Since the beginning of the Russian military operation in Ukraineand relations between Kyiv and the American billionaire Elon Musk Between ebbs and flows, where the differences began, beginning with the operation of the “Starlink” satellite network funded by the owner of Tesla, which means the availability of basic field and humanitarian contacts for the Ukrainians in the war with Russia, and then the subsequent statements of the controversial billionaire about “reconciliation” between the neighbors angered Kyiv, until another new came.
Ukrainian presidential advisor Mikhail Podolak accused Twitter owner Elon Musk of deliberately undermining the popularity of the Ukrainian government’s pages on the social networking site.
“stimulating pessimism”
Podolak accused Musk of “inspiring pessimism” from the Ukraine-related pages of Bluebird.
Addressing him from the podium, he said: “Oh Elon, maybe enough pessimism from the official accounts of Ukraine and their forcible cordoning off? Everything has become very clear.”
Relationship tension
It is noteworthy that at the end of October 2022, Musk acquired Twitter in a deal worth $ 44 billion.
.@elonmuskmaybe you should stop pessimizing 🇺🇦 official accounts & forcibly reducing their reach? It’s too obvious. Don’t help talentless ru-propaganda. It won’t help them and @Twitter‘s reputation is dying. Maybe a regulator is needed to explain competition rules to the owner?
— Mykhailo Podolyak (@Podolyak_M) February 1, 2023
This was not the first sign of strained relations between the Ukrainians and the American billionaire. Kyiv’s anger at him intensified, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to invite him to visit his country last December.
The president’s invitation came to brief Musk on the damage done to the country by Russian forces, as Zelensky saw then that such a visit could help the richest man in the world understand the situation before making statements about the war.
This came as part of an implicit rebuke from the Ukrainian president to Musk, the businessman who last year proposed a peace plan for Ukraine that included ceding territory to Russia, which angered Kyiv.