The Kremlin might have ignored billionaire Elon Musk difficult President Vladimir Putin to a struggle over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, however a number of Russian officers have stepped in to defend their chief by mocking Musk on-line.

The eccentric Tesla CEO on Monday tweeted: “I hereby challenge Vladimir Putin to single combat”, with Ukraine because the stakes. Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russia’s area company who previously had disparaged Musk as a rival area rocket maker, replied the identical day by citing a poem referring to a “young little devil, too weak to compete with me”.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the chief of the Russian area of Chechnya and an ally of Putin, addressed Musk by the female Russian first identify Ilona, which sounds just like Elon, telling him he lacked bodily power to struggle Putin, a judo aficionado and “the terror of the West”.

“Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin) would look unsportsmanlike when he beats a weaker opponent like yourself,” Kadyrov wrote, suggesting that Musk ought to pump up some muscle groups first to “transform into a manly Elon from tender Ilona”.

Musk hit again on Tuesday, telling Kadyrov in a tweet signed “Elona” that he would have “too much of an advantage” after coaching. “If he is afraid to fight, I will agree to use only my left hand and I am not even left-handed,” he wrote.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov introduced on Wednesday he had booked the profile identify “Еlona” on his messaging app and was ready for Musk to start out utilizing it, with Kadyrov rapidly suggesting that Durov modified it to Ilona. Still, in a later put up Kadyrov mentioned he revered Musk for his character and powerful will.

Asked in regards to the on-line squabbles, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned on Wednesday: “We don’t follow it. We haven’t been reading Twitter for a long time.”

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