Chechen leader and self-proclaimed “Putin’s foot solider” Ramzan Kadyrov claimed that his Tesla Cybertruck used in combat in Ukraine was remotely disabled by Elon Musk.
Last month, we reported on Kadyrov, who has been ruling over the Chechen Republic for more than a decade, taking delivery of a Cybertruck and outfitting it with a machine gun.
The report was controversial for a few reasons.
First off, it’s unclear how Kadyrov got a Cybertruck as sanctions against Russia and him specifically should have prevented it. Also, the Chechen leader claimed that he was sending the Tesla Cybertruck to Ukraine to join the Russian war effort.
Finally, Kadyrov insinuated that the Cybertruck was gifted to him by Elon Musk – something the Tesla CEO quickly denied.
A few weeks later, Kadyrov claimed that the Cybertruck joined the war effort in Ukraine, but he posted on Telegram today that it was “remotely disabled by Elon Musk”. This time, he also more clearly claimed that Musk gifted him the Cybertruck:
“Now, recently, Musk remotely disabled the Cybertruck. That’s not a nice thing for Elon Musk to do. He gives expensive gifts from the bottom of his heart and then remotely switches them off. That’s not manly. We had to tow the iron horse. How could you do that, Elon?”
RT, which acts as a propaganda arm for Russia, reported that the “remote deactivation has been defeated” and that the Chechen leader is sending two more Cybertrucks to Ukraine.
They had footage of two Cybertrucks driving around with machine guns:
Any report from RT should be taken with a grain of salt as they obviously care more about propaganda than the truth.
Electrek’s Take
Who to believe? Elon Musk or a Russian warlord. To be honest, I have a tough time believing either. However, in this case, I doubt that Elon was dumb enough to give Kadyrov a Cybertruck.
Top comment by david pearn
How can Electrek keep treating Tesla as a special case when there is no contact point with any adult credibility capable of hold a rational conversation involving questions that haven't needed to be pre-approved ?.
Tesla has become a tiresome and dubious company by managerial failure at every level. Enough of the kid glove treatment already.
It’s not impossible to remotely shut down a Cybertruck, especially if you can prove the owner broke the law to get it into Russia.
However, it is also very likely that it simply broke down and Kadyrov decided to claim it was remotely disabled. It wouldn’t be the first time he was lying.
Either way, what does it say of your army if it is using Cybertrucks? Let us know in the comment section below.
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