Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, who never stays out of the news, sparked another buzz among his 91.6 million Twitter followers today after he posted a tweet saying "if I die under mysterious circumstances, it's been nice knowin ya".
Musk's tweet followed another tweet by him, in which he shared a screenshot of a statement by the Russian space agency chief that was sent to Russian media. The statement says Elon Musk will be held accountable for supplying Starlink satellite internet terminals to war-hit Ukraine, which has been under attack from Vladimir Putin-led Russia since February 24.
"From the testimony of the captured commander of the 36th Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel Dmitry Koryankov, it turns out that the internet terminals of Elon Musk's Starlink satellite company were delivered to the militants of the Nazi Azov Battalion and the Ukrainian Marines in Mariupol by military helicopters. According to our information, the delivery of the Starlink equipment was carried out by the Pentagon. Elon Musk, thus, is involved in supplying the fascist forces in Ukraine with military communication equipment. And for this, Elon, you will be held accountable like an adult -- no matter how much you'll play the fool," says the statement by Dmitry Rogozin, director general of Roscosmos, Russia's space agency.
"The word 'Nazi' doesn't mean what he seems to think it does," tweets 50-year-old Musk, who last week announced the purchase of Twitter for $44 billion. The deal, which has been unanimously approved by the Twitter board of directors, is expected to close in 2022, subject to the approval of Twitter stockholders.
His internet venture Starlink, which is a constellation of around 2,000 satellites in low Earth orbit, provides high-speed, low-latency broadband internet across the globe using advanced satellites. It can enable internet services in far-flung areas that historically have not been possible with satellite internet.
The Starlink internet service has a large presence in Ukraine. These equipment were dispatched to the war-hit country after Russia launched an unprecedented invasion of the country on February 24, 2022, destroying civilian as well as government infrastructure. The main aim of Starlink devices in Ukraine is to keep the country online to Russia accountable for the alleged atrocities being committed against the civilian population.
Russia had tried to hack or jam the Starlink devices in April, but the company resisted these attacks, Musk had said earlier.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk's tweet didn't go down well with his fans, including his mother Maye Musk. "That's not funny," tweets Maye, along with angry emojis. To this, Musk replied by saying "sorry" and that "I will do my best to stay alive".
This is not the first time Musk had a face-off with the Russian space agency chief. Since Russia waged a war in Ukraine, Rogozin has criticised Musk and even called him a "little devil". On Musk’s Twitter buy, he called him “moneybag” and said the change of owner on Twitter won’t change anything, including the issues around freedom of speech.
But for his support to Ukraine, its president Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Musk and even invited him to visit the country once the war will be over. The Russia-Ukraine war is approaching its 10th week now and independent sources claim around 10,000 people would have died in the war. NATO also estimates around 15,000 troop casualties each on both sides.
