Elon Musk denies giving Cybertruck to Chechen leader

MOSCOW

US business mogul Elon Musk on Monday denied that he had given the head of Russia's Chechnya region a battery electric pickup built by Telsa, his car company.

“Are you seriously so retarded that you think I donated a Cybertruck to a Russian general?” Musk wrote on his social media platform, X, using a slur for mentally disabled people.

“Yet another example of how much the legacy media lies,” Musk added, although the roots of the story were in Telegram, a messaging app.

On Saturday, Kadyrov shared a video on Telegram showing himself driving a Tesla equipped with what appeared to be a gun turret, expressing his gratitude to Musk for providing the vehicle.

"Elon, thank you! Come to (the Chechen capital) Grozny, I will accept you as my dearest guest! I don't think our Russian Foreign Ministry will be against such a trip," Kadyrov wrote on Telegram.

The message was interpreted by some as if Musk gave Kadyrov the vehicle, although it turns out that Kadyrov simply meant that it was captured during clashes with Ukrainian troops in the ongoing war

Kadyrov praised the Cybertruck, calling it a "real beast" and a "really comfortable car" that will be soon used by Russian forces on the battlefield.

"I express my sincere gratitude to Elon Musk! This is, of course, the strongest genius of our time and a specialist. … I literally fell in love with this car," Kadyrov wrote.

Kadyrov is well known for his love of pranks and flair for the dramatic, frequently hosting prize giveaways on his Telegram page.