Roger Waters claims he’s on Ukraine’s ‘kill list’

Roger Waters has claimed he’s on Ukraine’s “kill list” in a recent interview.

The Pink Floyd co-founder was discussing his recent statements regarding the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia when he made the remark.

Recently, Waters wrote an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the first lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, asking them for their commitment to help bring the war to an end.

Now, Waters claims he himself is under threat from Ukraine. “Don’t forget, I’m on a kill list that is supported by the Ukrainian government,” Waters said in an interview with Rolling Stone. 

“I’m on the f***ing list, and they’ve killed people recently... But when they kill you, they write ‘liquidated’ across your picture. Well, I’m one of those f***ing pictures,” he claimed.

According to Rolling Stone, Waters is referring to a list that is “maintained by a far-right Ukrainian organisation that contains hundreds of thousands of enemies of Ukraine”.

A website, cited by Rolling Stone, claims that the list is not a “kill list” as Waters suggests but instead an “information for law enforcement authorities and special services” – and although internationally “condemned” the government has not removed it.

Waters went on to claim that most of the criticism around him stems from Ukrainian websites: “When I read stuff, which I have done in blogs and things, criticising me for my … I always go and look and see where it came from. And it’s amazing how often when I’ve done the hunt and hunted it down, it is da, da, da.ukraine.org.”

In his recent open letter to Putin, Waters questioned if Putin wanted the war to be over: “Would you (Putin) 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,” the 79-year-old musician wrote in a letter on Sunday (25 August).

“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.”

The Pink Floyd co-founder, who recently announced his farewell tour, urged the Russian president to issue a message of assurance to the western areas of Ukraine and Europe, as he “[has] kids and grandkids, and so do most of my brothers and sisters all over the world and none of us would relish that outcome”.

“If I’ve read your previous speeches correctly, you would like to negotiate a state of neutrality for a sovereign neighbouring Ukraine? Is that correct?” Waters questioned. “Assuming such a peace could be negotiated it would have to include an absolutely binding agreement not to invade anyone ever again.

“I know, I know, the US and NATO invade other sovereign countries at the drop of a hat, or for a few barrels of oil, but that doesn’t mean you should, your invasion of Ukraine took me completely by surprise, it was a heinous war of aggression, provoked or not.”

This letter to Putin comes after Waters wrote an open letter to to the first lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, seeking her support in persuading her husband to “stop the slaughter” by pursuing a ceasefire at the expense of control over two eastern Ukrainian regions.

Referring to Zelenska’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg interview that aired on BBC News earlier this month, Waters pointed out a statement where she said: “If support for Ukraine is strong, the crisis will be shorter.”