A racist attack on U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin published on a social media account belonging to Dmitry Rogozin, the former head of Russia's space agency, has sparked outrage.
"Before his illness, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin loved being photographed with pygmies," the post on X, formerly Twitter, published on Sunday, said. It includes an image of a racist nature.
The account has been verified by X since October 2015 as being a "government or multilateral organisation account."
Putin removed Rogozin as head of Russia's state-controlled space program in July 2022, giving no reasons for his dismissal. The 60-year-old, notable for his incendiary statements amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, had held the position since 2018.
Rogozin said that he heads a group of advisers called the "Tsar's Wolves," which is involved in providing "military-technical support" to combat units in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics participating in Putin's Ukraine war.
Newsweek has contacted Russia's foreign ministry and the Pentagon via email for comment.
The "illness" mentioned in the X post seemingly refers to Austin's hospitalization earlier this month. The Pentagon said in a statement at the time that the 70-year-old was admitted to the critical care unit at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for symptoms of an "emergent bladder issue." He has since been discharged. The statement added that the issue was unrelated to his earlier prostate cancer diagnosis.
On his VKontakte page, Rogozin insinuated that the post on his X account was published by a bot, but then described Austin, as well as President Joe Biden, Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz and "other enemies of Russia" as "monkeys."
Responding to the original X post, Denys Kazansky, a Ukrainian journalist, pointed out the irony of the Kremlin's claims that it seeks to "denazify" Ukraine through its so-called "special military operation" in the country.
"Former head of Roscosmos, member of Putin's team Dmitry Rogozin posted a racist tweet about US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin," Kazansky said on X. "These people claim that they are carrying out 'denazification' in Ukraine. In fact, Russia itself needs denazification."
Jimmy Rushton, a Kyiv-based foreign policy and security analyst, wrote: "This is the official account of a Russian government official (Dmitry Rogozin) calling a black American politician a monkey."
"Knowing his audience, Russian Senator, Putin's henchman, Dimitri Rogozin appeals to US MAGA's by comparing American Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to a monkey," Russian media watcher "Jay in Kyiv" said on X. "The new pro-Russian twitter is fine with this."
"Behold, Dmitry Rogozin: a Russian Senator, a close ally of Putin, and the former head of Russia's space agency," said Simon Ostrovsky, special correspondent for PBS News Hour.
Newsweek has contacted X via email for comment. Per an updated policy dated April 2023, X users "may not directly attack other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease."
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About the writer
Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more
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