Michael McFaul, the previous U.S. Ambassador to Russia, praised motion film star and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday for releasing a video message warning Russians towards the Kremlin's lies about its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

McFaul, in an interview with MSNBC, praised the previous California governor for his "artistic" strategy to getting correct data into Russia because the nation continues to stifle the movement of details about the conflict.

Schwarzenegger, who served a California's Republican governor from 2003 to 2011, revealed the video message to Russians on Thursday by way of Twitter and Telegram. "I really like the Russian folks. That's the reason I've to let you know the reality. Please watch and share," the film star, finest identified for his position within the Terminator franchise, wrote in his tweet sharing the roughly 9-minute clip.

Within the video, Schwarzenegger defined the fact of what is going on in Ukraine to the Russia folks. He mentioned that Russian propaganda has misled the nation about what is happening, and urged President Vladimir Putin to "cease this conflict."

"I applaud our former governor, that may be a very efficient mechanism. That may get round. You realize, once I was ambassador, my coach on the embassy, she was Russian and she or he liked Arnold Schwarzenegger. He is a man that resonates in Russian society, so I actually applaud what he has executed," McFaul, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, mentioned.

He went on to elucidate how the Kremlin has begun to crack down even additional on free speech and unbiased media for the reason that invasion of Ukraine. Russia's parliament just lately handed new laws prohibiting folks from "discrediting" the Russian navy. The newly enacted legal guidelines additionally ban media from utilizing the phrases "invasion" or "assault" to explain the conflict in Ukraine.

These violating the legal guidelines may resist 15 years in jail. Greater than 14,000 folks have been arrested throughout Russia as a consequence of their anti-war activism, based on the unbiased monitoring group OVD-Information.

McFaul mentioned he was involved concerning the stories of censorship and the blocking of social media and different on-line types of communication in Russia because the nation tries to regulate the narrative of what's taking place in Ukraine.

"I hear that we're nervous about they'll shut down YouTube, which is a vital mechanism for getting data into Russia proper now, so now we have to be extra artistic," McFaul mentioned.

The previous ambassador defined that Schwarzenegger is popular with Russians, which may make his message resonate nicely with the general public there.

"In Russian society, Schwarzenegger could be very well-liked," McFaul mentioned. "His final time there, he got here in 2010, I used to be working on the White Home on the time, and simply huge crowds all over the place he went. He jumped on the metro, took some images. He's well-loved for a very long time, [because of] his motion pictures. It was actually sensible of him."

In his message, Schwarzenegger, who's Austrian-American, pointed to his personal historical past rising up within the wake of Nazi rule in Austria to push again towards Putin's absurd claims that Ukraine is led by "neo-Nazis" and must be "de-Nazified."

"I do know that your authorities has instructed you it is a conflict to de-Nazify Ukraine. This isn't true. De-Nazify Ukraine? It's a nation with a Jewish president—a Jewish president, I would add, whose father's three brothers had been all murdered by the Nazis. Ukraine didn't begin this conflict. Neither did nationalists or Nazis. These in energy within the Kremlin began this civil conflict; this isn't the Russian folks's conflict," the previous governor defined.

Arnold Schwarzenegger
In a video message on Thursday, Arnold Schwarzenegger warned Russians that they're being lied to by their authorities concerning the invasion of Ukraine. Above, Schwarzenegger speaks to followers throughout the Slap Combating Championships on the Arnold Sports activities Competition in Columbus Conference Middle on March 5 in Ohio.Gaelen Morse/Getty Photographs

"Let me let you know what you must know. 100 forty-one nations on the United Nations voted that Russia was the aggressor and referred to as for it to take away its troops instantly. Solely 4 international locations in your entire world voted with Russia. That could be a reality. The world has turned towards Russia due to its actions in Ukraine," he continued.

Schwarzenegger concluded his message by cheering the Russians who've stood up and protested within the face of Putin's repression.

"To the Russians who've been protesting on the streets towards the invasion of Ukraine: The world has seen your bravery. We all know that you've got suffered the results of your braveness. You've gotten been arrested. You've gotten been jailed and you've got been crushed. You might be my new heroes," he mentioned.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian embassy for remark however didn't hear again in time for publication.