Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk faced immediate ire from Ukrainian diplomats and politicians, including President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Monday, after he tweeted that Russia and Ukraine must consider a peace deal that would see Ukraine cede annexed territory to Russia. He has created a poll, urging his over 107 million followers to vote on the idea.
The billionaire on Monday noon proposed UN-supervised elections in four occupied regions that Moscow last week moved to annex after what it called referendums. He also suggested that Crimea, seized by Moscow in 2014, be formally recognised as Russia. And that water supply to Crimea be restored and that Ukraine should remain neutral. He asked Twitter users to vote 'yes' or 'no' on the plan.
Immediately, Kyiv and Western governments denounced the votes as illegal and coercive.
The harshest reponse came from Ukraine's outspoken outgoing ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, who had faced criticism in July for defending World War Two Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera.
Instead of bowing out, Musk kept offering unsolicited opinions. followed up his first tweet with another poll:
Lithuania's President Gitanas Nausėda tweeted in response.
He said he didn't care if his proposal was unpopular, arguing that he did care "that millions of people may die needlessly for an essentially identical outcome." Massive backlash later, Musk said that Moscow could announce a full mobilisation, leading to a "full war" where "death on both sides will be devastating" given Russia's far larger population.
In February, when Russia disrupted Ukraine's internet, Musk responded to a tweet by a Ukrainian government official seeking help, offering SpaceX’s Starlink satellite broadband service and promising to send more terminals to the country. Musk, however, faced backlash when he suggested on launching a website to rank journalists called Pravda, unaware that the word it was eponymous to a prominent Ukrainian news organisation.
Meanwhile, Twitter wants a Delaware court to order Elon Musk to buy the social media service for $44 billion, as he promised back in April. The Tesla billionaire's reputation for dismissing government pronouncements has some worried that he might flout an unfavourable ruling of the Delaware Court of Chancery.
