Russia Could Give Musk Political Asylum Amid Trump Feud, Lawmaker Says

Russia could offer political asylum to tech billionaire Elon Musk following his public fallout with U.S. President Donald Trump, a senior Russian lawmaker said Friday, though the Kremlin has sought to distance itself from the feud.

Musk and Trump, seen as close allies since the 2024 U.S. presidential election, exchanged threats on Thursday over revoked government contracts and impeachment after the world’s richest man criticized the Republican president’s sweeping tax and spending bill.

“If he did [need political asylum], of course, Russia could offer it,” said Dmitry Novikov, first deputy chairman of the State Duma’s International Affairs Committee, in comments to the state-run TASS news agency.

However, Novikov, a member of the Communist Party, said he believes that Musk is “playing a completely different game and he won’t be needing any political asylum.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to weigh in on the spat when asked for comment on Friday.

“This is a domestic issue of the United States, and we don’t intend to interfere,” Peskov told reporters. “We’re confident the U.S. president will handle this situation on his own.”

Russia has previously granted asylum to U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden and pro-Kremlin British blogger Graham Phillips.

Musk resigned last week as head of a controversial federal agency, known as DOGE, aimed at slashing U.S. government spending. He said Trump’s spending bill would add to the U.S. debt, prompting the president to say he was “very disappointed” about the billionaire’s criticism.

Musk, who donated $300 million to Trump’s 2024 campaign, later argued that the Republican president would not have won re-election without his support.

The clash has already rattled markets, with shares in Musk’s Tesla plunging and the billionaire vowing to end a key U.S. space program.

AFP and Reuters contributed reporting.