NEW YORK — Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters addressed the United Nations Security Council Wednesday, where he called for an end to the war in Ukraine without seeming to take a side.
According to Rolling Stone, Waters said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly a year ago wasn’t legal, nor was it “not unprovoked.”
“So I also condemn the provocateurs in the strongest possible terms,” he said. “There, that’s out of the way.”
The 79-year-old musician’s remarks, which came at the behest of Russian officials, reportedly condemned military profiteers. He claimed to speak for “many who do not share in the profits of the war industry.”
The “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” singer called reports of Russian war crimes “Western propaganda” in an October interview with Rolling Stone.
Waters also claimed his name is on a “kill list” supported by the Ukrainian government, calling the Eastern European nation’s conflict with Russia an “unnecessary” war for which NATO shares responsibility.
“Russia should not have been encouraged to invade the Ukraine after they tried for 20 years to avoid it by suggesting diplomatic measures to Western governments,” he claimed.
The outspoken four-time Grammy nominee’s politics came under fire Monday when former Pink Floyd bandmate David Gilmour and his wife Polly Samson savaged Waters on Twitter.
“Sadly you are antisemitic to your rotten core,” Samson tweeted. “Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac. Enough of your nonsense.”
Gilmour added “Every word demonstrably true.”
Waters took issue with those comments on his Twitter feed, calling the accusations “incendiary and wildly inaccurate” in a post claiming he is “taking advice as to his positions.”
Waters sued Gilmour and bandmate Nick Mason in 1986 to stop them from using the name Pink Floyd after his departure. He told the BBC in 2013 “I was wrong” for filing the claim, which was settled privately.
Gilmour and Mason teamed up in April to record“ Hey Hey Rise Up” in support of Ukraine’s war efforts. It was their first recording since 1994.
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