Roger Waters says Ukraine is ‘not really a country’ and is run by ‘Nazis’ amid row with former Pink Floyd bandmate over accusations of ‘antisemitism’ and being a ‘Putin apologist’
- Pink Floyd singer Roger Waters has said Ukraine is ‘run by Nazis’
- In an interview, he said Putin was ‘leading Russia to the benefit of its people’
- Former bandmate David Gilmour previously called Waters a ‘Putin apologist’
Pink Floyd singer Roger Waters has said he believes Ukraine is ‘run by Nazis’ and is ‘not really a country’ just days after his former bandmate Dave Gilmour echoed accusations that he is ‘anti-Semitic to his rotten core’ and a ‘Putin apologist’.
Waters, 79, made the remarks in a wide ranging interview with The Telegraph ahead of his upcoming summer tour in which he also criticised his former bandmate Gilmour, 76, as a man with ‘nothing to say’.
Commenting on the Ukraine conflict, Waters told the paper that in his view the idea Russia’s invasion was unprovoked is ‘f***ing insane’ before claiming that ‘Nazis are in control’ of Ukraine’s government.
Referencing an earlier article he had written on the subject, Waters said in his view some criticisms of Putin were unfair: ‘I wrote about three months ago calling Vladimir Putin a gangster… That may have been unfair. It may be that he’s leading his country to the benefit of all of the people of Russia.’
Roger Waters and his dog are displayed 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 loggerheads online
He also labelled Ukraine as a ‘deeply divided’ country that ‘is not really a country at all’ and more of a ‘patchy vague experiment’.
The Pink Floyd co-founder has rebuffed ‘wildly inaccurate and incendiary’ claims of anti-Semitism made online by Polly Samson, the wife of ex-bandmate Gilmour.
Samson, 60, made the series of incendiary claims about Waters seemingly in response to an article he had shared concerning Israel – labelling him ‘antisemitic to (his) rotten core’ as well as a ‘Putin apologist’. Gilmour supported his wife’s claims on social media.
In response, Waters labelled the claims ‘wildly inaccurate’ and ‘incendiary’, adding that he is ‘taking advice on his position’.
The musician had recently given an interview to German magazine Berliner Zeitung where he denounced claims he was an anti-Semite.
Sharing the article on Twitter, the musician wrote: ‘The Truth Will Set Us Free.
‘Against the backdrop of the outrageous and despicable smear campaign by the Israeli lobby to denounce me as an anti-Semite which I am not, never have been and never will be.’
Dave Gilmour has backed wife Polly Samson (right) who branded Roger Waters a ‘Putin apologist’ and ‘anti-Semitic’
Waters has branded Samson’s claims as ‘wildly inaccurate’ and said ‘he is taking advice on his position’
In the piece, Waters claimed that Israel was engaged in ‘genocide’ and compared events to the way Great Britain behaved ‘during our colonial period’.
He said: ‘We believed ourselves to be inherently superior to the indigenous people, just as the Israelis do in Palestine. Well, we weren’t and neither are the Israeli Jews.’
Tensions between the former band mates have been simmering for years, something Waters touched on while speaking to the Telegraph.
Announcing he had secretly re-recorded 1973’s iconic The Dark Side of the Moon album, Waters is adamant he can do whatever he wishes with it as ‘it’s [his] project and [he] wrote it.’
He also criticised Gilmour as a man with ‘nothing to say’ who wasn’t an ‘artist’.
Waters founded Pink Floyd in 1965 alongside Syd Barrett (guitar, lead vocals), Nick Mason (drums) and Richard Wright (keyboards, vocals).
Gilmour joined the band two years later in 1967, and Barrett left the following year due to mental health problems.
MailOnline has reached out to representatives of Waters for comment.
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