LOS ANGELES (CBS SF) — Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a message to Russian soldiers and citizens Thursday, appealing to them to recognize the lies being spread by their government’s propaganda about the war in Ukraine.
Schwarzenegger posted the video via his social media accounts Thursday morning that was subtitled in both English and Russian. He opened the clip saying he wanted to reach his “dear Russian friends and the Russian soldiers serving in Ukraine.”
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
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“There are things going on in the world today that are being kept from you,” he said in the clip. “Terrible things that you should know about.”
The emotional message went on to detail Schwarzenegger’s early encounter with one of his first heroes, Russian weightlifter Yuri Petrovich Vlasov. In 1961, a teenage Schwarzenegger got to see Vlasov win the World Weightlifting Championships in Vienna and actually meeting the weightlifter backstage.
Schwarzenegger also described an argument with his father over putting up a photo of Vlasov in his room. His father — a former Nazi soldier who was injured in Leningrad during World War II and hated Russians — told him to find an Austrian or German hero instead, but the teenage Schwarzenegger refused.
He went on to talk about how his connection with Russia and the Russian people only grew as he toured the country and met his fans as a bodybuilder and an actor, having starred in “Red Heat,” the first American film production allowed to shoot in Moscow’s Red Square.
He then moved to talking about the current situation in Ukraine, referring to a similar message he delivered in response to the January 6 insurrection in Washington, D.C.
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“You see, there are moments like this that are so wrong and then we have to speak up,” Schwarzenegger said. “And then we have to speak up.”
The former governor went on to talk about the Russian government’s misinformation campaign, misleading the nation’s public about what is actually transpiring in Ukraine, detailing the horrific attacks on the Ukrainian people and the casualties among Russian soldiers.
“Because of its brutality, Russia is now isolated from the society of nations,” Schwarzenegger said.
He also likened the misinformation efforts of the current Russian government with what his father believed as a Nazi soldier “pumped up on the lies of his government” when he arrived in Leningrad, only to return home a broken man.
In closing Schwarzenegger called on the Russian people and the Russian troops in Ukraine to recognize the propaganda that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government was responsible for spreading and to help spread the truth.
He also gave a personal appeal to Putin: “You started this war. You are leading this war. You can stop this war.”
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As of 1 p.m. Thursday, the message had been shared over 160,000 times and had accrued upwards of 8 million views on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.
Source: sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com.