Arnold Schwarzenegger " I'd Like to Send a Message to My Russian Friends The Russian people's courage and bravery have always impressed me. As a result, I hope you will allow me to tell you the truth about the Ukrainian conflict ".

 I have a message for my Russian friends and Russian soldiers serving in Ukraine: There are horrible things going on in the globe that you should know about. But first, let me tell you about the Russian who became my hero before I tell you about the hard facts."

I had the opportunity to attend the World Weightlifting Championships in Vienna in 1961 when I was 14 years old. Yury Petrovich Vlasov won the world championship by lifting 200 kg above his head for the first time. A friend of mine managed to get me backstage. Suddenly, a 14-year-old boy was standing in front of the world's strongest man. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He extended his hand to shake mine. I still had a boy's hand on my shoulder. He was holding the hand of a powerful guy who had eaten mine, but he was nice. And he gave me a friendly smile.

That was a day I'll never forget. I returned home and hung his picture over my bed. It motivated me to begin doing weights, but it enraged my father. Because of his experience in the Second World War, when he was injured in Leningrad, he disliked Russians. (The Nazi army in which he served did terrible things to that wonderful city and its heroic inhabitants.) My father advised me to remove Petrovich's portrait and replace it with a German or Austrian hero. But I didn't take down the photo because it didn't matter to me which flag he was waving.

Years later, I was in Moscow filming Red Heat, the first American picture to be permitted to shoot in Red Square. Yury and I were together the entire day. He was thoughtful, compassionate, intelligent, and generous. I still use the blue coffee cup he gave me every morning.

The reason I'm telling you this is that I've had nothing but admiration and respect for the Russian people since I was 14 years old. The Russian people's courage and bravery have always impressed me. As a result, I hope you will allow me to tell you the truth about the Ukrainian conflict. Nobody likes it when their government is criticized. That is something I am aware of. But, as a long-time Russian friend, I hope you will listen to what I have to say.

Last year, on January 6, when a horde of individuals stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to topple our government, I delivered this message to the American people. There are times when something is so bad that we must speak up.

I'm aware that your administration has told you that this is a de-Nazification campaign in Ukraine. This isn't correct. Is it possible to de-Nazify Ukraine? It is a country led by a Jew—a Jew whose grandfather's three brothers were all slaughtered by the Nazis. This conflict was not started by Ukraine. Nationalists and Nazis did not. This war was begun by those in authority in the Kremlin; it is not a war of the Russian people.

Let me explain what you should be aware of. At the United Nations, 141 countries voted that Russia was the aggressor and demanded that its forces be removed immediately. Only four countries in the globe voted in favor of Russia. That is a proven fact. Because of Russia's activities in Ukraine, the world has turned against it. Russian fire and bombs have leveled entire city blocks, including a children's hospital and a maternity hospital. Three million Ukrainian refugees have already fled the country, the majority of them are women, children, and the elderly, and many more are attempting to go. It's a humanitarian emergency. Russia has been isolated from the international community as a result of its violence.

You're also not being told the whole truth about the war's ramifications for Russia. Thousands of Russian soldiers have been killed, I regret to inform you. They've been caught in the middle of a conflict between Ukrainians fighting for their homeland and Russian officials seeking conquest. Russian equipment has been destroyed or abandoned in large quantities. The destruction that Russian bombs are raining down upon innocent civilians has so outraged the world that the strongest global economic sanctions ever enacted have been imposed on the country. On both sides of the conflict, those who do not deserve it will suffer.