Former Labor leader, Jeremy Corbyn, was branded last night by the Ukrainian government as one of Vladimir Putin’s “useful idiots” for agreeing to speak at a Russian propaganda event in New York.
The MP for Islington North, who now sits as an Independent, will make an appearance at the Real Path to Peace in Ukraine on November 19.
He lost the party whip in October 2020 when he said the level of anti-Semitism within the Labor Party had been “dramatically exaggerated” during his tenure.
Far-left organizers The People’s Forum denounce pro-Moscow talks on the event’s website, blaming NATO expansion and US imperialism for the invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Corbyn will join a panel calling on Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy to talk peace with Putin and on Kiev’s western ally to halt arms supplies.
“There is no path to peace if US government policies continue to block negotiations and send endless arms into the war zone,” the activist group said.
His decision to attend the conference calling on Ukraine to bow to Russia might raise the eyebrows of even some of his most ardent left-wing supporters.
UN experts accuse Russian forces of appalling war crimes during the eight-month war.
These include deliberate attacks on civilian targets, massacres of civilians, torture and the rape of women and children.
A grisly video showed Russian troops castrating a Ukrainian soldier alive with a box knife before shooting him in the head.
Mr Corbyn claims on his official website that his interest in global affairs is “widespread, with particular attention to human rights, peace and justice”.
Dasha Zarivna, a senior adviser to Ukraine’s president, told the Mail that the hard-left forum aims to “spread narratives carefully crafted by the Russian intelligence services.”
“Once again, Jeremy Corbyn finds himself snuggled up with known associates of Vladimir Putin and other useful idiots who have been manipulated by the Kremlin,” said Miss Zarivna.
Dasha Zarivna (pictured), a senior adviser to the Ukrainian president, told the Mail that the hard-left forum aims to “spread narratives carefully crafted by the Russian intelligence services.”
“Demanding Ukraine to start negotiations with an aggressor state and calling on the West to halt the supplies of arms that enable us to defend ourselves against an illegal, unprovoked invasion that has caused genocide against the Ukrainian people is nothing less as a shame.” She added.
