Serhii Markov, a Russian statesman, deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation

                           Serhii Markov/ Facebook

Serhii Markov is a Russian public figure and statesman, deputy of the Russian State Duma of the 5th convocation, Putin’s confidant, founder and general director of the Institute of Political Research LLC.

He constantly participates in propaganda TV programs on television and radio of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation. He uses the status of “independent political scientist and expert” to cover up propaganda activities.

He accused the Ukrainian state of external governance by the West. He claimed that “there is no Ukraine, but there are territories seized by the USA and Great Britain.”

He said that Ukrainians “will meet Russian soldiers with flowers.” Later, he complained that Ukraine did not want to capitulate. He stated peace was possible only after “the Russian army is close to defeating the Armed Forces.”

*The material was created in cooperation with the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

Main statements

1. He stated that Russia is allegedly conducting a so-called “special operation” to “protect Donbas and liberate a brotherly country” (February 24, 2022)

2. He called on the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. to order the Ukrainian military to lay down their arms (February 24, 2022)

He said that all the generals in Ukraine were “appointed by the Americans and the British”. Therefore, they say, soldiers and officers should not listen to them. Instead, he cynically called on the defenders of the Ukrainian state “to fraternize with the fraternal army of the Russian Federation, which enters the state.”

3. He stated that the Western countries were allegedly to blame for the war (February 24, 2022)

He said that the leaders of the USA, Great Britain, France and Germany had supported the “terrible, anti-democratic, repressive and Russophobic regime” in Kyiv for eight years.

4. He stated that Russia invaded Ukraine allegedly to stop the 8-year war in Donbas (February 26, 2022)

He called the Russians the “party of peace” and the Ukrainians the “party of war.” He said that the Russian Federation “is fighting against the revival of neo-Nazism and stands for the friendship of peoples.”

5. He called the mass killings by Russian occupiers of peaceful Ukrainians in Bucha a “fake” (April 3, 2022)

6. He stated that Putin needed to introduce Russian troops into Ukraine back in 2014 (September 25, 2022)

According to him, the so-called “special operation” was inevitable, but it should have been started in 2014.