Billionaire Elon Musk was widely mocked after he challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin to "single combat" to settle the ongoing Ukraine invasion, which is now in its third week.
Musk later issued followup reply tagged with Putin's English-language Twitter page to inquire if Putin will accept his challenge.
Putin has not responded to Musk's request.
If Musk thought his publicity stunt would be well received, he was very much mistaken.
Musk was widely criticized by social media users who accused him of reducing a violent conflict with significant geopolitical implications to a street fight.
Musk's tweet did attract the attention of Dmitry Rogozin, Director General of the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
Rogozin called Musk a "little devil" and a "weakling" saying a fight between the two would only be "a waste of time."
Rogozin went on to cite a 17th century fairytale by Russian poet Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin titled "The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda," which tells the story of a lazy Russian orthodox priest who hires a cheap worker because he considers him a simpleton only to later be outsmarted by his servant.
Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, joked Musk could send Putin to Jupiter.
When the invasion began three weeks ago, Fedorov launched a fundraiser for infrastructure repairs, saying in his tongue-in-cheek appeal donations would be used to launch Putin into space and send him to Jupiter.
"Until this happens, we give Ukrainians and the whole world a unique opportunity: to send Putin to Jupiter," Fedorov wrote on Twitter at the time, urging his followers to donate $2.99 "for a rocket" to get the job done.
Adding to the absurdity of this entire situation, Musk has confirmed he doesn't enjoy exercise, preferring fighting sports like taekwondo, karate, judo and Brazilian jiujitsu.
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U.S. Mint
