The great-great-grandson of Lev Tolstoy, the author of War and Peace, claims that the Russian invasion will not stop until it reaches the Polish border.
Pyotr Tolstoy is a journalist and a member of Putin’s United Russia party, as well as a deputy speaker of the Russian parliament.
“Despite the aid from Europe and the hysteria of Boris Johnson or [the Italian prime minister] Mario Draghi, we will finish the operation when it suits us,” he said. “I think we will stop at the border with Poland,” he told in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
Tolstoy has been accused of antisemitism and pro-Kremlin propaganda during his work as a journalist. In his publications, he described Ukraine and Georgia as “evil dwarfs” that owe their existence to the Russian federation. According to The Times, he has also called for the protection of patriotic values and Orthodox religious faith from ridicule on the internet.
Tolstoy told La Repubblica that the “special military operation” would be finished if Ukraine was completely demilitarized and “denazified”. He added that in addition there would be no chance of transforming it into an anti-Russia since the West has made attempts to do so for the last 30 years.