I Don’t Need These Russians 119
missile is typically designed to deliver one or more nuclear
weapons and each Satan could deliver ten nuclear war-
heads. “It was very weird going late 2001-2002 to Russia
and saying ‘I want to buy two of your biggest rockets, but
you can keep the nukes,’” Elon said. “They thought I was
crazy, but, I did have money. So, that was okay.”^63
The Russian economy collapsed in 1998, so the econ-
omy was even worse than after the dissolution of the Soviet
Union in 1991. “This was when it was still the Wild West
over there,” Ressi said. “I mean, there were like dead people
on the side of the road. We got pulled over multiple times,
at gunpoint, and had to bribe the police. No reason. Just
‘Give us money.’“^278
They went through several negotiations at secret lo-
cations, including a negotiation with a general, who had
lost a front tooth, in a room with padded walls. As you
may suspect, they had to consume vast amounts of vodka
during these negotiations. “We’d all go in this little room
and every single person had his own bottle in front of him,”
Ressi said. “They’d toast every two minutes, which means
20 or 30 toasts an hour.”
“To space!”
“To America!”
“To America in space!”
“I finally looked over at Elon and Jim and they were
passed out on the table. Then I passed out myself.”^278
The Russians also visited them in Los Angeles. “We
can’t continue unless you give us $5 000 in cash,” the Rus-
sians demanded. Elon and Ressi heard this on a Saturday