ALEX Samond should donate all of the money he made broadcasting on the Russian state broadcaster RT to Ukrainian refugees, the Scottish LibDems have said.
The broadside from the LibDem leader, Alex Cole-Hamilton, comes weeks after Salmond announced he would be suspending his show on RT for as long as the war in Ukraine waged on.
The suspension came after outrage at Vince Cable, the LibDem grandee and former Cabinet secretary, appearing on the show.
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Speaking on Tuesday, Cole-Hamilton said that Salmond had been “laundering the reputation of the Kremlin on UK TV” and called for the now Alba Party leader to donate his earnings to a Ukrainian refugee chairty.
Cole-Hamilton said: “For the best part of five years Alex Salmond, the former first minister of Scotland, has massaged his own ego and lined his bank account by presenting a political chat show on Kremlin-backed state TV broadcaster Russia Today [now RT].
“Never once in those five years has Mr Salmond sought to challenge the Putin regime and its human rights abuses at home or overseas. That’s why today I am calling for Mr Salmond to recognise that he has been laundering the reputation of the Kremlin on UK TV.
For 5 years the former First Minister of Scotland has given credibility to the Kremlin’s propaganda machine by hosting a chat show on RT.
— Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP🔶🇺🇦 (@agcolehamilton) March 15, 2022
Alex Salmond should now atone for that by donating the money he’s earned to charities resettling Ukrainian refugees. 👇🏻#StandwithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/sFjE2TG1Rm
“As such he should donate his fee for that service to those charities helping Ukrainians flee the illegal and barbaric invasion of their country by Russia. Mr Salmond’s reputation largely lies in tatters anyway but the decent thing for him to do right now is for him to donate that money to those people who are fleeing the consequences of Russian aggression.”
The Times reported that Slainte Media, the production company behind The Alex Salmond Show, had a total equity of £334,000 in the year to November 2020.
The demands come as thousands of Brits have offered to open their homes to Ukrainian refugees after the UK Government opened a scheme allowing the public to help those fleeing the conflict.
The Alba Party has been approached for comment.
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