Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters says Ukraine is ‘not really a country’ and is run by ‘Nazis’
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Roger Waters says Ukraine ‘isn’t really a country’ and is run by ‘Nazis’ amid dispute with former Pink Floyd bandmate over accusations of ‘anti-Semitism’ and being a ‘Putin apologist’
- Pink Floyd singer Roger Waters has said Ukraine is ‘run by Nazis’
- In an interview, he said that Putin was “running Russia for the benefit of his people.”
- Former bandmate David Gilmour previously called Waters an ‘apologist for Putin’
Legendary Pink Floyd singer Roger Waters has said he believes Ukraine is ‘run by Nazis’ and ‘not really a country’ just days after former bandmate Dave Gilmour echoed accusations of that he is ‘Anti-Semitic to his rotten core’ and a ‘Putin Apologist.
Waters, 79, made the comments in a wide-ranging interview with The Telegraph ahead of his upcoming summer tour in which he also slammed his 76-year-old former bandmate Gilmour as a man who “has nothing to say”.
Commenting on the Ukraine conflict, Waters told the newspaper that, in his opinion, the idea that Russia’s invasion was unprovoked is “crazy” before stating that “the Nazis are in control” of the Ukrainian government.
Referring to an earlier article he had written on the subject, Waters said that he felt some criticism of Putin was unfair: ‘I wrote about three months ago calling Vladimir Putin a gangster… That may have been unfair. It may be that he is running his country for the benefit of all the people of Russia.
Roger Waters and his dog are shown on a screen during a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine.
Former Pink Floyd bandmates David Gilmour (left) and Roger Waters (right) have been at odds online
He also called Ukraine a ‘deeply divided’ country that is ‘not really a country at all’ and more of a ‘ragged vague experiment’.
The Pink Floyd co-founder has rejected “grossly inaccurate and inflammatory” anti-Semitism claims made online by Polly Samson, the wife of former bandmate Gilmour.
Samson, 60, made the series of inflammatory claims about Waters apparently in response to an article he had shared about Israel, labeling him an “anti-Semite to (its) rotten core” and an “apologist for Putin.”
Following this, Gilmour, 76, has now supported his wife’s claims on social media.
In response, Waters called the claims “grossly inaccurate” and “inflammatory”, adding that he is “taking advice on his position”.
The musician had recently given an interview to the German magazine Berliner Zeitung in which he denounced claims that he was an anti-Semite.
Sharing the article on Twitter, the musician wrote: ‘The truth will set us free.
“In the context of the outrageous and despicable smear campaign by the Israeli lobby to denounce me as an anti-Semite that I am not, never have been and never will be.”
Dave Gilmour (left) has backed his wife Polly Samson (right), who has branded Roger Waters an ‘apologist for Putin’ and an ‘anti-Semite’
Waters called Samson’s claims “grossly inaccurate” and said that he “is taking advice on his position.”
In the article, Waters claimed that Israel was engaged in “genocide” and compared the events to the way Britain behaved “during our colonial period.”
He said: ‘We believed ourselves to be inherently superior to indigenous peoples, just as the Israelis do in Palestine. Well, we weren’t and neither are Israeli Jews.
Tensions between the former bandmates have been simmering for years, which Waters mentioned while speaking to the Telegraph.
Announcing that he had secretly re-recorded the iconic 1973 album ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’, Waters is convinced he can do whatever he wants with it, as ‘it’s [his] project and [he] He wrote it.’
He also criticized Gilmour as a man with ‘nothing to say’ that he was not an ‘artist’.
Roger Waters founded Pink Floyd in 1965 along with Syd Barrett (guitar, lead vocals), Nick (drums) and Richard (keyboards, vocals).
David joined the band two years later in 1967, and Syd left the following year due to mental health issues.
MailOnline has contacted representatives for Roger Waters for comment.