Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised Elon Musk, telling university students that he is a pioneer comparable to legendary Soviet rocket engineer Sergei Korolev.

The comments came at a time when Russia and the United States have forged closer ties under President Donald Trump's administration, in which billionaire and SpaceX founder Musk is a key figure, AFP reported.

"You know, there's a guy - he lives in the States - Musk who, you could say, raves about Mars. These are people who do not often appear among the human population, charged with a certain idea," Putin told students during a visit to Bauman University, a Moscow college specialising in science and engineering.

"If that sounds unbelievable today, such ideas often come to fruition after a while. Just as the ideas of Korolev, of our pioneers, came true after a while," the Russian leader added.

Korolev is considered the father of the Soviet space program. He developed the first satellite, Sputnik, as well as Vostok 1, which launched the first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, into orbit in 1961.

Musk, the world's richest man and Trump's most powerful adviser, is the head of SpaceX. The US company launches rockets for NASA and owns the Starlink satellite internet network.

Musk is a frequent critic of Ukraine, which is currently struggling with the three-year-old Russian offensive.

The billionaire accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last month of wanting "forever war" and in February said Kiev had gone "too far" in the conflict. | BGNES