Arnold Schwarzenegger did passionate request online Russians on Thursday, urging them to ignore the military “propaganda” spouted by the Kremlin and “spread the truth” about the grim reality of an unprovoked attack on Ukraine.
In the nine-minute video clip, which had to pass through strict Moscow censorship, the 74-year-old Schwarzenegger also referred to his father’s experience fighting the Nazis in World War II after the annexation of Austria, telling Russians that his father was “pumped up with lies.” his government” and lived the rest of his life in “guilt” and “pain”.
The former Mr. Universe began by talking about his reverence for the Russian people, which was cemented after meeting world weightlifting champion Yuri Petrovich Vlasov at the age of 14.
Schwarzenegger told viewers that Moscow was lying to both the Russian public and the military about their mission to “denazify” Ukraine.
On March 17, 2022, Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an impassioned plea to Russians to ignore the military “propaganda” that Vladimir Putin’s regime is using to justify its attack on Ukraine. YouTube
“Denazify Ukraine? It is not true. Ukraine is a country with a Jewish president. I might add that the president is Jewish, three of whose father’s brothers were killed by the Nazis,” Schwarzenegger said over the superimposed Russian translation.
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He went on to describe Russia’s near-unanimous international alienation and the historic economic sanctions it has faced.
“You see that the world has turned its back on Russia because of its actions in Ukraine,” Schwarzenegger said.
“Russian artillery and bombs leveled entire blocks of the city, including a children’s hospital and a maternity hospital. Three million Ukrainian refugees, mostly women, children and the elderly, fled their country. And many others are trying to find a way out.
“This is a humanitarian crisis.”
Russian attacks on Ukraine continued on March 17, 2022.
A man interrupts a live news broadcast on the Russian state TV channel Channel One to protest Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on March 14, 2022. Channel One/via REUTERS
Speaking directly to the Russian military, the former Republican governor of California explained that every strike on Ukraine is also a strike on Russia because millions of Russians have families in the former Soviet republic.
“With every bullet you fire, you shoot your brother or sister. Every bomb or every shell that falls does not fall on the enemy, but on a school, hospital or home,” he said.
Schwarzenegger also opened up about the reality of his father Gustav Schwarzenegger’s dark history as a Nazi army sergeant, something rarely discussed by the movie star-turned-politician. He warned the soldiers that they did not want to suffer the same fate as his father, who was wounded in the fighting in Russia.
People take part in a protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Moscow, Russia, February 27, 2022. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo
“When my father arrived in Leningrad, he was all drugged up with the lies of his government,” Schwarzenegger said. “When he left Leningrad, he was broken – physically and mentally. He lived the rest of his life in pain – the pain of a broken back, the pain of the shrapnel that always reminded him of those terrible years, and the pain of the guilt he felt.”
Schwarzenegger ended the lengthy clip with an address to the “brave” Russian demonstrators who opposed their government’s invasion.
“You are my new heroes. You have the power of Yuri Petrovich Vlasov. You have the true heart of Russia.”