Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia’s Chechen Republic, accused Elon Musk on Thursday of disabling a Tesla Cybertruck that he claimed he received from the billionaire last month.
Kadyrov, who has ruled Chechnya with an iron fist for over 17 years, shared a video in August of him driving around in the electric vehicle with what appeared to be a machine gun mounted on its roof.
The Chechen leader hailed the truck’s “maneuverability” and crew protection in a post on Telegram.
Kadyrov said he received the vehicle from Musk, a claim that the Tesla owner called a lie on his social media platform X.
He had goaded Musk by saying he awaited the tech billionaire’s future products when he first posted a picture of his machine gun-mounted car.
“Now, recently, Musk remotely disabled the Cybertruck,” Kadyrov said in a post on his Telegram account.
“That’s not a nice thing for Elon Musk to do. He gives expensive gifts from the bottom of his heart and then remotely switches them off,” he said.
Kadyrov added: “That’s not manly. We had to tow the iron horse. How could you do that, Elon?”
The Cybertruck is an electric pick-up truck first unveiled by US carmaker Tesla in 2019 before going into production last year.
Kadyrov claimed in his social media post that the vehicle he received was used in combat and sent to Ukraine, where it “performed admirably”.
The son of a former rebel warlord, Kadyrov is now one of Putin’s most vociferous backers and has long referred to himself as the president’s “footsoldier.”
The 47-year-old Chechen leader says he has deployed thousands of troops to help the Kremlin with its Ukraine offensive.
Musk has been deeply embedded in the battle for control of Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in February 2022.
Through SpaceX, his Starlink satellites stepped in to provide Ukrainians with internet and communication networks after warfare downed the country’s infrastructure. It has also helped the country’s war effort.
