Russia's Dmitry Rogozin denounces Elon Musk's Twitter bid; calls it 'struggle for power'

Dmitry Rogozin, who has been at loggerheads with tech mogul Elon Musk, has weighed in on the latter’s offer to purchase Twitter. Earlier last week, Musk had made a $43 billion purchase bid over the micro-blogging platform, a move that has polarised netizens ever since. As for Rogozin, the Director-General of Russian space agency Roscosmos, he stated that the ongoing tussle between the billionaire and Twitter is just over the ownership of the social media and not over free speech. 

"It's funny to read nonsense about the fight between the White House and Elon Musk for Twitter. The situation is presented as if the South African multibillionaire is fighting for freedom of speech on this social network, and the American Democrats, who have settled in power, are resisting this", Rogozin wrote in his tweet. "Comrades, stop hanging our citizens noodles on the ears! The fight is for ownership of an influential social network, and not for freedom of speech in it. This is a struggle for power between formal power and the power of moneybags," he went on to add.

This reaction by Rogozin, who has also served as Russia's Deputy Prime Minister, comes at a time when Twitter has implemented its 'poison pill' strategy which restricts anyone from purchasing over 15% of the company stake. The deadlock has also turned interesting as Musk had stated in an interview that he has a 'plan B' ready in case he faces trouble in acquiring Twitter. 

Elon Musk - Dmitry Rogozin feud

Ever since Russia launched its unprovoked military offensive on Ukraine, Rogozin, an avid social media user, has been proactively defending his country's actions. It was on Twitter that he announced to break ties with major space agencies and even threatened to withdraw Russia's support in keeping the International Space Station (ISS) afloat. Rogozin has extensively used Twitter to target Russia's enemies and engaged in a spat with Musk, another Twitter lover, on multiple occasions. 

Most recently, the Roscosmos chief mocked Musk-owned Tesla's Cybertruck by comparing it with one of the Russian military's tanks. He has even called Musk 'little devil' for the latter's offer to fight Putin over Ukraine. 

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