Amid the conflict in Europe, tech giant Elon Musk recently iterated his support for Ukraine against its aggressor, Russia, through a series of tweets.
Elon Musk's Support to Ukraine Through SpaceX and Starlink, Challenges Vladimir Putin
GRUENHEIDE, GERMANY - SEPTEMBER 03: Tesla head Elon Musk talks to one visitor as he arrives to look at the construction site of the new Tesla Gigafactory near Berlin on September 03, 2020, near Gruenheide, Germany. Musk is currently in Germany, where he met with vaccine maker CureVac on Tuesday. Tesla has cooperated to build devices for producing RNA vaccines and German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier yesterday.
Elon Musk's space firm SpaceX was reportedly sending a lot of equipment and modules to maintain the broadband infrastructures placed in the country of Ukraine. Part of Elon Musk's goal is to support the citizens, struggling in communication channels since the wake of the invasion, with a more reliable internet connection.
Through the weeks that followed, Elon Musk showed his support for Ukraine, not just by action but also through the blazing statements he released on his social media platforms.
Elon Musk's recent assertions were a simple way to end the impending war, tweeting it Monday, March 14.
Elon Musk directly challenged the Russian president Vladimir Putin in single combat, saying that the stakes are Ukraine. Along with the tweet, the billionaire spelled out Putin's whole name and Ukraine in Russian characters.
Following the first challenge, Elon Musk reiterated his offer, asking the president if he agrees to the fight. Again, the whole question was published in Russian characters. To add spice, Elon Musk tagged @KremlinRussia_E in the same tweet, which serves as the official account of Putin's office.
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Rogozin's Response and State of Russia's Relation to ISS
Days after the billionaire's challenge, Elon Musk did not receive any official replies from the government or the Russian president himself.
However, the trolling of the SpaceX CEO did irritate some of Putin's underlings. One of them was Russian space agency Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin, notorious for dropping baseless accusations and threats from opposing parties in the space industry.
In response to Elon Musk, Rogozin tweeted an excerpt from a poem by Alexander Pushkin, titled "The Tale of the Pope and his Worker Balda."
Rogozin selected a passage from the poem to mirror his thoughts on the matter. Based on Rogozin's selected phrases, Elon Musk should deal first with the Roscosmos chief instead of going all out first with his 'brother' Putin. Elon Musk said that Rogozin is an a' tough negotiator,' teasing the Russian chief to collect the 10 percent of the revenue from the pay-per-view match. Attached in the tweet is a shirtless Putin riding a bear and Elon Musk playing with his Boring flamethrower.
Concluding the one-sided deal, Elon Musk said that Putin could even bring his bear on their duel.
Rogozin recently reacted to the sanctions imposed by the United States and other countries, not just in many aspects of the country but also in the space union.
The Roscosmos director announced on February 14 that the sanctions barring Russia might bring implications to the International Space Station and the programs it covers.
Rogozin threatened that if the participating countries of ISS "want to destroy Russia's cooperation," then international collaborations even up on orbit could be affected. On the other hand, NASA states that they will continue to work with the country and reassure that the current events would not affect the relationship with the Russian cosmonauts.
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