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Electric vehicle billionaire Mr. Elon Musk has responded to comments by the head of the Chechen Republic Mr. Ramzan Kadyrov in a Telegram post. Musk, known for his active presence on the social media platform Twitter, once again came into the spotlight recently when he challenged the Russian Federation's President, Mr. Vladimir Putin, to one-on-one combat. Following this, the Russian space agency Roscosmos' chief Mr. Dimitry Rogozin expressed his take on the matter, tweeting an excerpt from a poem by the poet Alexander Pushkin to imply that a duel with Mr. Putin would simply be a waste of time and that Mr. Musk should choose his associates as an alternative.
This back and forth caught the attention of Kadyrov, who shared his opinion on the messaging platform Telegram. His response, shared by Musk on Twitter, taunted the executive and pointed out that not only did he lack the muscle mass required for such a fight but that Musk was "effeminate" and needed training before any such fight could take place.
Elon Musk Proposes Fighting With Weaker Hand If Russian President Is "Afraid" Of Challenge
The latest bit of back and forth between Musk and Eastern European officials kicked off this Monday when Musk challenged Mr. Putin to single combat. In response, Mr. Rogozin shared a passage from a Russian poem, a translated version of which is as follows:
You, little devil, are still young,
Compete with me weak;
It would only be a waste of time.
Overtake my brother first.A. S. Pushkin "The Tale of the Pope and his worker Balda"
In what was a personal attack, Musk took the jibe lightheartedly and replied that Mr. Rogozin was a tough negotiator and that he could increase his take from the pay-per-view proceeds of the fight by 10%. The executive then shared an image asking Mr. Rogozin to choose between an image of Mr. Putin riding a bear and Musk operating a flamethrower. He followed up by providing Mr. Putin with another concession, by allowing him to bring his bear to the duel.
Musk also responded by sharing an excerpt from renowned Russian writer Fyodor Dostyesky's novel Idiot. The translated Russian text and Musk's accompanying response were:
And … um … [flicks wrist] we should form a book club.
“A fool with a heart and no mind is just as unfortunate a fool as a fool with a mind without a heart.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Idiot
However, things escalated later when the Chechen politician joined the virtual fray by sharing his view on the challenge on Telegram. This was shared by Musk on Twitter, and the original and translated images of Kadyrov's opinion are shared below:
Keeping in line with his humorous takes on the affair, Musk stated that the training offered by the Chechen official would give him an unfair advantage. According to him:
Thank you for the offer, but such excellent training would give me too much of an advantage.
If he is afraid to fight, I will agree to use only my left hand and I am not even left-handed.
Elona
He also changed his name on Twitter to 'Elona', taking aim at the final sentence of Kadyrov's response which had outlined that once Musk's training was complete, he would be transformed from Elona to Elon. In other words, the Chechen politician targeted Musk by insinuating he was too "effeminate" - a take that falls in line with Kadyrov's controversial opinions on other topics and persistent accusations of human rights abuses. Musk's response indicates that he is confident in his purported effeminateness, and it will not hinder him in a fight that in all likelihood will never happen.
