Ramzan Kadyrov admits he lied about Elon Musk gifting him a Cybertruck, says it was a joke

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov admitted during a Q&A that Tesla CEO Elon Musk did not gift him a Cybertruck, despite earlier claims.

“I’m interested in Elon Musk himself — I like his character, his lifestyle, the way he conducts himself, and his worldview. I enjoy joking with him on social media. He didn’t give me the car; it wasn’t mine — I came up with that joke and ran with it,” Kadyrov said in response to a question about the Cybertruck.

He added that “another car is on the way” but noted that Cybertrucks are ill-suited for warfare. “We sent one to the front, mounted a machine gun on it, but it turned out to be useless in combat. Our [UAZ] Patriot is better than that car. If we offended Elon Musk in any way, we apologize,” Kadyrov said.

In August, Kadyrov posted a video of himself driving a Cybertruck through Chechnya’s capital, with a machine gun mounted on its roof. At the time, he claimed he had “received” the electric vehicle from Musk, a claim the Tesla CEO denied.

The following month, Kadyrov alleged that Musk had “remotely disabled” the Cybertruck, which Kadyrov claimed had been “performing well in combat.” Shortly afterward, the Chechen leader announced that two more Cybertrucks with mounted machine guns had been deployed to the front lines in Ukraine.