ROGER WATERS Writes Open Letter To VLADIMIR PUTIN

Roger Waters Vladimir Putin

Roger Waters has shared an open letter to Russian president Vladimir Putin, urging him to commit to a ceasefire and diplomatic settlement to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

The remarks come weeks after Waters wrote an open letter to Olena Zelenska, the First Lady of Ukraine and wife of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, where he condemned western nations supplying the Ukrainian resistance with weapons and urged a negotiation between the two countries that would result in a ceasefire.

Waters has claimed that in the months since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, he has “tried to use [his] small influence to encourage a ceasefire and a diplomatic settlement that addresses the security needs of both Ukraine and The Russian Federation”.

Addressing Putin directly, former PINK FLOYD bassist asked: “Would you like to see an end to this war? If you were to reply and say, ‘Yes please.’ That would immediately make things a lot easier. If you were to come out and say, ‘Also the Russian Federation has no further territorial interest beyond the security of the Russian speaking populations of The Crimea, Donetsk and Lubansk [sic].’ That would help too.”

Waters is referencing the disputed territories within Ukraine that have largely Russian speaking populations, which Putin has sought to “liberate.”

He also echoed worldly concerns that Putin may not stop expansion at Ukraine and instead begin to “overrun the whole of Europe, starting with Poland the rest of the Baltic states.” Lightly mocking this idea, Waters suggested that if these are Putin’s true aims, then the world can stop playing “nuclear chicken” and “just blow each other and the world to smithereens.”

Have a look at Waters’ full letter to Putin below.