A Russian weapons designer has said that modified Starlink terminals are being used inside Russia, where the service is officially banned, by transmitting false geographical coordinates to get around territorial restrictions — and that his organisation’s electronic warfare complex, Volna-Kupol-Garant, interferes with Starlink at the satellite rather than the dish. The claims came from Dmitry Kuzyakin, chief designer at Russia’s Center for Integrated Unmanned Solutions (TsKBR), in an interview with the state news agency RIA Novosti, reported on 13 October by Voennoe Delo. Kuzyakin also said SpaceX founder Elon Musk is aware that effective Russian systems capable of disrupting the network have emerged.
Both claims should be read with the sourcing in mind. They originate in a single interview given by a state-linked designer to a Russian state news agency, and the man describing the system is the man who built it. The only material outside that chain is a secondary write-up of Russian official statements by Yahoo and an OSINT claim that one installation was destroyed. Yahoo reported that the system has not been independently verified and has not reportedly been used in the war.
Uplink jamming — swamping a spacecraft’s receiver rather than a user’s dish — is a recognised technique in open electronic-warfare literature. Its practical value against a constellation of thousands of cross-linked satellites turns on questions none of the three reports addresses: how many spacecraft serve a target area at once, how quickly traffic reroutes through others, and whether SpaceX can shift frequencies or steer beams in response. There is no public evidence either way.
Key facts
- Yahoo reported that the complex generates interference across eight Starlink data transmission bands, each 62.5 MHz wide, using a directional phased-array antenna.
- One complete complex can reportedly create a jamming zone covering as much as 20 km², Yahoo said.
- A Volna-Kupol-Garant installation was destroyed near Gelendzhik in Russia on 7 August, according to Charter97.org, citing the OSINT project Dnipro Osint.
Every figure above traces back to Kuzyakin’s interview or to a paraphrase of it. No Western government, no SpaceX statement and no independent electronic-warfare analyst has corroborated any of the numbers.
Why it matters
Satellite internet is now frontline infrastructure in Ukraine, where forces run drone crews, artillery spotting and command links over Starlink terminals. A credible way to deny the uplink across a patch of ground, rather than defeat one dish, would change planning on both sides. Advertising the capability may carry value even if the hardware underperforms: units that take the threat seriously can be pushed towards dispersal, backup radios and redundant links. That is this article’s inference, not a finding reported by any of the three sources.
The spoofing admission cuts the other way, and may be the more consequential half of the interview. Geofencing is how SpaceX controls where Starlink works. A Russian official stating that terminals on his own territory defeat it undercuts the premise that the service can be switched off country by country. The same workaround would be open to any sanctioned user able to source a kit and a false position feed, turning enforcement into a hardware and firmware problem for SpaceX rather than a matter of policy.
How the system is described
According to Voennoe Delo, the complex monitors Starlink satellites as they move across its operational area, then tracks them with a directed radio signal so the spacecraft cannot receive information sent by user terminals in the coverage zone — the uplink-side mechanism already set out in earlier Russian statements on the Volna-Kupol-Garant jamming system. Kuzyakin said it acts on the satellite’s ability to process incoming transmissions, unlike conventional methods that interfere between ground equipment and orbiting satellites.
Yahoo’s account adds hardware detail from Russian officials. It said the system relies on a narrow-beam, high-frequency signal that overloads receiving antennas aboard Starlink satellites, temporarily stopping them from detecting signals from terminals beneath the affected area. Kuzyakin said Starlink satellites orbit about 500 km above Earth and that the phased-array system was designed to interfere with their receiving antennas. Yahoo reported the complex is equipped with six trailer-mounted modules, each carrying two steerable satellite antennas under radio-transparent radomes, and that the antennas can either stay on the trailers or operate from separate ground installations.
Where the sources differ
Kuzyakin is identified as chief designer of TsKBR by Voennoe Delo and as general designer of the Center for Integrated Unmanned Solutions by Yahoo. On effect, Yahoo quoted him saying: “Volna does not physically destroy the spacecraft, but for the duration of the ‘illumination,’ it blocks the ability of a specific satellite to serve ground terminals.” The same Yahoo report also states the device has the capacity to disrupt and even disable spacecraft operations, which is a stronger claim than the designer’s own.
Background: systems hit on the ground
Charter97.org reported that a Volna-Kupol-Garant was found and destroyed near Gelendzhik, where Vladimir Putin has a residence. Citing Dnipro Osint via Dialog.UA, it said satellite images placed the facility on the grounds of military unit No. 2156, about 24 km from the palace, and that Ukrainian drones struck it on 7 August. It said this was at least the third time the system had been destroyed since the start of the full-scale war, that the earlier strikes were in occupied territories, and that this was the first on Russian soil.
Yahoo framed the unveiling as unwelcome news for the United States and Ukraine, both of which it said are already weighing how future conflicts might extend into orbit, and reported that the US has explored controlling which nations can operate satellites. It said Russia is likely to defend satellite capabilities that support communications, intelligence gathering, navigation and unmanned military systems.
The claim lands alongside German warnings about Russian satellites shadowing Starlink, while Ukrainian officials have said no one will disconnect Starlink there. SpaceX has not commented in any of the three reports, and none of them attributes an actual Starlink outage to the system.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the interference stop as soon as the jamming signal is switched off?
No. Yahoo reported that affected satellites need several additional minutes to regain normal communications capability after the interference ends.
Is the jamming technique a new invention?
No. Kuzyakin told RIA Novosti that directed electronic interference against space-based systems dates back to Soviet-era developments, according to Voennoe Delo.
What weakness does the system have?
Its size. Yahoo reported that numerous exposed antennas stay active while the complex operates, which could make it visible to electronic intelligence assets.
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