More from the article...

... Kirill Dmitriev launched his mission this week, posting on X platform for the first time in more than a decade to declare US-Russia cooperation was "key to address world challenges."

Then he followed up with a video graphic depicting a joint mission to Mars with the US and Saudi Arabia on what appears to be one of Musk's SpaceX rockets.

The focus on Musk's grand dream of conquering the Red Planet was no accident for President Vladimir Putin's emissary for foreign economic cooperation. The one-time Goldman Sachs Group Inc. investment banker has one critical assignment " to get US President Trump and top advisers like Musk hooked on prospects for major business deals with Russia as bait for ending the war in Ukraine on terms favorable to the Kremlin. ...