The eccentric Tesla CEO on Monday tweeted: "I hereby
challenge Vladimir Putin to single combat", with Ukraine as the stakes.
Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russia's space agency who in the past had disparaged
Musk as a rival space rocket maker, replied the same day by citing a poem
referring to a "young little devil, too weak to compete with me".
Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of the Russian region of Chechnya
and an ally of Putin, addressed Musk by the feminine Russian first name Ilona,
which sounds similar to Elon, telling him he lacked physical strength to fight
Putin, a judo aficionado and "the terror of the West".
"Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin) would look
unsportsmanlike when he beats a weaker opponent like yourself," Kadyrov
wrote, suggesting that Musk should pump up some muscles first to
"transform into a manly Elon from tender Ilona".
Musk hit back on Tuesday, telling Kadyrov in a tweet signed "Elona" that he would have "too much of an advantage" after training. "If he is afraid to fight, I will agree to use only my left hand and I am not even left-handed," he wrote.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced on Wednesday he had
booked the profile name "Еlona" on his messaging app and was waiting
for Musk to start using it, with Kadyrov quickly suggesting that Durov changed
it to Ilona. Still, in a later post Kadyrov said he respected Musk for his
character and strong will.
Asked about the online squabbles, Putin's spokesman Dmitry
Peskov said on Wednesday: "We don't follow it. We haven't been reading
Twitter for a long time." © Reuters