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Russia Wants Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters to Address UN on Ukraine Weapons

“​​Russian diplomacy used to be serious. What next? Mr. Bean?” asked a diplomat on the United Nations Security Council.

Besides his tenure fronting Pink Floyd, Roger Waters is known for his controversial stance on the Ukraine invasion, at one point last year dismissing reports of Russian war crimes to Rolling Stone as “lies, lies, lies.” Unsurprisingly, his rhetoric seems to have impressed Moscow, which has asked him to speak to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday about the arming of Ukraine, according to Reuters. “​​Russian diplomacy used to be serious. What next? Mr. Bean?” one unnamed council diplomat asked the outlet. Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, brushed off questions about a potential Waters appearance this week, saying, “Let’s see what he will say. He has a position and you will hear it tomorrow.” Nebenzia added breezily, “Perhaps he will sing to us, too.” Waters, 79, was heavily criticized after penning an open letter to Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska in which he blamed the war on Ukraine’s “extreme nationalists,” asking her to encourage her husband to yield to Russia. On Monday, Polly Sampson, a Pink Floyd lyricist and wife of band leader David Gilmour, lashed out at Waters as “a Putin apologist” and an antisemite.