Andrew Tate is facing rape charges in two countries, free to travel only because the White House intervened on his behalf — and this week he used that freedom to lavish praise on Russian President Vladimir Putin's Russia before a Kremlin-backed audience.
"If you have patriotic masculine men, you're gonna protect Russia," Andrew Tate told RT's Sanchez Effect in an interview that aired Monday. Russia, he continued, "is a very patriotic nation, and they don't fear having a masculine population…"
The show is hosted by Rick Sanchez, a former American television journalist now living in Moscow. The Russian federal budget funds RT and operates as a Kremlin propaganda outlet.
Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate arrived in Moscow on June 2, where they were welcomed with a bread-and-salt ceremony and folk songs. They toured Red Square, visited a church, and sipped cocktails at a rooftop bar, but skipped Russia's premier economic forum in St. Petersburg. NBC News reported the visit may hand Putin a domestic propaganda victory as Russian public support for the war erodes.
Even pro-Kremlin voices recoiled. Rybar, a pro-war Telegram channel with over a million followers, called the brothers a "bad pick" and their presence "embarrassing."
Both brothers face rape and human trafficking charges in Romania and the U.K. — all denied. Andrew Tate called his prosecution a "Matrix attack" designed to silence his influence over young men.
The brothers are traveling freely only because President Donald Trump's administration reportedly pressured Romania to lift its travel ban. They flew to Florida on a private jet on February 27, 2025. Confronted by reporters, Trump said: "I just know nothing about it."
The family connection runs deeper. The New York Times reported that Andrew Tate has become a "big brother" to Barron Trump — the pair spoke on Zoom about Andrew Tate's legal case, which Barron reportedly dismissed as politically motivated. Andrew Tate's lawyers called it "fake news."