Sept 5 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a television interview on Tuesday, without citing evidence, that Western powers had installed Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is of Jewish heritage,

Sept 5 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a television interview on Tuesday, without citing evidence, that Western powers had installed Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is of Jewish heritage, as president of Ukraine to cover up the glorification of Nazism.

In justifying its invasion of Ukraine, which it calls a “special military operation,” Russia accuses Kyiv’s leaders of being neo-Nazis pursuing a “genocide” of Russian-speakers - an assertion that Kyiv and Western countries dismiss as a baseless pretext for a war of acquisition.

Putin was answering a question from Russian reporter Pavel Zaubin and his comments were shown on Russian state TV.

Zelenskiy, who has said that some of his grandfather’s brothers were killed in the Holocaust, has repeatedly dismissed as false Russian accusations that he has supported neo-Nazis in Ukraine. (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey Editing by Alex Richardson)

TASS source (Russian media) : https://tass.com/politics/1670265

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  • Jaysyn@kbin.social
    11·
    1 year ago

    Zelenskiy was elected in 2019, during Trump’s misrule. We all know who Trump was taking orders from.

    I love how absolutely desperate that makes Putin look.

  • Sem@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    As a russian I can say that Putin is definitely crazy. He always was crazy a littlw due to his KGB past, you know, some tendency to overestimate impact of special servies and conspiracy. But I guess that the last drop was a covid pandemic when he sitted alone in bunker for a year in a total isolation. He totally out of mind. I do not think that one should seriously look at his speeches. Also, as a native russian speaker I watched a video interview and can proove that the translation is cirrect. He really said it…

    • kent_eh@lemmy.caEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      I hope you guys can find a way to get a better national government soon.

      • Sem@lemmy.mlEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        Thank you. I hope too. But now it is not safe to be being in Russia and trying to get better government… So, for myself I just decided to leave the country. I’m not ready to risk my safety and safety of my family trying to protest against Putin. One can say that I’m a coward, but for me it change nothing: I prefer to be a healthy free coward instead of tortured hero in prison. To be honest, my only hope is that he die soon, there are a lot of rumors about his health problem, some cancer.

        • ours@lemmy.filmEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          Next in line is whatever treacherous bastard that manages to wrangle power for himself.

          The only thing worse than a bastard like Putin is a smart and competent bastard.

          But still, I somehow hope Russia manages to find a path toward a competent and stable democracy somehow.

      • Sem@lemmy.mlEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        I left the country after the war. So, for me it changed significantly… But I’m a wrong person to ask how is it now. In my understanding it is bad.

    • Podunk@lemmyfly.orgEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      If you wanna be supremely dissapointed on how long the worst of the worst can last after they commit horrible atrocities, look up pol pot. Assuming this man will pay consequences for his actions anytime in the near future is, unfortunately, very naïve.

  • socsa@lemmy.ml
    0·
    1 year ago

    At this point, anyone who is taking anything Russia says about this conflict seriously is very clearly not operating in good faith.

  • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.clubEnglish
    01·
    1 year ago

    Not justifying it, but the use of the word Nazi seems a lot different in Russia compared to the West. The West is going to use the word Nazi to describe authoritarian governments that engage in genocide. Of the two belligerents in the war, that describes Russia a lot more than Ukraine.

    In contrast, I feel like the word Nazi in Russia is used more to describe an existential threat to Russia. Nazis invaded Russia, and Ukraine is a threat on par with Russia.

    So the home audience hears this and hears that Putin is attacking Russia’s enemies, and a lot of others are confused as Putin’s Russia seems a lot more fascist and Nazi-like.

    • zephyreks [none/use name]@hexbear.net
      11·
      1 year ago

      Nazi in Russia refers to the forced displacement, prosecution, and rape of ethnic Russians and Communists by the invading Nazi forces throughout the war. The Nazis had a much different view on Western Europeans than they did on Slavs and Jews and Communists, so is this surprising at all?

      Whereas the West was treated more or less as though under military occupation (see: France, Norway), the goal of the Nazis during Barbarossa was the extermination of the Slavic peoples.