Alex Salmond should stop being Vladimir Putin’s “useful idiot” and abandon his show on the Moscow-funded RT television channel, the Scottish Lib Dems have declared.
Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Scottish Lib Dem leader, called on Scottish politicians to boycott the Russian channel which broadcasts in the UK and for the former First Minister to close down his weekly show.
Cole-Hamilton spoke out after an MP in Salmond’s breakaway nationalist Alba Party accused the UK and US governments of “hyping the prospect of war” in Ukraine.
In a statement which failed to mention the build-up of Russian troops, Neale Hanvey MP said there were repeated claims from western intelligence sources that a conflict is imminent “but a distinct lack of evidence beyond those assertions when the matter has been pressed”.
Cole-Hamilton linked the Alba Party’s reluctance to criticise Putin to Salmond’s continuing presence on RT tv schedules.
Speaking about Salmond’s chat show, he said: “Being Putin’s useful idiot may have stroked Alex Salmond’s ego and filled his bank account but it’s an embarrassment to our nation that a former First Minister could sink so low.”
Salmond's weekly show is usually pre-recorded and broadcast on Thursdays.
Cole-Hamilton said: “If Alex Salmond had a shred of regard for human rights around the world he should step aside and quit laundering the reputation of the Russian regime.”
The Lib Dem leader pledged his party's politicians will not appear on Russian-state backed television channels and called on all Scottish party leaders to do the same.
Cole-Hamilton said: “Here in the west, Putin’s propaganda broadcasters represent a powerful tool in his foreign policy arsenal for spreading confusion and disinformation."
"No representative of a Scottish party should be appearing on their channels. I hope that the other party leaders will join me in instructing their parliamentarians to reject Putin’s propagandists.”
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.
