ARNIE TO PUTIN： ‘Stop this war’
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Summary
Learn English with Michelle Obama. Michelle Obama delivers a powerful message to the people of Ukraine and the Russian soldiers fighting in the Donbas region of Ukraine. Michelle speaks about her deep love for the country and its people, and her support for the brave soldiers fighting for their homeland.
Transcript
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Hello everybody and thank you for sharing your time with me.
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I am sending this message through various different channels to reach my dear Russian
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friends and the Russian soldiers serving in Ukraine.
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I am speaking to you today because there are things that are going on in the world that
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have been kept from you, terrible things that you should know about.
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But before I talk about the harsh realities, let me just tell you about the Russian who
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In 1961, when I was 14 years old, a very good friend of mine invited me to come to Vienna
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and to watch the World Weightlifting Championships.
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I was in the audience when Yuri Petrovich Vlasov won the World Championship title, becoming
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the first human being to lift 200 kilograms over his head.
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All of a sudden, there I was, a 14-year-old boy, standing in front of the strongest man
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He had this powerful man's hand that swallowed mine.
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I went home and put his photo above my bed to inspire me when I started lifting weights.
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My father told me to take down that picture and to find a German or an Austrian hero.
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He got really angry, and we argued back and forth.
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He didn't like Russians because of his experience in the Second World War.
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You see, he was injured at Leningrad, where the Nazi army that he was part of did vicious
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harm to the great city and to its brave people.
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Because it didn't matter to me what flag Yuri Vlasov carried.
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My connections to Russia didn't stop there, by the way.
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Oh, it actually deepened when I traveled there with bodybuilding and for my movies and met all
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And in one of the strips, I remember, I met Yuri Vlasov once again.
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He was in Moscow doing the filming of Red Heat, which was the first American movie allowed
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He was so thoughtful, so kind, and so smart, and, of course, very giving.
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And ever since then, I've been drinking my coffee out of every morning.
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The reason why I'm telling you all of those things is that ever since I was 14 years old,
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I've had nothing but affections and respect for the people of Russia.
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The strength and the heart of the Russian people have always inspired me.
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That is why I hope that you will let me tell you the truth about the war in Ukraine and
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No one likes to hear something critical of the government, I understand that.
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But as a long-time friend of the Russian people, I hope that you will hear what I have to say.
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And may I remind you that I speak with the same heartfelt concern as I spoke to the American
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people when there was an attempted insurrection on January 6th last year, when a wild crowd was
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storming the U.S. Capitol, trying to overthrow our government.
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You see, there are moments like this that are so wrong, and then we have to speak up.
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And it's exactly the same with your government.
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I know that your government has told you that this is a war to denazify Ukraine.
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A Jewish president, I might add, whose father's three brothers were all murdered by the Nazis.
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Those in power in the Kremlin started this war.
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As a matter of fact, let me tell you, what you should know is that 141 nations at the UN
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voted that Russia was the aggressor and called for it to remove its troops immediately.
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Only four countries in the entire world voted with Russia.
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See, the world has turned against Russia because of its actions in Ukraine.
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Whole city blocks have been flattened by Russian artillery and bombs, including a children's
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Three million Ukrainian refugees, mainly women, children and elderly, fled their country.
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Because of its brutality, Russia is now isolated from the society of nations.
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You are also not being told the truth about the consequences of this war on Russia itself.
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I regret to tell you that thousands of Russian soldiers that have been killed, they have been
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caught between Ukrainians fighting for their homeland and the Russian leadership fighting
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Massive amounts of Russian equipment have been destroyed or abandoned.
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The destruction that Russian bombs are raining down upon innocent civilians has so outraged
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the world that the strongest global economic sanctions ever taken have been imposed on your
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Those who don't deserve it on both sides of the war will suffer.
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The Russian government has lied not only to the citizens, but to its soldiers.
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Some of the soldiers were told they were going to fight Nazis.
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Some were told that the Ukrainian people would greet them like heroes.
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And some were told that they were simply going on exercise.
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They didn't even know that they were going into war.
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And some were told that they were there to protect ethnic Russians in Ukraine.
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The fact is that Russian soldiers have faced fierce resistance from the Ukrainians who want
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When I see babies being pulled out of ruins, I think that I'm watching a documentary about
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the horrors of the Second World War, not the news of the day.
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Now, let me tell you, when my father arrived in Leningrad, he was all pumped up on the lies
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And when he left Leningrad, he was broken, physically and mentally.
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He lived the rest of his life in pain, pain from a broken back, pain from the shrapnel that
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always reminded him of these terrible years, and pain from the guilt that he felt.
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To the Russian soldiers listening to this broadcast, you already know much of the truth that I've
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This is not the war to defend Russia that your grandfathers or your great grandfathers fought.
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Your lives, your limbs, your futures are being sacrificed for a senseless war condemned by the
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Now, to those in power in the Gremlin, let me just ask you, why would you sacrifice this
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To the soldiers who are listening to this, remember that 11 million Russians have family
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So every bullet you shoot, you shoot a brother or a sister.
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Every bomb or every shell that falls is falling not on an enemy, but on a school or a hospital
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I know that the Russian people are not aware of such things are happening.
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So I urge the Russian people and the Russian soldiers in Ukraine to understand the propaganda
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and the disinformation that you are being told.
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Let you fellow Russians know the human catastrophe that is happening in Ukraine.
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And to President Putin I say, you started this war.
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Now, let me close with a message to all of the Russians who have been protesting on the
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We know that you have suffered the consequences of your courage.
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You have been arrested, you have been jailed and you have been beaten.
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You have the strength of Yuri Petrovich Vlasov.
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My dear Russian friends, may God bless you all.