The world’s most powerful man and the world’s richest billionaire engaged in a public spat in America, and nearly 8,000 kms away the old nemesis, Kremlin had a laugh.
“We are ready to facilitate the conclusion of a peace deal between D and E for a reasonable fee and to accept Starlink shares as payment. Don’t fight, guys,” Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian President and the deputy chair of the security council of the Russian Federation, made the offer to mediate on his X handle on Friday afternoon.
Like his claim on mediating between warring neighbours, India and Pakistan, US President Donald Trump is keen on putting a stop to the Russo-Ukraine war.
Trump and his “best friend” Elon Musk have been fighting it out on social media since Thursday night. The embers from the verbal duel tanked Tesla’s stock prices and also left a bust of Musk in Brownsville, Texas vandalised. Trump Media & Technology Group’s stocks too tumbled while memes went around the internet with a face-off between the two a la Alien Vs Predator.
“Elon, don't be upset!" nationalist senator Dmitry Rogozin, who once ran Russia's space programme, wrote on Musk's X social media site. "If you encounter insurmountable problems in the U.S., come to us. Here you will find reliable comrades and complete freedom of technical creativity."
Margarita Simonyan, one of Russia's most powerful state media executives, mocked it as an example of "modern U.S. political culture" -- "Sort of like the English Industrial Revolution. Only in reverse."
Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, who has in the past tried to interest Musk in cooperating with Russia on flights to Mars, asked on X: "Why can't we all just get along?" He then asked Grok, X's AI chatbot, how Musk and Trump could reconcile.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked about the clash, said it was an internal matter for the U.S., though he was confident that Trump would handle it.
"Presidents handle a huge number of different things at the same time, some more and some less important," Peskov said.
Others saw clear benefit for Russia from the feud distracting Washington.
"We can just be glad that they won't have time for us," said Konstantin Malofeyev, a hardline nationalist tycoon, who said it was now "the best time to strike back" against Ukraine.
Senior Russian lawmaker Dmitry Novikov, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma’s International Affairs Committee told the state-run news agency TASS, Russia could offer asylum to Musk.
“If he did (need political asylum), of course, Russia could offer it,” Novikov said. “I think that Musk has a completely different game, he will not need political asylum.”
Musk also has the option of moving to the European Union.
The spokesperson for the European Commission Paula de Pinho, when asked whether Musk had reached out to the EU to relocate his businesses, replied: “He’s very welcome.”
The EU and Musk do not share a cordial relationship. Musk has been critical about the EU, while his alleged interference in elections in the EU member countries has been looked at with suspicion.
For now, even if the doors to the White House are shut, the billionaire has few more places to look at.
With inputs from Reuters