Elon Musk tweeted a cryptic warning about his death on Sunday night after receiving a threat from a Russian official.
“If I die under mysterious circumstances, it’s been nice knowin ya,” Musk said in the tweet.
The tweet came a few minutes after Musk tweeted a screenshot of a statement Russian media published from Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, in which Rogozin threatened him.
Rogozin’s statement referenced a confession from “the captured commander of the 36th Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel Dmitry Kormyankov” in which Kormyankov revealed Musk’s Starlink satellites were delivered to Ukrainian forces by helicopter and backed by the Pentagon.
“Elon Musk, thus, is involved in supplying the fascist forces in Ukraine with military communication equipment. And for this, Elon, you will be held accountable like an adult – no matter how much you play the fool,” Rogozin’s statement said.
“The word ‘Nazi’ doesn’t mean what he seems to think it does,” Musk said in response to Rogozin’s statement.
Rogozin responded in a private tweet saying, “you better keep quiet,” according to a translation provided by Business Insider.
Rogozin also responded to Musk’s death warning. “Nobody needs you … stop fooling around,” Rogozin said,
In response to Musk’s death-warning tweet, his mother, Maye Musk, tweeted, “that’s not funny” with angry emojis. Elon Musk responded, “Sorry! I will do my best to stay alive.”
Starlink has supplied its satellite-based internet to Ukraine after delivering thousands of terminals to the war-torn nation. In late April, NBC reported Starlink had an estimated 10,000 internet receivers operating in Ukraine.
Starlink internet employs an outdoor receiver dish that uses signals between low Earth orbit satellites, enabling better speeds and connectivity than traditional satellite internet. The dish connects via cord to a router that provides a Wifi internet signal.
Two days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, Ukraine’s minister of digital information asked Musk in a tweet to provide Starlink to Russia. Musk responded, “Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route.”
