Journalist Sarah Ferguson’s interview with the Russian ambassador to Australia on Monday night held nothing back on addressing Russia’s war on Ukraine.
“Ambassador, you’re here in Australia enjoying the benefits of a free and open society. How do you live with yourself representing the repressive, dictatorial Putin regime?” Ferguson asked Alexey Pavlovsky at the start of the interview on the ABC’s 7.30 program.
Pavlovsky was seemingly amused by Ferguson’s use of the words “repressive” and “dictatorial”, and he had started laughing before she had finished the question. “You find that funny?” she said.
“What I find funny is your way to start an interview,” Pavlovsky said.
Ferguson went on to say it was “a pretty straight question”, to which Pavlovsky replied: “Yes, too straight”.
“First, let me tell you that I never had problems living in my country. I had lived there for 13 years after my previous appointment before I came to Australia. I never had the impression that I lived in an authoritarian – how did you put it?” he said.
“Repressive and dictatorial,” Ferguson replied.
“This is a regime that invaded its neighbour. It’s a regime where protests are suppressed, where your free media is muzzled, where dissenters are murdered or imprisoned, where the extent of your war casualties are hidden from the public.
“How would you describe this form of government, if not as a dictatorship?”
Ferguson also referred to a new UN report that alleges wide-ranging war crimes have been committed by the Russian army, including torture, rape, the execution of prisoners, the deportation of more than 1000 Ukrainian children to Russia, and the indiscriminate shelling of civilian infrastructure.
“How can you claim this is a war to liberate Ukraine?” Ferguson asked.
The Russian ambassador rejected the findings of the report and also said bodies like the International Criminal Court had “tunnel vision” and are “more than biased”. He also rejected Ferguson’s point that there had been thousands of Ukrainian casualities since February 2022.
Ferguson also questioned how Pavlovsky can claim Australians have been “brainwashed” into supporting Ukraine.
“The Russian invasion of Ukraine was a criminal action, and the Russian military has terrorised the people of Ukraine. Do you understand that you don’t have to be ‘brainwashed’ to understand that?” Ferguson asked.
“When we are talking about the public being brainwashed, it involves not being able to see events in a context, and especially the context of national history,” Pavlovsky replied.
Pavlovsky also tried to claim that Australia’s support of Ukraine was helping to prolong the war.
“The formula is straightforward. The more you give arms to Ukraine, the longer this war is protracted,” he said.
The interview with the ambassador was recorded prior to an arrest warrant being issued for Russian President Vladamir Putin. The international criminal court issued the warrant in relation to the alleged deportation of Ukrainian children into Russia. Russia’s commissioner for children Maria Lvova-Belova has also been issued with a warrant.