Russia has asked controversial Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters to speak at a UN Security Council session on the war in Ukraine, Moscow’s first deputy permanent representative to the UN announced on Wednesday.
Waters has repeatedly taken an opposing position on the war in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion last February. Last August, he accused US President Joe Biden of “fueling the war in Ukraine”, calling him a “war criminal” in an explosive interview with US broadcaster CNN. He also condemned NATO for “pushing up to Russia’s borders”.
The British artist was “asked to be a speaker at the UN Security Council meeting on the possibility of a peaceful solution to the Ukrainian crisis in the context of increasing Western arms shipments to that country,” Dmitry Polyansky wrote on his Telegram channel.
The meeting will take place on Wednesday 8 February at 4pm CET. It’s unclear whether Waters will actually speak. A spokesman for the UN Secretary-General was not immediately available for comment
Earlier this week, Polly Samson — wife of Pink Floyd member David Gilmour and a songwriter on the band’s last two albums — called Waters a “Putin apologist,” saying he was “anti-Semitic.” [his] rotten core.”
Waters, 78, is one of the founding members of Pink Floyd. He left the party in 1985.