The billionaire tech visionary Elon Musk, whose businesses include Tesla electric vehicles and SpaceX space flights, held an online poll on Monday, proposing measures to end the war between Ukraine and Russia.
Mr. Musk, who has nearly 108 million followers on Twitter, instantly set off a global debate. The reaction to his proposal has been mixed, with some even accusing him of being pro-Russian.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who clearly did not see Mr. Musk’s idea as neutral, held a Twitter poll of his own, asking which Elon Musk is likable, the Pro-Ukraine Musk or Pro-Russian Musk.
Responding to crisis situations is not new to Elon Musk. In mid-2018, he offered to help when thirteen boys were trapped in a cave in Thailand.
Why and what exactly did Elon Musk propose?
Elon Musk said that Russia has not mobilized its armed forces fully, and if and when it does, deaths on both sides could be devastating. So, he put forward his view on the de-escalation of hostilities.
Mr. Musk laid out four steps for peace.
Firstly, Russia would conduct elections in annexed regions under UN supervision. And should the people choose against Russia, then it would withdraw.
(Russia has recently held referenda in the regions, but the western leaders vowed not to recognize the election.)
Secondly, Crimea would formally be a part of Russia, and thirdly water supply to Crimea would be assured.
Mr. Musk added that the peninsula had been a part of Russia since 1783 until Khrushchev’s mistake.
(What Mr. Musk called a mistake on the part of former Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev is the transfer of Crimea’s administration from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954.
Since the 2014 Russian annexation, Crimea has been administered by Russia, but several nations, including the US and its allies, have refused to recognize the peninsula as Russian territory.)
The fourth measure was that Ukraine remains neutral in the future.
(Russia insists that Ukraine must not join NATO as such a move would jeopardize its security.)
Mr. Musk added a comment to the poll saying that, although less likely, nuclear war is also a possible outcome.