China and Russia have a secret 'no limit' pact to eliminate Elon Musk's Starlink at all cost, researchers claim

A joint Insider/Der Spiegel/Le Monde investigation published leaked documents showing a Chinese-authored, three-level plan to contain and defeat Starlink The plan, presented to Russian officers at a secret forum in 2023, highlights a three-level approach to contain and destroy SpaceX's Starlink A separately signed June 2023 Moscow protocol also commits Russia and China to jointly build a hypersonic-missile-defense system based on technology Russia had never before been willing to share, even with allies Starlink is the world's largest satellite constellation ever built, and as a result, it also doubles as the backbone for many civilian and military communications channels. With approximately 10,400 satellites in low-Earth orbit as of June 2026, SpaceX's low-Earth-orbit satellite internet network covers nearly 160 different countries and territories while delivering low-latency communications (20-40 milliseconds) that often make it a better choice than GEO systems that have a baked-in round trip delay of 500-700 milliseconds. Its potential for military use, until recently, was downplayed by many in the industry, but it has formed the backbone for communications for Ukraine in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war earning it the ire of the Russian government and renewed focus from China, which has already covertly begun to prepare for an eventuality where it would have to disable the network. A secret meeting that highlighted growing Chinese-Russian military co-operation With China affirming that its 'no limits' partnership with Russia is still very much in play as early as 2025, a year-long investigation spearheaded by The Insider , Germany's Der Spiegel , and France's Le Monde indicates that both players may have already considerably broadened its scope beyond what was visible earlier, especially when it came to their respective military ambitions. Starlink, which Russians consider a key hindrance to their campaign in Ukraine, forms the backbone of the latter's communicati