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Russian President Vladimir Putin called Elon Musk a “real genius” on Wednesday and said Moscow is in close contact with him, as Russia works on its own version of the Starlink satellite internet system that Ukraine’s military relies on.

Getting into it: “Elon Musk is a genius, he’s just a real genius,” Putin said at the Russia-Africa summit in Moscow, while his digital development minister, Maksut Shadayev, briefed him on Rassvet, Russia’s planned answer to Starlink.

Shadayev said Russia has launched more than 30 satellites, a tiny fraction of SpaceX’s constellation, which outside satellite trackers estimate at roughly 10,000. Putin said Russia is only taking its first steps but is proud to be doing it on its own, and that the goal now is to scale up. Back in June, he claimed Rassvet was “not inferior” to Starlink, but a soldier in the room pushed back and told him Russia doesn’t have such a system.

Putin added, “We are in close contact with our American partners — including Mr Musk — because it is very important, in orbit, not to get in each other’s way and to maintain a certain level of discipline and order.”

This all comes right after Ukrainian troops spent nearly two weeks this month dealing with throttled speeds on Starlink and Starshield, the military version of the service. Ukraine had to scrap some missions, and its forces struggled to knock down incoming Russian drones.

President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Saturday that everything was running at full speed again, but Musk then accused Ukraine of breaking SpaceX’s terms by using Starlink for offensive drone strikes, which Zelensky rejected, saying Ukraine only goes after Russian troops on Ukrainian soil.