Elon Musk says Tesla is considering building a factory in Russia

• Elon Musk told a conference in Moscow that Tesla was looking at building a factory in Russia.
• Musk said there should be “more dialogue” between Russia and the US, per Bloomberg.
• Musk said he was invited to speak at the conference by a Kremlin spokesman, Bloomberg reported.
• See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk told a conference in Moscow that the company was considering building a production hub in Russia, Reuters and Bloomberg reported Friday.

Musk, appearing via video link on Friday morning, said Russia was among the countries where the carmaker could “potentially” build a factory, Bloomberg reported.

Musk said there should be “more dialogue” between the US and Russia, and that Russia possesses “a lot of talent and energy,” per Bloomberg.

Musk said he had been invited to appear at the conference by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, and added that he was a “huge admirer” of Russia’s achievements, Bloomberg reported.

Rumors began to circulate this week that the Tesla CEO was looking for a country in which to build a new factory after he visited the UK.

Outside of the US, Tesla has two factories: one in Shanghai, China, and one near Berlin, Germany. Production at its German factory has not yet begun. It had planned to start in July, but Tesla has now given its German team six more months to start production.

Earlier this year ,Musk had a bizarre interaction with the Kremlin, after tweeting at its official Twitter account in February to ask if President Vladimir Putin would join him for a public discussion on Clubhouse, the audio-based social media app. A Kremlin spokesperson later said Musk had not answered follow-up questions about the suggestion.