SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Sunday invited President Vladimir Putin to a “conversation” on the popular invitation-only audio chat app Clubhouse.
“Would you like to join me for a conversation on Clubhouse?” Musk tweeted at Putin’s official Twitter account.
In a Russian-language follow-up, Musk said “it would be a great honor to speak with you.”
Both tweets garnered nearly a quarter-million likes and more than 20,000 retweets.
On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Musk’s tweets an “interesting proposal,” but noted that “Putin doesn’t personally use social media” and “we need to understand what he has in mind.”
It was not immediately clear why the tech entrepreneur reached out to Putin.
Musk’s recent advances in developing reusable spacecraft, as well as a successful launch of a manned rocket to the International Space Station that stripped Russia of its monopoly on spaceflights, are known to have annoyed Moscow.
Musk, who regularly tweets in Russian, is also known to trade barbs with outspoken Russian space chief Dmitry Rogozin.
Russian media reported earlier in 2021 that lawmakers are considering fining users of SpaceX’s Starlink service or other western-based satellite internet providers.
