In an urgent appeal, Arnold Schwarzenegger addressed the Russian population. “I am speaking to you today because things are happening in the world that you are kept away from, terrible things that you should know about,” he begins the nine-minute film, and continues: “I know that your government told you that this is a war to denazify Ukraine. That’s not true. Ukraine is a country with a Russian president who is Jewish. The Kremlin started the war, this is not the war of the Russian people”.
I love the Russian people. That is why I have to tell you the truth. Please watch and share. pic.twitter.com/6gyVRhgpFV
– Arnold Schwarzenegger) March 17, 2022
Schwarzenegger’s idol: a Russian
Because many independent editorial offices in Russia were closed shortly after the start of the war in Ukraine and most social networks there are no longer accessible, the “Terminator” published its video message via a wide variety of channels, such as the short message service Telegram.
Among other things, Schwarzenegger reports a meeting with his idol, the Russian Yuri Petrovich Vlasov – he was the first person to lift 200 kilograms over his head. For a long time his father, wounded in Leningrad, would have insisted on taking down the photo. “But I didn’t take the photo off. And my contacts with Russia didn’t stop there,” he explains.
The Terminator to Putin: “You can stop the war.”
“The Russian government lied not only to its citizens but also to its soldiers. Some were told they were going to fight Nazis, others that the Ukrainians would welcome them like heroes, and still others that they were going to a training camp. They didn’t even know they were going to war,” Schwarzenegger said of the Kremlin’s propaganda. He reminded those soldiers that “11 million Russians have family ties to Ukraine. With every shot you kill a brother or sister.”
The 74-year-old also addressed his word directly to Vladimir Putin: “You can stop the war.” At the end of the video, he thanked the Russians who were taking to the streets. “The world sees you being beaten, imprisoned. you are my heroes You have the true heart of Russia.”