Elon Musk And Putin Both Insist That They Didn’t Hold A Conversation Before Musk Tweeted His Russia/Ukraine ‘Peace Plan’

Both Elon Musk and Vladimir Putin are denying a recent report that the two spoke to each other ahead of Musk sharing a Russia/Ukraine peace plan that resulted in the Tesla CEO being widely criticized on Twitter. It was so blatantly conciliatory to Russia that even Lindsey Graham came out of the woodwork to chastise Musk.

According to an Eurasia Group report from journalist Ian Bremmer, Musk allegedly spoke to Putin ahead of the tweet, which is why the peace plan was filled with a grab bag of goodies like ceding Crimea to Russia. As the report went viral, Musk denied speaking to Putin when asked if the allegations were true.

“No, it is not,” Musk tweeted. “I have spoken to Putin only once and that was about 18 months ago. The subject matter was space.”

According to Business Insider, the Kremlin also issued a denial and essentially said the same thing as Musk: The two last spoke a year and a half ago. The only difference between the statements is the Kremlin didn’t specify what the two discussed.

Bremmer, however, has already pushed back on the seemingly coordinated denials. He issued a statement on Twitter defending the report:

“Elon Musk told me he had spoken with Putin and the Kremlin directly about Ukraine,” Bremmer said. “He also told me what the kremlin’s red lines were. I have been writing my weekly newsletter on geopolitics for 24 yrs. I write honestly without fear or favor and this week’s update was no different. I’ve long admired Musk as a unique and world-changing entrepreneur, which I’ve said publicly. He’s not a geopolitics expert.

(Via Business Insider)