The quote does not belong to billionaire George Soros. This is how Russian propagandist Zapolkis put it.
Russian media and pro-Kremlin netizens are actively spreading conspiracy theories about American philanthropist George Soros. The Russian media outlets claim that Soros gave an extensive interview about Ukraine. Propaganda quotes Soros as allegedly saying that «no one but Russia» cares about the fate of Ukrainians: «The Russian Federation will not be able to leave Ukrainians to starve to death and freeze to death in the ruins.»
Russian media and pro-Kremlin netizens are spreading a false quote from George Soros. To create it, they used an interview with the American investor published in the German political magazine Cicero back in 2014, against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As early as 10 years ago, Soros warned the EU leadership against taking a too soft line on Russia and called on the world to mobilize all available means to counter Russian aggression, as it could expand: «Russia’s attack is aimed not only at Ukraine, but indirectly at the whole of Europe,» Soros emphasized in 2014.
In response to Soros’s words, Russian propagandist Alexander Zapolkis wrote a conspiracy-filled column for a German weekly in 2014, calling Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a «European war» and repeating the persistent Russian narrative of the «brotherly Ukrainian people» being openly killed by the Russian army. Zapolkis is the author of the quote attributed by propaganda to George Soros.
«Only Russia perceives Ukrainians as its own… Russia cannot leave Ukrainians to starve to death and freeze to death in the ruins. Europe will ‘win’ even if all of Ukraine is left as one huge pile of rubble littered with stinking corpses. Because Russia will start rebuilding it and rescuing people,» cynically writes propagandist Zapolkis about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russian propaganda systematically attributes non-existent statements to Soros and accuses him of inciting hatred against the Kremlin. At the same time, the Russian media sees the promotion of democracy and the protection of human rights, which is what Soros’ charitable organizations do, as a «threat to Russia’s traditional values.» Read more about this in StopFake’s pieces like Fake: Ukraine Has Allocated 400 Square Kilometers of Land to Soros’ Family for Hazardous Waste Disposal and Fake: Soros Calls Zelenskyy Putin’s Puppet.
