Derk Sauer yesterday in the talk show Khalid & Sophie responded to the criticism that he would be hypocritical. “Ehh, the, the, the, me, me, I don’t rub against the KGB or (…) people like that at all.”
Derk Sauer’s family is getting a lot of media attention now that they have been pulled out of Russia because suddenly no free press is allowed there anymore. He and his sons express their horror on Dutch television about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but critics think that is hypocritical because they have been dealing with wrong figures for years.
‘Hypocritical Sauers’
RTL Nieuws correspondent Olaf Koens states that son Tom Sauer worked for Ramzan Kadyrov. “The brutal dictator of Chechnya, who is now slaughtering Ukrainian civilians with thousands of soldiers.”
And ex-Russia correspondent Pieter Waterdrinker states: “The entire in-crowd knows, the entire in-crowd is silent. For twenty years the hypocritical Sauers dealt with, did business with, attended birthdays of, sat on private jets with now sanctioned Russian Putin oligarchs. And yes, my son took money from murderer Kadyrov.”
Derk responds
Presenter Khalid Kasem asked Derk about some of the criticism yesterday. “There is also some criticism. Pieter Waterdrinker says, for example: ‘The Sauers have a lot of butter on their heads, because they have always rubbed themselves against the elite, against those oligarchs.’ What do you say to that when you hear that?”
Derk: “Yes, that’s just nonsense.”
Khalid: “Bastard, because you know those people, but in a different way than is being suggested now?”
Derk: “Well, what I’m just explaining is that those people have absolutely nothing to do with that war. Ehh, the, the, the, I, I, I don’t rub against the KGB or the FSB or secret services or people like that. On the contrary.”
Oligarchs
Journalist Suse van Kleef: “It was about the oligarchs, right? That’s what he was talking about.”
Derk: “Yes, but what I just explained is that the oligarchs have absolutely zero influence…”
Suse: “Yeah, but if so, then we’re freezing all their possessions for nothing?”
Derk: “I don’t agree with you. The fact that we’re doing those sanctions – look, in the west there’s a lot of focus on the oligarchs – is to cripple Russia economically. And those people are, of course, leaders of large companies. (…) That is because it will hopefully create pressure on Russia and Putin to change course.”
Kadyrov
Khalid did not ask Derk about the accusation that son Tom worked for the Chechen dictator. And that working relationship finds Telegraaf journalist Wierd Duk doubtful, he indicated last week in Today Inside.
Wierd: “It might be a problem – but I don’t know exactly how it happened – if his son started working for such a Kadirov. Then you actually work for a criminal organization. You could say that, yes.”