hello everybody
and thank you for sharing your time with
me
i'm sending this message to various
different channels to reach my dear
russian friends
and the russian soldiers serving in
ukraine
i'm speaking to you today because there
are things that are going on in the
world that have been kept from you
terrible things that you should know
about
but before i talk about the harsh
realities let me just tell you about the
russian who became my hero
in 1961 when i was 14 years old a very
good friend of mine invited me to come
to vienna and to watch the world
weightlifting championships
i was in the audience when yuri
pedrovich flossof won the world
championship title becoming the first
human being to live 200 kilograms over
his head
somehow a friend of mine got me
backstage
all of a sudden there was a 14 year old
boy standing in front of the strongest
man in the world
i couldn't believe it
he reached out to shake my hand
i mean i still had a boy's hand he had
this powerful man's hand that swallowed
mine but he was kind
and he smiled at me
i would never forget the day
never
i went home and put his photo above my
bed to inspire me when i started lifting
weights
my father told me to take down that
picture
and to find a german or an austrian hero
he got really angry and we argued back
and forth
he didn't like russians because of his
experience in the second world war you
see he was injured at leningrad but the
nazi army that he was part of did
vicious harm to the great city and to
its brave people
but i did not take the photograph down
no because it didn't matter to me what
flag yuri flowers have carried
my connections to russia didn't stop
there by the way oh it actually deepened
when i traveled there with bodybuilding
and for my movies and met all my russian
fans
and then one of those trips i remember i
met yuri vlasiv once again he was in
moscow
doing the filming of red heath which was
the first american movie allowed to film
in red square
now he and i spent the whole day
together he was so thoughtful so kind
and so smart and of course
very giving he gave me this beautiful
blue coffee cup
and ever since then i've been drinking
my coffee out of every morning
now the reason why i'm telling you all
of those things is that ever since i was
14 years old i've had nothing but
affections and respect for the people of
russia
the strength in the heart of the russian
people have always inspired me
that is why i hope that you will let me
tell you the truth about the war in
ukraine and what is happening there
no one likes to hear something critic of
the government i understand that but
as a long time friend of the russian
people i hope that you will hear what i
have to say
and may i remind you that i speak with
the same heartfelt concern
as i spoke to the american people when
there was an attempted insurrection on
january 6 last year when a wild crowd
was storming the us capital trying to
overthrow our government
you see there are moments like this
that are so wrong and then we have to
speak up this is exactly the same with
your government i know that your
government has told you that this is a
war to denazify ukraine
to nazify ukraine this is not true
ukraine is a country with a jewish
president a jewish president i might add
whose father's three brothers were all
murdered by the nazis
you see
ukraine did not start this war
neither did nationalists or nazis
those empowering the kremlin started
this war
this is not the russian people's war
no
as a matter of fact let me tell you what
you should know is that 141 nations at
the u.n voted that russia was the
aggressor
and called for it to remove its troops
immediately
only four countries in the entire world
voted with russia
that is a fact
see the world has turned against russia
because of its actions in ukraine
whole city blocks have been flattened by
russian artillery and bombs including a
children's hospital
and a modernity hospital
three million ukrainian refugees
mainly women children and elderly fled
their country and many more trying to
seek to get out
it is a humanitarian crisis
because of its brutality russia is now
isolated from the society of nations
you're also not being told the truth
about the consequences of this war on
russia itself
i regret to tell you
that thousands of russian soldiers that
have been killed
they have been caught between ukrainians
fighting for their homeland
and the russian leadership fighting for
conquest
massive amounts of russian equipment
have been destroyed or abandoned the
destruction that russian bombs are
raining down upon innocent civilians has
so outraged the world that the strongest
global economic sanctions ever taken
have been imposed on your
those who don't deserve it on both sides
of the war will suffer
the russian government has lied not only
to the citizens but to its soldiers
some of the soldiers were told they were
going to fight nazis some were told that
the ukrainian people would greet them
like heroes and some were told that they
were simply going on exercise they
didn't even know that they were going
into war
and some were told that they were there
to protect ethnic russians in ukraine
none of this is true
the fact is that russian soldiers have
faced fierce resistance from the
ukrainians who want to protect their
families and their country
when i see babies being pulled out of
ruins
i think that i'm watching a documentary
about the horrors of the second world
war
not the news of the day
now let me tell you when my father
arrived in leningrad
he was all pumped up on the lives of his
government
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
shroud note that always reminded him of
these 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
they've been speaking you have seen it
with your own eyes
i don't want you to be broken like my
father
this is not the war to defend russia
that your grandfather so your great
grandfather's fought this is an illegal
war
your lives
your limps
your futures are being sacrificed for a
senseless war condemned by the entire
world
that are those in power in the gremlin
let me just ask you
why would you sacrifice this young man
for your own ambitions
that the soldiers who are listening to
this
remember that 11 million russians have
family connections to ukraine
so every bullet you shoot you shoot a
brother or a sister
every bomb or every shell that falls is
falling not on an enemy
but on a school or a hospital
or a home
i know that the russian people are not
aware of such things are happening
so i urge the russian people and the
russian soldiers in ukraine
to understand the propaganda and the
disinformation that you're being told
i ask you to help me spread the truth
let your fellow russians know the human
catastrophe that is happening in ukraine
and to president putin i say
you started this war
you are leading this war
you can stop this war
now
let me close with a message
to all of the russians who have been
protesting on the streets against the
invasion of ukraine
the world has seen your bravery
we know that you have suffered the
consequences of your courage
you have been arrested you have been
jailed and you have been beaten
you are my new heroes
you have the strength of yuri petrovich
flossof
you have the true heart
of russia
my dear russian friends
may god bless you all