Russian President Vladimir Putin has described Elon Musk as a "real genius" while visiting an exhibition of Russian technology on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa summit.

Axar.az reports, citing Russian media, commenting on the launch of Russia’s domestic satellite communications project, Rassvet, Putin pointed to the scale of the American entrepreneur’s satellite constellation, noting that Russia’s project is still in its early stages.

“Elon Musk is a genius, truly a genius. How many satellites does he have in orbit? More than 5,000, while we are only taking our first steps,” Putin said.

He also said Russia was proud to be developing its own alternative to Starlink. According to Putin, Russia maintains contacts with the head of SpaceX regarding low-Earth orbit satellite constellations.