Elon Musk refuted reports by Eurasia Group founder and political scientist Ian Bremer that SpaceX and Tesla. The CEO recently spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about “the minimum that the Russian President asks to end the war.”
The Bremer memo was sent to customers earlier this week. Investor Sven Henrich asked Musk via his Twitter account @northmantrader if the news was accurate. Elon Musk replied in a tweet on Tuesday, “No, no. I only spoke to Putin once, and that was about 18 months ago. The theme is space.”
Then Tuesday, Bremer followed up, writing that Musk had told him he had spoken directly to Putin and the Kremlin about Ukraine.
News reached out to Eurasia Group and SpaceX, but neither was available for comment.
As previously reported by the news, Musk posted a series of tweets on October 3 asking for support for his views on the best way out of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Musk has proposed an UN-monitored vote in Ukraine on whether some regions of the beleaguered nation should join Russia. He also said that Ukraine should cede Crimea to Russia and that the country should then remain “neutral” rather than join NATO or Russia.
After the tweet, Musk continued to tweet the idea that some Ukrainians would prefer and choose to join Russia.
Kremlin officials praised Musk for his views, but Musk drew strong criticism from many others. Including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Russian-born human rights activist and former chess champion Garry Kasparov.
Kasparov, who tried to block Putin’s rise to power and was jailed and beaten for his activism before fleeing the country, described Musk’s plan as “a rehash of Kremlin propaganda.”
And Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Andrii Melnyk, wrote in response to Musk’s tweet. “P—off is my very diplomatic response to you.”
Musk had previously achieved hero status in Ukraine because his company, SpaceX. Activated the satellite internet service Starlink to keep parts of the country online in the early days of the conflict.