Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov claimed that a Tesla Cybertruck, which he says was gifted to him and later outfitted with a machine gun, was remotely disabled by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Kadyrov made this statement on his Telegram channel.
Back in mid-August, Kadyrov shared a video of himself driving around in an electric vehicle with what appeared to be a machine gun mounted on its roof.
Kadyrov said he received the vehicle from Musk, a claim that the Tesla owner called a lie on his social media platform X.
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"Are you seriously so retarded that you think I gave a Cybertruck to a Russian general? This is amazing," Musk wrote, responding to a journalist’s tweet.
According to Kadyrov, after equipping the vehicle with a machine gun, it was sent to the front lines in Ukraine as part of the "Special Military Operation" (SVO).
He praised the Cybertruck’s performance in combat, citing its "maneuverability and good crew protection."
However, Kadyrov stated that Musk recently shut down the vehicle remotely.
"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," said Kadyrov in a post on his Telegram account.
The Cybertruck, an electric pickup truck designed by Tesla, was first revealed in 2019 and began production last year.
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Kadyrov, the son of a former rebel leader, has become one of Vladimir Putin's most outspoken supporters, often referring to himself as the president's "footsoldier."
At 47, the Chechen leader claims to have sent thousands of troops to aid Russia in its military campaign in Ukraine.
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