Accustomed to mocking tweets and memes, does Elon Musk want to convert to diplomacy? Not sure that’s a good idea.
What went through Elon Musk’s head when, between a tweet about Tesla and a meme about bodybuilding, he decided to talk about the Russian-Ukrainian conflict? On October 3, he proposed his idea for a plan for peace in this region and subjected Twitter to a poll to find out if users approved of it. Tweets that caused strong reactions in the two countries concerned.
A plan on the issue of annexed territories
On Monday, the CEO of Tesla made the following proposition on Twitter: “Peace Ukraine-Russia: – Redo the elections of the annexed regions under the supervision of the UN. Russia leaves if that is the will of the people. – Crimea is officially part of Russia, as it has been since 1783 (until Khrushchev’s mistake). – Crimea’s water supply is assured. – Ukraine remains neutral. », followed by a simple Yes/No poll. This poll gathered more than 2.7 million votes and the “no” won with 59.1% of the votes. Following this result, Elon Musk said that the poll fell victim to the « biggest bot attack [qu’il a] never seen “.
He justified his idea by saying that “it’s very likely that this will be the end result – just a matter of how many people die first” and that he “should also be noted that a possible, albeit unlikely, outcome of this conflict is nuclear war”. Arguments that did not convince the Ukrainians.
Ukraine criticizes him, Russia congratulates him
Most notable reaction: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky himself posted a poll on Twitter, asking “Which Elon Musk do you prefer? Who supports Ukraine or who supports Russia? ». With more than 2.4 million votes in total, the poll obviously preferred the first option with 78.8% of the vote. Elon Musk replied that he of course supported Ukraine but feared the consequences of the escalation of the conflict. The adviser to the presidency Mykhaïlo Podoliak preferred to propose a “best peace plan” consisting of the liberation of the annexed territories, the demilitarization of Russia and the bringing to justice of the “war criminals” before an international court. The Ukrainian Parliament, for its part, contented itself with saying ” Nope. » to Elon Musk’s plan.
On the Russian side, the billionaire’s statements were discussed at a press conference on October 4. The Kremlin spokesman said that “It’s a good thing that a person like Elon Musk is looking for a peaceful solution to this situation. Unlike many professional diplomats, Elon Musk is still trying to achieve peace. And achieving peace without accepting Russian demands is completely impossible.. » The entrepreneur did not react, returning to his usual tweets about Tesla, Space X and the takeover of Twitter.