Madison Cawthorn's rant calling Zelenskyy a 'thug' gets massive airplay on Russian state TV: report

Recent reports have indicated that Russian state TV has relied on Fox News' Tucker Carlson in its state propaganda supporting the invasion of Ukraine, as Carlson has called into question whether Vladimir Putin is an enemy of the United States and has even helped spread debunked conspiracy theories about the U.S. funding bioweapons in Ukraine.

But Carlson is not the only American Kremlin propagandists are using to bolster their war against Ukraine. According to NBC News correspondent Raf Sanchez, who recently traveled to Moscow to assess the state of news media there, another popular figure for Russian TV to quote is Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) — and particularly his speech calling Ukrainian President Volodymy Zelenskyy a "thug" and Ukraine "corrupt and incredibly evil."

According to the report, Russian state TV is also playing up gas price increases in the United States, trying to imply that Americans are suffering as a result of the embargo against Russia just as the Russians are.

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Cawthorn's attack on Zelenskyy, who has emerged as a global icon for refusing to flee his country amid an attempted siege of the capital city of Kyiv, has been blasted in his own state of North Carolina, with the Winston-Salem Journalslamming him as "deplorable" and accusing him of pushing Kremlin "talking points."