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Elon Musk can’t seem to catch a break lately. As if receiving near-constant criticism at home for his clearly partisan views wasn’t enough, the Tesla CEO now has to deal with condemnation from foreign players as well, whether it’s Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes or Russian warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, who is quite irate about Tesla’s sudden decision to remotely disable its Cybertruck.
Kadyrov said he received a Tesla Cybertrack from Elon Musk. He promised to send it to the “special military operation” zone and attached a machine gun to it.
“Elon, thank you! Come to Grozny, I will welcome you as the most dear guest! I don’t think our Russian MFA will be… photo.twitter.com/m72fg2G2PU
-Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) August 17, 2024
For the benefit of those who may not be aware, the de facto ruler of Russia’s Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, acquired a Cybertruck last month and then mounted a machine gun on the EV. This development caused quite a stir, especially since Russia remains under a strict sanctions regime.
For his part, Kadyrov continued to insinuate that the Cybertruck in question was a personal gift from Elon Musk, with the warlord going so far as to thank the Tesla CEO and invite him to visit Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic.
Of course, it’s likely that the Cybertruck was acquired surreptitiously on the black market, which led Tesla to remotely disable the electric vehicle.
Epic, Kadyrov’s CyberTruck (probably a black import) was disabled by Tesla. 👍😂
Kadyrov, “This is not a nice thing Elon Musk is doing. He makes expensive gifts from the bottom of his heart and then remotely turns them off.”
To be clear, there never was a CyberTruck… photo.twitter.com/ORZnNWrnFj
— Alex (@alex_avoigt) September 20, 2024
Now, Kadyrov has formally reacted to this development by issuing an accusatory statement:
“This is not a nice thing Elon Musk is doing. He makes expensive gifts from the bottom of his heart and then remotely turns them off.”
This controversy comes as Elon Musk is dealing with another episode of bad blood closer to home. Namely, after Musk not only refused to follow Brazilian judge de Moraes’s orders to block X in the country but also ridiculed his demands, the enraged judge issued a blanket ban on the social media platform in Brazil and levied a daily fine of 50,000 Reais ($8,900) for those who use VPNs to access it.
De Moraes noted in his decision:
“Elon Musk demonstrated his total disrespect for Brazilian sovereignty and, in particular, for the judiciary, positioning himself as a true supranational entity and immune to the laws of each country.”
Do you think Elon Musk stature on the world stage makes him predisposed to such controversies on a regular basis or does he actively court them? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.