If this isn’t the wildest article title you’ve read today, we don’t know what is. The bizarre turn of events kicked off when Tesla CEO Elon Musk challenged Russian president Vladimir Putin to a fight. The SpaceX founder apparently still has time amidst his philanthropic multi-billionaire business deals to challenge the literal president of Russia to a fight over Ukraine.
I hereby challenge
Владимир Путин
to single combatStakes are Україна
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 14, 2022
The billionaire took to Twitter to challenge the president, writing his name in Russian and all. This of course comes as Russia pushes into its 19th day of invading Ukraine. Musk has been very critical of Russia’s invasion. Musk has been sending shipments of a satellite-based internet system to Ukraine to help make the internet service more reliable following impacts by the bombing. The acts earned him praise by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
It is unclear whether Putin has accepted Musk’s challenge, but he has instead been busy sanctioning Peppa Pig. As other countries impose sanctions on Russia following the invasion, a Russian court has now ruled that businesses can use Peppa Pig’s trademarks without permission nor consequence.
Talked to @elonmusk. I’m grateful to him for supporting Ukraine with words and deeds. Next week we will receive another batch of Starlink systems for destroyed cities. Discussed possible space projects 🚀. But I’ll talk about this after the war.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 5, 2022
The Russian government has essentially issued a decree permitting people and businesses ‘to use patented inventions and industrial designs from unfriendly countries without permission or compensation.’ This has some serious consequences however, as the Peppa Pig ruling has sparked concerns that local operators may rebel against their company’s orders and continue business regardless.
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