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Russia has aired an outlandish television advert, featuring Volodymyr Zelensky as Santa Claus, AI versions of European officials and Piers Morgan.
The advert appeared to guilt Europeans for blaming various issues on Vladimir Putin.
‘Migrants settled by your Christmas tree? It’s all because of Putin, see,’ the advert began, showing a man in a tent sharpening a large blade.
‘Power bills too high to pay? It’s all because of Putin, hey. Festive meal price feels like a scam? It’s all because of Putin, damn.’
Showing what appeared to be an AI version of Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, a children’s choir crooned: ‘Bureaucrats are on your back? It’s all because of Putin – wack!’
The advert then showed a mocked-up version of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wearing a blue Santa suit with the seal of Ukraine on the hat.
‘Santa robbed your kids this year?’ the advert asked, as ‘Zelensky’ stole presents. He turned to the camera, adding: ‘It’s all because of Putin, dear.’
The family was then filmed looking at a television, where TV hosts including Anderson Cooper and Piers Morgan repeated to them, ‘It’s all because of Putin.’
‘Dear Europeans, save your blind faith for Santa,’ the advert concluded.
The advert is an effort from Russia Today, the Putin-aligned Kremlin mouthpiece, to halt conversation over Putin’s blame for many of Europe’s issues.
It aired on television just days after a damning investigation tracked 145 acts of sabotage across the European continent – and confirmed they were by Russia.
An investigation has documented details of Vladimir Putin’s ‘hybrid war’, which has been increasing in frequency and severity.
From explosives placed on railway tracks to exploding DHL parcels and warehouse fires, chaos has been unleashed by the Kremlin, which still denies any involvement.
A senior European intelligence official told AP: ‘It’s a 24/7 operation between all the services to stop it.’
The investigation comes after the new head of MI6 warned that the front line with Russia is ‘everywhere’.
Data shows that instances of sabotage linked to Russia have only increased since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Samantha de Bendern, Associate Fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, told Metro these acts of sabotage should be considered acts of terrorism.
de Bendern argued: ‘But Russia is at war with us. We just don’t know it. I think people will only wake up to this threat when a missile falls on a European capital or European city.’
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