Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday told Russians they were being fed disinformation about their country’s attack on Ukraine and urged President Vladimir Putin to stop the attack.
The Hollywood star claimed in a nine-minute Twitter video that the Kremlin deliberately lied to the Russians, saying the invasion was intended to “denazify” Ukraine. Russia describes its actions as a “special operation”.
“It was not Ukraine that started this war, not nationalists or Nazis,” he said, noting that the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish. “This is not a war of the Russian people.”
Beginning with a story about meeting his hero, world champion, Russian weightlifter Yuri Petrovich Vlasov, in Vienna when he was 14, Schwarzenegger went on to explain his growing affection and admiration for the kindness of the Russian people.
Speaking in turn to Russian citizens, the military and the leadership of the country, he said that he speaks with the same “heartfelt concern” with which he addressed the American people after the uprising on January 6 last year.
Schwarzenegger’s Twitter account has 4.9 million followers and is one of only 22 that the Kremlin’s official account follows.
The biggest invasion of Europe since World War II devastated Ukrainian cities and sent more than 3 million refugees to neighboring countries. It is not clear how much people in Russia know about the war after the Kremlin shut down various media channels and websites.
“I love the Russian people. That’s why I have to tell you the truth. Please watch and share,” Schwarzenegger said. on twitter its accompanying video, which already had over a quarter of a million likes by Thursday afternoon.
Schwarzenegger asked the Russians to spread the word about the “human catastrophe” and told Russian protesters that the world was watching.
“The world has seen your courage. We know that you have suffered the consequences of your courage,” he said. “You are my new heroes.”
The 74-year-old Republican, who started out as a bodybuilder before achieving worldwide fame in action films, urged Putin to stop the invasion. He said that thousands of Russian soldiers were killed when their leaders lied to them.
Austrian-born Schwarzenegger told the story of how his father, who fought for Germany in World War II, was broken by his experience of the Battle of Leningrad, in which he was wounded. He further told the Russian soldiers that they had been lied to and that thousands of them had already been killed.
“Some were told that the Ukrainian people would treat them like heroes. Some were told that they were just going to the exercises. They didn’t even know they were going to war,” he said.
The video ends with Schwarzenegger pointing out that 11 million Russians have family ties to Ukraine.
“With every bullet you fire, you are shooting at a brother or sister,” he said.