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Elon Musk's father to attend pro-Kremlin event in Russia hosted by far-right ideologue

by Tim Zadorozhnyy June 8, 2025 3:53 PM 3 min read
Errol Musk, the father of tech billionaire Elon Musk, poses for a portrait at his house in Langebaan, South Africa, on May 26, 2022. (Gianluigi Guercia / AFP via Getty Images)
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Errol Musk, the father of U.S. billionaire Elon Musk, has arrived in Moscow to attend the Forum of the Future 2050, a pro-Kremlin event scheduled for June 9-10,  the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported on June 8.

The report comes amid a high-profile public conflict between Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest businessman, and his former ally, U.S. President Donald Trump. In May, Musk announced he would step down as an advisor to Trump and as the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency. Since then, he has emerged as a major critic of the president.

The pro-Kremlin event will be hosted by the Tsargrad Institute and led by far-right Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin.

"I am eager to meet everyone. As far as I know, Russians are among the most intelligent people on the planet. It would be foolish not to ask their opinion on all sorts of issues," Errol Musk was quoted as saying by the Russian state news agency TASS.

Among the forum's panels are sessions titled "Russian Space: The Race for Mars" and "The Battle for Hearts and Minds: The Ideology of Sovereign Russia."

According to Kommersant, scheduled speakers include Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, and prominent state TV anchor Ekaterina Andreeva.

Errol Musk, a former South African businessman and politician, has publicly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling him "a strong leader" and saying that "it would be foolish not to admire Putin" in an April interview with BBC Russia.  

Errol's attendance at the far-right event comes amid growing scrutiny of his son, Elon Musk, whose role as the head of SpaceX and the Starlink satellite network places him at the center of both U.S. defense operations and Ukraine's battlefield communications.

SpaceX holds billions in Pentagon and NASA contracts, including a $1.8-billion agreement with the U.S. intelligence community to build a classified spy satellite system.

Despite initially aiding Ukraine by providing Starlink terminals to stabilize battlefield communications, Elon Musk has increasingly echoed Kremlin-aligned narratives.

He has suggested that President Volodymyr Zelensky lacks public support in Ukraine and has repeatedly called U.S. aid a driver of a "never-ending draft meat grinder."

Those statements have been warmly received by Russian officials, military bloggers, and state media outlets, which have praised Musk as a voice of reason and a critic of Western involvement in the war.

Dmitry Novikov, deputy chairman of the Russian parliament's international affairs committee, said on June 6 that Moscow is ready to grant political asylum to Musk following his public dispute with U.S. President Donald Trump.

US expects Russia’s retaliation for Operation Spiderweb to continue soon
One official told Reuters that while the timing remains unclear, a retaliatory strike could be expected in the coming days and is likely to be “asymmetrical.”

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