Musk's Starlink satellite group violates international law by blurring the line between commercial and military technologies, Iranian and Russian diplomats said at a United Nations meeting.
Starlink's "illegal activities" in Iran violate the country's sovereignty and constitute "unauthorized military use of a commercial satellite mega-cluster," the Islamic Republic said in a statement released Monday at a UN scientific meeting in Vienna.
The Kremlin delegation expressed the view that the SpaceX network may violate the provisions of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, ratified by the United States and over 100 other countries, which requires satellite operators to take into account the interests of other participants in space activities.
The presence of large networks operated by private companies “is hardly in the interests of the long-term sustainability of space activities and the use of outer space,” the Russian statement added.
The Starlink service has become a key means of communication for Ukrainians fighting against the Russian invasion, as well as for Iranian opposition forces who took to the streets last month.
Although Starlink is technically illegal in Iran, about 50,000 terminals have been smuggled into the country in recent years, allowing protesters to coordinate their actions even as authorities blocked other forms of communication.
The Vienna meeting is not the only UN forum where Iran is taking on SpaceX. Tehran has also argued at the International Telecommunication Union, the UN's digital agency, that the network violates rules that prohibit the use of telecommunications services not authorized by national governments.
Russia is demanding international negotiations aimed at limiting the number of new satellites, as well as clarification regarding the military use of satellite frequencies registered for commercial purposes.
“The use of mega-satellite groups is concentrated in the hands of private companies, and this is unlikely to be in the interests of the long-term sustainability of outer space,” the terrorist country said in a statement.
It was previously reported that the Russian satellites Luch-1 and Luch-2 could participate in intercepting signals from European satellites directly in space, by specifically approaching their trajectory.
The Cabinet of Ministers also adopted a resolution that makes it mandatory to verify all Starlink satellite terminals operating in Ukraine. Unverified devices will be disconnected from the network over time. These measures were taken to prevent the use of smuggled Starlink terminals by the Russian military on Ukrainian territory.
