Russia has targeted the Ukrainian armed forces’ new transgender spokesperson Sarah Ashton-Cirillon.
In the Russian media, he has been labeled as “the new face of Nazism”.
Ashton-Cirillo, a US journalist and foreign fighter, was appointed as the English-speaking spokesman for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the summer.
Russia has already tried to use Ashton-Cirillo’s gender identity in its propaganda. In the Russian media, she has been named and called by this former husband’s name, among other things.
Ashton-Cirillo said For Newsweek magazine in his email that Russian propagandists are trying to attack his identity.
– It’s a ridiculous line of attack, because in Ukraine we are not fighting for the acceptance of certain groups of people, but for the freedom of all people, Ashton-Cirillo said, according to Newsweek.
Ukrainian MP Inna Sovsun wrote on the messaging service X that Russia’s hostile propaganda is proof that Ashton-Cirillo is doing the right thing.
Also Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Maliar has defended him on social media.
The cardboard soldier’s comment infuriated the Russians
In her role as spokesperson for the Ukrainian armed forces, Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, among other things, publishes videos about war and Russian propaganda on social media.
For example, on YouTube, he hosts a program series called Russia hates the truth, in which propaganda produced by the Russian media is highlighted.
Last weekend, Ashton-Cirillo caused a stir with a video she posted on the messaging service X.
The spokesperson stood next to a cardboard figure representing a Russian soldier and asked if you know the difference between us and them. Then he pointed to the cardboard soldier and answered himself.
– We are human and those guys are not, Ashton-Cirillo said.
The video garnered plenty of angry comments. Many interpreted that Ashton-Cirillo thinks Russians are not human. In the Russian media, the spokeswoman’s speech was compared to Nazi slogans.
Russian Tassin news agency the boss of the Russian think tank interviewed called Ashton-Cirillo’s video “a clear expression of Nazism”.
Following the line of the Russian administration Argumenty i fakti magazine on the other hand called Ashton-Cirillo “the new face of Nazism”. The magazine also suggested that Ashton-Cirillo is a sadist who suffers from mental health problems.
On Wednesday, Ashton-Cirillo launched a messaging service on X new video, in which he took a stand on the claims of the Russian media. A cardboard soldier stood next to him again.
Ashton-Cirillo stated that he ended up being a topic of conversation in several Russian media. He said the previous statement about the cardboard soldier was a joke. He added that apparently joking is not allowed in Russia.
– I don’t suffer from anti-Russianness, but I oppose the Russian world (russkij mir). And I have fun fooling around with cardboard figures, Ashton-Cirillo said, knocking the cardboard soldier over.
The phrase he used “russkij mir” or the Russian world refers to Russia’s political interests.
Who is the new spokesperson?
Sarah Ashton-Cirillo arrived in Ukraine in March 2022, shortly after the start of the Russian invasion. At first he worked as a journalist.
Ashton-Cirillo wrote articles as a freelancer for the online magazine LGBTQ Nation and focused on reporting the effects of the war on representatives of sexual and gender minorities in Ukraine.
Experiences from the war made Ashton-Cirillo reassess his own role in Ukraine, he says USA Today.
In October 2022, he joined the Volunteer Corps of the Ukrainian Armed Forces as a medical officer. At the same time, he stopped working for LGBTQ Nation.
Later, he became an unofficial contact person between the armed forces of the United States and Ukraine, writes USA Today.
In December, he visited the United States, gave a speech to Congress and met politicians in Washington at the same time, he says New York Post.
In February 2023, Sarah Ashton-Cirillo told For CBS News in a video call that he had been wounded in the hand and face in the frontline battles.
Before the war in Ukraine, Ashton-Cirillo has worked in the United States as a political activist for the Democrats. Among other things, he has run for the Las Vegas city council, but was not elected.
He told in 2021 For The Washington Postthat had presented the former president for months Donald Trump’s a hardliner while doing background work for a book on extremism.