SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon musk holds a helmet as he visits the construction site of Tesla's gigafactory in Gruenheide, near Berlin, Germany, May 17, 2021. REUTERS/Michele Tantussi
Elon Musk spoke warmly of Russia during a Kremlin-sponsored event for students, praising its history of achievements in space and expressing openness to building a Tesla Inc. factory in the country.
The chief executive officer took questions for roughly 45 minutes at the invitation of Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman. Topics ranged from his hiring practices to artificial intelligence and the future of human consciousness, many of which are familiar to fans of the eccentric billionaire.
"I think we’re close to establishing a Tesla presence in Russia, and I think that would be great,” Musk said. "Over time, we will look to have factories in other parts of the world, potentially Russia at some point.”
Musk, who’s also the CEO of U.S. government contractor Space Exploration Technologies Corp., called for more dialogue between Washington and Moscow, where the event took place Friday. The conference kicked off the Kremlin’s efforts to revive the Knowledge Society, a Soviet-era educational organization.
"There’s a lot of talent and energy and Russia,” Musk said. "Hopefully that energy continues into the future, and I would just like to strongly encourage people to strive to make the future better than the past and to be optimistic about the future.”
Musk, 49, joined the conference three months after inviting Russian President Vladimir Putin to join him on the chat-room app Clubhouse.
Peskov told reporters he still hopes Putin and Musk will talk, but no preparations for that are underway currently, the news agency Tass reported.
