Linas Jegelevičius
If Elon Musk, the maverick U.S. billionaire entrepreneur known for his electric car Tesla, would think twice, he would probably never do it again what he just did – propose Ukraine to cede the strategically important Crimea region to Russia and make other tangible concession to the aggressor as part of a peace deal. The audacious suggestion has triggered a major firestorm in Ukraine, its allies and all over the world.
«His comments are improper, very untimely, very dangerous, ones with immense impact. With the global influence he has, he should be much more careful and considerate when opining on something on social media. He may be a brilliant businessman, but his political statements of the kind just are mind-blowing and detrimental. I really do not think that they were in a way influenced by Russia. But the post certainly plays into its hands,» Petras Auštrevičius, a Lithuanian euro parliamentarian, told BNN.
Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda has hit back Musk in a viral Twitter tweet: «Dear @elonmusk, when someone tries to steal the wheels of your Tesla, it doesn’t make them legal owner of the car or of the wheels. Even though they claim both voted in favour of it. Just saying,» the Lithuanian president tweeted to Musk.
The Tesla founder’s «Ukraine-Russia peace» plan encompasses holding new elections in occupied Ukrainian regions under UN supervision, Ukraine remaining neutral, and, as mentioned, Crimea being formally recognised as part of Russia.
On Tuesday, October 4, Kęstutis Budrys, advisor to the Lithuanian president, said that Musk’s statement on war in Ukraine was «totally wrong».
«He [Musk] is totally wrong, both in his statements about Russian propaganda clichés, about Khrushchev’s decisions on Crimea, and in the way they were presented,» he told «Žinių Radijas» radio station.
According to Musk, the return of Crimea to Russia would «restore historical justice» because the peninsula allegedly belongs to Ukraine due to the fault of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
Just to remind, in 1783, the Russian Empire annexed Crimea after an earlier war with Turkey. When the Bolsheviks secured Crimea in 1917 it became an autonomous soviet republic within Russia. During World War II, Crimea was downgraded to an oblast and the Crimean Tatars were deported. The USSR transferred Crimea to Ukraine on the 300th anniversary of the Pereyaslav Treaty in 1954.
Andrius Šuminas, professor of the Department of Digital Cultures and Communication of the Faculty of Communication of Vilnius University (VU), told «Žiniu Radio» on Tuesday, 4 October, that it was a «significant message» from Elon Musk, because many world leaders, diplomats, and public figures vehemently and fiercely reacted to it.
«There was a wave of indignation. Undoubtedly, this shows that in a certain sense it was an important event, because it simply created a lot of resonance,» the VU professor said.
He says it’s hard to say why Musk needed to «jump out» like that.
«One can speculate that maybe he’s trying to divert attention from some of his issues with buying the same Twitter platform or something. On the other hand, maybe a person, a billionaire, is sacredly convinced that he is a genius, knows everything, knows everything and in this way tries to offer, from his point of view, some kind of peace proposals, solutions. The worst thing is that those peace proposals basically repeat the narratives of the Kremlin and Russia,» said the expert.
In a vote on this «plan», which Musk created in the same post, 60 percent of more than 2 million Twitter users rejected it.
The Ukrainians have blasted Musk for his «peace plan» too. Acrimoniously.
«Elon Musk, there is a better peace plan: Ukraine liberates its territories, including the annexed Crimea, Russia undergoes demilitarization and mandatory denuclearization, so it can no longer threaten others, war criminals go through international tribunal,» Mykhaylo Podolyak, a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, wrote on Twitter.
Meanwhile, Andrij Melnyk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, had a Russian-warship-go-f— yourself like response to Musk’s initial poll.
«F— off is my very diplomatic reply to you @elonmusk,» he wrote on Twitter.
Musk also drew direct ire from Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who in a duelling Twitter poll accused Musk of contradicting himself. Zelenskyy asked users which version of Musk they like more: the one who supports Ukraine, or the one who supports Russia?
In Šuminas’ opinion, Zelensky really needed to react to this, since it became the main event of the beginning of the week on the Internet.
«Musk can help Ukraine a lot by expanding the Starlink network in the country, for example. So we can see that Zelenskiy’s reaction was not direct indignation, but an attempt to respond somewhat diplomatically,» Šuminas says.
The professor noticed that Musk looked worse and worse as he tried to explain the position with further messages.
«It is obvious that he is a good businessman, but, as a politician, Elon Musk is probably quite weak and it is clearly visible,» the Lithuanian analyst underscored.
Musk’s statement has clearly swiftly become a yummy tidbit for the Russian propaganda machine – the Kremlin soon praised the billionaire’s position.
«We hear that such statements are repeated by Peskov, Medvedev, and other Russian propaganda communication machines. It helps to introduce that Russian narrative into the Western society in such a way that it is not just the attitude and message of some Russian politicians, the authorities,» the VU professor pointed out.
Meanwhile, Marius Ivaškevičius, a famous Lithuanian playwright, said this: «So many people today talk to Elon Musk, apparently imagining that he is listening to them and is drawing conclusions. Yes, with his «peace plan proposal», Elon missed the point badly, but at least he was one of the few Americans who cared about Eastern Europe and this war.
As a result, he became our enemy, but are those our friends who, long ago, ticked our region as grey and unknown and the war as distant and incomprehensible?»
Yet, most of the Lithuanian Cabinet members kept their lips tight amid the scandal. The reason perhaps is clear – Musk’s SpaceX is expected to start providing high-speed satellite internet services to Lithuanian consumers soon.
Reportedly Starlink was said to be preparing 20 satellites to fly over Lithuania, providing an internet speed of at least 100 Mbps. According to the company, Lithuania will be the easternmost country where SpaceX will launch its services.
In the wake of the scandal, Musk has tweeted that SpaceX’s out-of-pocket costs for providing Ukraine with Starlink dishes stands at around $80 million so far. But the value of Tesla shares has dropped as the aftermath.