Russia’s “historic mission” is to defeat the US, Europe and other members of “the collective West,” according to a Russian state TV host.
TV anchor and propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, appearing on the state-run Russia-1, said Russia was “facing off against NATO” in a “big, difficult war.”
“The sooner we realize it, the better,” he added in a clip translated and published on Twitter on Saturday by journalist Julia Davis, who runs the Russian Media Monitor project.
Moscow has branded its invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation,” and has long refused to use the term “war” to describe the ongoing conflict.
Claiming NATO countries started the full-scale war, which ignited with the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, Solovyov said it was his country’s “historic mission to again kick the butts of Europe, the collective West, and Americans who have joined their ranks , who thinks too highly of themselves.”
Soloyov then argued on air to the gathered panel that Moscow should “very clearly define that for anything being done against our strategic forces, we will blame not only the Ukrainian Nazis, but also their American owners, with all the consequences arising from that.”
The Kremlin has said the goal of its invasion is to demilitarize and “denazify” Ukraine. On February 24, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that “Ukraine should be liberated, cleaned from neo-Nazis, from people sharing pro-Nazi sentiment and ideas,” according to a state news readout. This view has been widely rejected by the international community as propaganda.
Often echoing the Kremlin line on the Ukraine, Solovyov has railed against Western support for the government in Kyiv.
He has previously claimed Russian soldiers on the front lines in Ukraine wish to thank Russian President Vladimir Putin for the war, and has called for a strike on the British parliament in London.
He has repeatedly framed the conflict as a “holy war” justified by an attempt to destroy satanism.
In a clip posted to Twitter on January 22, Solovyov said Russia is “fighting against satanists,” adding: “This is a holy war and we have to win.”
The previous month, the state TV host said that “what’s happening in Ukraine won’t stay in Ukraine,” and a “holy war is underway.”
Solovyov has also previously said Moscow had “no other choice” but to launch its invasion, and had saved “millions of lives” in the process.
In a clip translated and shared by advisor to Ukraine’s interior ministry Anton Gerashchenko on January 19, Solovyov said that “on February 24 [2022]we had no other choices.”
“We saved millions of lives of our compatriots, those who put their faith in us,” he continued.
Russia’s “historic mission” is to defeat the US, Europe and other members of “the collective West,” according to a Russian state TV host.
