Photo: Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov (R) speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, on August 31, 2019. ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
The leader of Chechnya has threatened Elon Musk after the founder of Tesla and SpaceX challenged the Russian President Vladimir Putin to one-on-one combat over the future of Ukraine.
Musk had last week taken to Twitter to give a bizarre challenge to Putin, which he said would settle the conflict in Ukraine. However, Ramzan Kadyrov, the feared leader of the autonomous Chechnya region has apparently messaged Musk on twitter saying he needs to 'pump up' if he wishes to defeat the Russian leader.
In the message, Kadyrov calls Elon 'Elona', whether intentional or not is unclear, but has prompted Musk to change his Twitter name to 'Elona'.
The Chechen leader is said to have amassed an army of 70,000 Chechen fighters to join the Russian army in their brutal invasion of Ukraine. Many have found this offering of troops extremely bizarre given the fact that Chechnya itself fought a brutal war for independence against Russia in the 1990s. Once the Chechen war ended, and the pro-independence side was defeated, Chechnya was given autonomy under Kadyrov's father and then under Kadyrov himself after his father's death. Since then, Kadyrov has built strong ties with Russia and is a major supporter of Putin.
Kadyrov lives an extravagant and unusual lifestyle which is documented on social media, prominently Instagram, which often shows him taking part in extreme sports, hunting and displaying signs of extravagant wealth. His Chechen regime has come under strong criticism for human rights abuses, which has allegedly involved rounding up of gay people and putting them in camps where they are beaten and tortured.
Footage of the Chechens, who are majority Muslim, showed them gathering and praying prior to their deployment to Ukraine, which is now the largest military conflict in Europe since the Second World War.
This is not the first time Kadyrov has had a run in with a prominent celebrity figure. In 2016 John Oliver, who hosts Last Week Tonight, appeared to mock Kadyrov after he appealed to online for his lost cat. After a back-and-forth, Kadyrov answered:
"I am tired of jokes. I want to care for cats in Chechnya. By the way, Putin is our leader."
[Based on reporting by: Newsweek]
COMMENTS