Elon Musk wades into Ukraine war, sparks backlash
Elon Musk is stirring up controversy once more after the Tesla owner posted a Twitter poll with his suggestions for ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Musk has been met with widespread criticism, including from the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
What happened?
Musk tweeted his poll asking his 107.7 million followers to vote on ideas that included ceding territory to Russia.
His ideas included votes in Russian-held parts of Ukraine that the Kremlin says it’s annexing.
Musk said: “Russia leaves if that is will of the people.”
He went on to suggest the world should formally recognise Crimea – annexed by Russia in 2014 – as part of Russia.
Musk went on to caution that the conflict could end in nuclear war, though he added it was “unlikely.”
After 10 hours on his Twitter page, the poll had attracted more than 2 million votes.
Elon Musk is the world’s richest person (2022) according to Forbes magazine.
The Ukrainian president hit back with his own poll asking if users if they liked Musk more when he supported Ukraine. Whilst other Ukrainian officials have also voiced their criticisms of what the billionaire tweeted.
Ukraine’s Andrij Melnyk used a strong expletive, which he described as his “very diplomatic reply”.
Meanwhile, Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov said: “This is moral idiocy, repetition of Kremlin propaganda, a betrayal of Ukrainian courage & sacrifice.”
Elon Musk appears to have made a U-turn on his stance on the invasion. Earlier in the Russian invasion, his satellite internet company had sent equipment to Ukraine, which in turn gained him a lot of popularity in Ukraine – from the public and officials.
Criticism of Musk was not just from Ukraine. US Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger said: “This idea reminds me of fourth-grade social studies where we came up with a peace plan between USSR and USA. We thought that if Gorbachev and Reagan were forced to eat one dinner of American food and 1 of Russian, they would become friends. For reals,” he tweeted.
Russia backs Elon Musk’s peace plan
Whilst most won’t take Elon Musk’s political views seriously, it appears his calls for a peace deal have got the backing of the Kremlin.
Russia has praised Musk for suggesting a peace deal could end the war in Ukraine.
The Kremlin appear to be in favour of his plan, which includes: Ukraine permanently ceding Crimea to Russia, new referendums held under UN auspices to determine the fate of Russia-controlled areas and Ukraine agreeing to neutrality.
Whilst one Ukraine diplomat told Musk to “F*** off”, Russia’s spokesman called Musk’s poll “positive”.
“It is very positive that somebody like Elon Musk is looking for a peaceful way out of this situation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a conference call.
“Compared to many professional diplomats, Musk is still searching for ways to achieve peace. And achieving peace without fulfilling Russia’s conditions is absolutely impossible,” he added.
Twitter reaction
The majority of reactions online to Musk’s comments about Ukraine and his peace plan have been negative, with plenty of users telling the Billionaire to stay out of politics, and not comment on things he knows little about.
