Eric Schmidt Says Russia’s Rassvet Network Could Be Nearly Impossible to Block

Eric Schmidt: Russia’s Rassvet Could Be Hard to Block

14:04 07-10-2026

Eric Schmidt says Russia’s Rassvet satellite network could be extremely hard to block, while also commenting on Starlink limits and Ukraine’s missile defense.

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Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in an interview with The Economist that the main advantage of Russia’s Rassvet satellites is that they would be extremely difficult to block once the network is deployed.

Schmidt also commented on restrictions affecting Ukraine’s use of Starlink. In his view, the issue is political in nature and should be addressed by the U.S. government.

Turning to missile defense, Schmidt said Kiev has no effective anti-ballistic missiles apart from the Flamingo. He also argued that Ukraine is currently unable to produce such weapons in large quantities for a number of reasons.

Bloomberg previously described Rassvet as Russia’s alternative to Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starlink system. In August, Sergey Beskrestnov, an adviser to the Ukrainian president on technology issues, said the network could become a problem for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

That same month, Ukraine asked the International Telecommunication Union to exclude its territory from the declared coverage areas of all Rassvet satellite networks across all frequency bands.