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Arnold Schwarzenegger (archive photo): "I regret to tell you that thousands of Russian soldiers have already been killed"
Photo: Gaelen Morse/Getty Images
Arnold Schwarzenegger says he is spreading his video message - apparently produced by the California media group attn - on various channels to reach his "dear Russian friends".
There were things going on in the world "that you are being denied, terrible things that you should know about."
Schwarzenegger then describes the reason for his love for Russia: as a child he had a crush on the Russian weightlifter Yuri Petrovich Vlasov.
He met the then "strongest man in the world" personally as a 14-year-old in 1961 at the World Championships in Vienna, where Vlasov won the title when he was the first person to lift 300 kilos.
At that time he had the opportunity to meet his idol.
Backstage, Vlasov greeted him and shook his hand, "I still had a boy's hand back then, he had this strong man's hand, in which mine almost disappeared.
But he was so nice to me and he smiled at me.
I have never forgotten that day«.
He hung a poster of Vlasov in his room, above his bed, a picture of a Russian - which angered his father, who was an Austrian in World War II and fought for the Nazis.
Why didn't Arnold look for a German or Austrian hero?
But he maintained his admiration for Vlasov.
Schwarzenegger continues to report on his career, which later often took him to Russia;
the film "Red Heat," in which he starred, was the first Hollywood film to receive permission to shoot in Moscow's Red Square.
He tells this story, according to Schwarzenegger, because since the age of 14 he has "not felt any affection or respect" for the people of Russia.
That's why he wants to tell them "the truth about the war in Ukraine and what's happening there."
According to Schwarzenegger, no one likes to hear criticism from outsiders about their own government.
But, he adds, he spoke to Americans with “the same concern” when an angry mob stormed Congress on January 6, 2021.
It is a lie when "Russia's government" claims - Schwarzenegger does not explicitly mention Vladimir Putin, but he is shown in the video - that the military operation serves to "denazify" Ukraine: Ukrainian President Zelenskyj is a Jew, whose uncle died in World War II World War I had been murdered by the Nazis.
The war against Ukraine is not the war of the Russian people, it was started by the powerful in the Kremlin.
In the United Nations, an overwhelming majority of countries would have condemned the war, only four would have sided with Russia.
Schwarzenegger then describes the war in Ukraine, the attacks on the civilian population, he speaks of the three million refugees who have already left the country.
"I'm sorry to tell you that thousands of Russian soldiers have already been killed," Schwarzenegger said, saying they were caught up in a conflict in which Ukrainians were defending their homeland and the Russian government was waging a war of conquest.
Some didn't even know when they started out that they were going to war.
Then Schwarzenegger again draws the personal parallel to his father.
As a Wehrmacht soldier, he was "euphoric" about fighting in Leningrad.
After the war, however, he was a broken man, "physically and mentally."
Schwarzenegger warns that Russian lives are also being sacrificed in this "illegal, senseless war."
Then he appeals directly to Vladimir Putin: "You started this war, you are fighting this war, you can end this war."
At the very end, Schwarzenegger addresses the courageous Russians who have openly opposed the war in the country: "You are my new heroes."
