Elon Musk's family foundation funded a trip to Russia for the British far-right activist Tommy Robinson, according to the billionaire's father, Errol Musk, who accompanied him in Moscow. Robinson — whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon — used the visit to urge supporters back in Britain to take to the streets following a knife attack in Belfast, sharing footage of himself in a luxury Moscow hotel with the elder Musk. The episode matters because it points to apparent efforts by the Kremlin to cultivate ties with European far-right figures amid what analysts describe as a hybrid campaign against western democracies.

Errol Musk told the Guardian, "I brought him out to Russia," and said the costs were covered by the Musk Foundation, the private philanthropy set up by Elon and Kimbal Musk, adding that both men held meetings with Russian business figures on topics including Russia's declining birth rate. The trip coincided with a visit by the influencer Andrew Tate and his brother, and came as Errol Musk — a self-described Russophile who has met Putin and holds pro-Russian views on Ukraine — also attended a Kremlin-backed economic forum in St Petersburg. British police later stopped Robinson and seized his phones on his return, while Professor Stephan Lewandowsky of the University of Bristol argued the visits reflected Putin's willingness to recruit anyone able to undermine western democracy from within.