As tensions escalate between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made headlines by intervening and offering the Tesla CEO political asylum in Russia.

The Russian offer comes as tensions between Washington and Moscow remain high, with ceasefire talks for the Russia-Ukraine war stalling. The last round of negotiations lasted just 90 minutes with little progress outside of an agreement to release prisoners on both sides.

Last month, Trump said about President Putin, “I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him.”

Dmitry Novikov, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, explained offer of asylum to Russian state news outlet TASS.

“I think that Musk has a completely different game, [so] he will not need any political asylum, although if he did, Russia, of course, could provide it,” Novikov said, in remarks translated from Russian.

Putin has previously praised Musk in public, telling university students he is a pioneer comparable to legendary Soviet rocket engineer Sergei Korolev.

“You know, there’s a man — he lives in the States — Musk, who, you could say, raves about Mars,” Putin told students on a visit to Bauman Moscow State Technical University, which specializes in science and engineering.

“These are the kind of people who don’t often appear in the human population, charged up with a certain idea.”

“If it seems incredible even today, such ideas often come to fruition after a while. Just like the ideas of Korolev, our pioneers, came about in due time,” Putin added.

Putin compared Musk to Sergei Korolev, known as the father of the Soviet space program

Newsweek reports: Musk and Trump, who had been political allies over desired cuts to federal spending, have publicly clashed recently with the feud escalating on June 5 in a series of exchanges across social media and in comments to reporters.

The spat began over Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which includes an extension of his signature tax cuts and spending for other priorities, such as border security. Musk has expressed worries about the impact this bill will have on national debt.

Trump has claimed that Musk is upset that the president has taken away mandates for electric vehicles (EVs).

“Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!” he wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Musk wrote later on X on Thursday: “Time to drop the really big bomb:@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”

In another post, he added: “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.”

The Tesla CEO also suggested that Trump should be impeached.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday: “This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted. The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again.”

Elon Musk, on X: “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate. Such ingratitude.”

Musk has yet to release any documentation or evidence supporting his assertion that Trump appears in the Epstein files.

Epstein’s lawyer David Schoen commented publicly on Friday to refute Musk’s claims that Epstein held any evidence regarding Trump committing illegal acts.