Elon Musk Warns He May 'Die in Mysterious Circumstances' after Threat from Russia
Tech mogul posts cryptic tweet amid threats from Russian government
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Elon Musk posted a cryptic warning that he could "die under mysterious circumstances" after he was targetted with threats from Russia.
"If I die under mysterious circumstances, it's been nice knowin ya," Musk, who last month secured a deal to acquire Twitter for an eye-watering $44 billion, tweeted.
If I die under mysterious circumstances, it’s been nice knowin ya
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2022
Followers on Twitter were quick to speculate about what the post could mean.
Some have been drawing parallels with tweets by anti-virus software entrepreneur John McAfee who died in a Spanish prison under mysterious circumstances in 2021.
McAfee was arrested and charged with tax evasion in October 2020 shortly after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed it had brought separate civil charges against him.
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Musk's tweet came shortly after it was revealed he has been threatened by the head of Russia's space agency for providing Ukraine with internet service.
Musk, 50, has been using his Starlink network - a constellation of more than 2,000 satellites in low Earth orbit - to beam internet connections to dishes around the world.
The service has a large presence in Ukraine, introduced with the explicit intention of keeping the country online amid the ongoing Russian invasion.
The billionaire said they had "resisted hacking and jamming attempts" from the Russians back in April and were focusing SpaceX efforts on countermeasures - at the expense of other projects.
Musk tweeted out a statement by Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, that was given to Russian media on Sunday night.
Rogozin posted the statement himself on Telegram.
Rogozin - who just yesterday boasted that Russia could destroy all NATO countries "in half an hour" - accuses Musk of giving Starlink equipment to what they refer to as the "Nazi Azov Battalion" as well as branches of the Ukrainian military.
"From the testimony of the captured chief of staff of the 36th Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel Dmitry Kormyankov, it follows that the ground-based subscriber equipment of the Starlink satellite company Elon Musk was delivered to the militants of the Nazi Azov Battalion and the Marines of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to Mariupol by military helicopters," Rogozin wrote.
"Elon Musk is thus involved with supplying the fascist forces in Ukraine with military communications," Rogozin adds.
"And for this, you will have to answer in an adult way, Elon, no matter how much you'll play the fool."
The word “Nazi” doesn’t mean what he seems to think it does pic.twitter.com/pk9SQhBOsG
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2022
As well as responding to attacks, officials say Starlink is giving Ukrainian forces the edge in winning the drone war as the nation fights back with technology to track down invading Russians.
Rogozin has been feuding with the billionaire since the invasion began, calling him "little devil" and criticizing the Tesla Cybertruck, according to Business Insider.
He even mocked Musk's attempt to buy Twitter, calling him "moneybags" and mocking the idea that he would bring free speech to the platform.
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SpaceX has launched more than 2,000 of its "Starlink" space internet satellites into orbit and hopes to have 12,000 in the sky by 2026.
They form a constellation designed to provide low-cost broadband internet service from low Earth orbit.
While satellite internet has been around for a while, it has suffered from high latency and unreliable connections.
Starlink is different.
SpaceX said its goal is to provide high-speed, cable-like internet all over the world.
As the war approaches its tenth week, more than 3,000 Ukrainians were confirmed to have died in the conflict, according to an estimate by the United Nations.
The organization said that the real number is "likely considerably higher," and independent sources point to more than 10,000 civilian fatalities in the war-torn country.
NATO estimates that Russia and Ukraine have both lost around 15,000 troops each.
