{"id":686398,"date":"2026-07-11T18:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T18:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/686398\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T18:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T18:24:09","slug":"elon-musks-family-foundation-took-tommy-robinson-to-russia-says-musks-father-tommy-robinson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/686398\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk\u2019s family foundation took Tommy Robinson to Russia, says Musk\u2019s father | Tommy Robinson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Elon Musk\u2019s family foundation took <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/tommy-robinson\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tommy Robinson<\/a> to Russia, according to the billionaire X owner\u2019s father, who was with the British far-right activist in Moscow as he encouraged anti-migration protests in Britain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Robinson \u2013 whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2026\/jun\/09\/tommy-robinson-meets-elon-musk-father-moscow\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">appeared last month in Moscow<\/a>, from where he issued calls for supporters to take to the streets after a knife attack in Belfast. He shared video of himself in a luxury Moscow hotel with the older Musk, whose son has been a vocal supporter of Robinson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cI brought him out to Russia,\u201d Musk\u2019s father, Errol, told the Guardian, adding that both men had held meetings with Russian business figures. He said the trip had been covered by the Musk Foundation, a private philanthropic organisation founded by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/elon-musk\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Elon Musk<\/a> and his brother Kimbal Musk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The visit to Moscow came at a time when Vladimir Putin\u2019s regime and its proxies have appeared to be forging links with European far-right figures. At the same time, Russia was also hosting Andrew Tate, the self-styled misogynistic influencer, and his brother, who posted footage of themselves firing weapons and riding in a tank in the apparent company of the Russian military.<\/p>\n<p>Russia\u2019s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, on stage at an event in Moscow with Errol Musk, right, in 2025. Photograph: Shamil Zhumatov\/Reuters<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Police in Britain <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2026\/jun\/14\/police-stop-tommy-robinson-way-back-london-from-russia\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">subsequently stopped and seized Robinson\u2019s<\/a> phones as he returned from a trip to Russia. While Robinson had previously visited Russia several years ago, this time he appeared to be more explicit in his praise for Russia, sharing footage of Russian ultra-nationalists holding a rally in memory of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2026\/jun\/01\/southampton-man-jailed-life-murder-student-religious-knife-vickrum-digwa-henry-nowak\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">murdered British teenager Henry Nowak<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Errol Musk, who also went to St Petersburg for an annual Kremlin-backed economic forum, said that Robinson was \u201ca fine young man\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cHe\u2019s very hotheaded, but at the same time, he\u2019s learning,\u201d claimed the South African, who has travelled to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/russia\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Russia<\/a> in the past and at one point met Putin. A Russophile who said he believed that Russia had a \u201cgenetic advantage\u201d over the west, Errol Musk holds firmly pro-Russian positions on the conflict in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Topics covered in meetings alongside Robinson included Russia\u2019s attempts to address a decline in births. \u201cTommy really got into these meetings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Musk senior said he had become familiar with Robinson after the far-right activist was imprisoned. Robinson has a number of convictions but sought the spotlight in particular after he was sent to prison for breaching a contempt of court order.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cSo I contacted Tommy, I was asked on British television once what I think of Tommy,\u201d Errol Musk added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Last month, Robinson told the Guardian that he had come to see the \u201cbeauty of a civilised society\u201d after visiting Russia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Prof Stephan Lewandowsky, at the University of Bristol, who has studied the threat posed to society by misinformation, said the visit by Robinson and Tate came against the backdrop of a hybrid war that Putin was waging against the west.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cPart of that means he will recruit anyone to undermine western democracy from within, whether that is Robinson, the Tates or others involved in more conventional politics,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is a pragmatic reason for the Russians to be making links like this.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cIt is to their political advantage, but there is also clearly examples of ideological alignment to the extent that we are talking about ultra-nationalist birds of a feather.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The Guardian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/jan\/04\/leading-uk-far-right-activist-russian-nationalist-event-mark-collett\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">revealed earlier this year<\/a> that the head of a leading British far-right group spoke at a summit of European extreme nationalist groups convened in Russia by an influential oligarch linked to Putin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The event in St Petersburg was addressed by Mark Collett, a longstanding far-right activist and founder of Patriotic Alternative, which attempted to exploit the summer of unrest outside asylum hotels in Britain.<\/p>\n<p>Get in touch<\/p>\n<p>Contact Ben Quinn about this story<\/p>\n<p>If you have something to share about this story, you can contact Ben using one of the following methods:<\/p>\n<p>Secure Messaging in the Guardian app<\/p>\n<p>The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.<\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t already have the Guardian app, download it (<a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/app\/the-guardian-live-world-news\/id409128287\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">iOS<\/a>\/<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.guardian\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Android<\/a>) and go to the menu. Select \u2018Secure Messaging\u2019. When asked to choose a recipient please switch to the Journalists list and select Ben Quinn.<\/p>\n<p>SecureDropIf you can safely use the tor network without being observed or monitored you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/securedrop\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">SecureDrop platform.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Finally, our guide at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/tips\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">theguardian.com\/tips<\/a>\u00a0lists several ways to contact us securely, and discusses the pros and cons of each.<\/p>\n<p>Show more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elon Musk\u2019s family foundation took Tommy Robinson to Russia, according to the billionaire X owner\u2019s father, who was&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-686398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}