Russia has banned the import of Starlink for six months
The relevant decree was signed on 29 April by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, according to Radio Free Europe’s Russian service.
The aim of the ban, as stated in the document, is to ‘protect Russia’s national security’. The ban will remain in force for six months after the decree comes into effect.
Starlink does not officially operate in Russia, but the Russian army has used its terminals to launch drones deployed against Ukraine. These devices enter Russia via third countries.
In late January, Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov appealed to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to restrict the system’s use in Russia, following which reports emerged of terminals being shut down at the front.
According to Radio Free Europe, in March 2026 it emerged that the Russian company ‘Bureau 1440’, which is developing a Russian equivalent of Starlink, had launched the first 16 production satellites of the ‘Rassvet’ low-Earth orbit communications constellation into orbit. It is expected that by the end of 2030, the constellation will comprise 292 satellites, with a total of 383 satellites planned for launch. The commercial launch of the service is scheduled for 2027.
Bloomberg noted that Russia is seeking to create a satellite communications system “comparable in concept, though not yet in scale” to Starlink.
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