South Africa has largely undertaken a mediation or middle-man role in the Russian-Ukraine conflict, but SA-born Elon Musk has opted for a more direct approach.
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Musk is often drawn into fictitious conversations circling ‘who would win’ in a battle sense. Being the world’s wealthiest man on record, his seemingly endless fleet of resources coupled with his technological intelligence make him something of a potential superhero for some, a villain to others depending on who you ask.
Mr Musk has directly entered the conversation regarding the current conflict in Ukraine beyond fictitious notions. Today he tweeted his challenge to ‘single combat’ Russian president Vladimir Putin.
In a tweet, Musk announced his challenge.
“I hereby challenge [Vladimir Putin] to single combat,” he wrote. Of Putin’s name, he wrote it out in Russian reports Bloomberg. “Stakes are Ukraine,” he further added, written in Ukrainian.
I hereby challenge
Владимир Путин
to single combatStakes are Україна
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 14, 2022
In marking that he was serious, he followed up his previous proposal by asking if Putin agrees to the fight and directly tweeted this to Kremlin’s Twitter account.
Вы согласны на этот бой? @KremlinRussia_E
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 14, 2022
If anyone had notions that Musk wasn’t serious, he responded to a sceptical Twitter user asking him if he had thought this through with a tweet that stated: “I am absolutely serious.”
Musk and his resources have served as support for Ukraine since the early days of the conflict. He sent Starlink systems to the country swiftly after the news of Putin’s invasion broke, which allowed internet access for people.
Dmitry Rogozin, the director general of Russia’s own space program Roscosmos, replied to Musk. He offered a portion of Alexander Pushkin’s ‘The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda’ and wrote:
“You, little devil, are still young…You are weak to compete with me, it would only be a waste of time. Overtake my brother first.”
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Picture: @redboyfr/ Instagram