Arnold Schwarzenegger released a nine-minute video Thursday addressed to the people of Russia, urging the government to end the war in Ukraine and denouncing state propaganda.
“I know that your government has told you this is a war to denazify Ukraine,” the actor and former California governor said in the video, which was produced by ATTN:. “Denazify Ukraine? This is not true. Ukraine is a country with a Jewish president. A Jewish president, I might add, whose father’s three bothers were all murdered by the Nazis.”
He continued, “You see, Ukraine did not start this war. Neither did nationalists or Nazis. Those in power in the Kremlin started this war.”
In a rare move for Schwarzenegger, he openly spoke about his father, Gustav Schwarzenegger, who was a Nazi. He discussed the lies his father was told by his own government, as well as the effects it had on him later in his life, before his death in 1972.
“When my father arrived in Leningrad, he was all pumped up on the lies of his government,” Schwarzenegger said. “And when he left Leningrad, he was broken, physically and mentally. He lived the rest of his life in pain; pain from a broken back, pain from the shrapnel that always reminded him of his terrible years and pain from the guilt that he felt. To the Russian soldiers listening to this broadcast: You already know much of the truth that I’m speaking. You’ve seen it in your own eyes. I don’t want you to be broken like my father.”
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 also addressed Russian censorship of independent media, as well as its tactics to send its citizens to war under false pretenses: “The Russian government has lied not only to the citizens, but to its soldiers.”
Before closing on a message to the Russian people commending them for their strength, Schwarzenegger addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin directly: “You started this war, you are leading this war, you can stop this war.”