Mar 8, 2023
Anadolu Agency/Contributor via Getty / Anton Gerashchenko/Twitter / Insider
- A Russian TV host claimed that the UK is eating squirrels over Ukraine war-related food shortages.
- The claim appears to stem from unrelated reports advocating eating grey squirrels.
- Grey squirrels are an invasive species in the UK, and groups want to preserve native red squirrels.
A Russian state TV host suggested this week that people in the UK are being forced to eat squirrels because their country is spending so much money on military aid to Ukraine.
“Today it was revealed that some restaurants in once-Great Britain will be serving squirrels,” Olga Skabayeva said on Russian news show “60 Minutes,” per a translation by Ukrainian interior ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko.
“In view of the fact that there are plenty of animals in the parks, so why not eat them, bearing in mind the food shortage [in the UK],” Skabayeva said in the video.
She added: “They [the UK] are not backing down from the decision to help [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy, to supply weapons. That is, they will eat squirrels, but still supply howitzers.”
Skabayeva is one of Russia’s most prominent propagandists, as Insider’s Michell Mark previously reported, and frequently advocates extreme positions on the war in Ukraine.
The UK has been one of Ukraine’s earliest and most prominent backers since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, supplying training and military and humanitarian aid. It has committed $2.7 billion worth of military aid as of February 2023.
The UK is also experiencing shortages of some imported fresh fruit and vegetables, which has been variously attributed to global weather patterns, electricity prices and Brexit red tape.
But Skabayeva’s comments appear to stem from reports of nature conservation efforts that have no stated relationship to Ukraine or, indeed, the UK’s food supplies.
Skabayeva seized on a completely unrelated UK news cycle, which focused on efforts of a small nature conservation group in south-west England. The Exmoor Squirrel Project hit the headlines in early March with a proposal to put grey squirrel on the menu of some local restaurants.
The group campaigns to preserve the country’s native red squirrels, which are endangered due to competition by grey squirrels, considered a non-native invasive species.
The group’s remarks were reported in numerous news outlets — all in relation to efforts to cull grey squirrels without waste.
“There’s no waste there. They’ll be put to some good use instead of being put in a hole in the ground,” the group’s acting manager, Kerry Hosegood, told the BBC in late February.
“She implies that all the money went towards weapons for Ukraine, and now Britons must eat squirrels.”
Scradge, how could you? Don’t eat those cute, little squirrels!
Oh, brother, do the ruskies really swallow this stuff? Pardon the pun.
Of course Russians believe it. In fact they know the North Koreans do, so it’s not much of a stretch in their thinking that others may have to too.
The intended point is so the Russians feel a need and acceptance to sacrifice more and more because their ‘enemies’ are. Fucking morons lost their best market and lucrative contracts. Dumb asses.
Oh my fucking Christ, wait till the whore finds out we eat Pigeon or most if not all the Seafood we eat, or the French have a reputation for eating Snails and Frog legs.
What’s her name?
skankbeaver?
In moskali eateries you can get Bread and Water, so that means they are so hard up there thats all they have to eat.
I just call her Scabby 😉
Squirrel meat is safe to eat and delicious. It’s said to taste a little like chicken or rabbit. Much better than ratburger, Olga.
I have eaten quite a bit of Squirrel. Both Grey and Fox (a larger species than Grey squirrel), and they don’t taste like chicken or rabbit. They taste like Grey and Fox squirrel. We have regular hunting seasons for them here in the states.
Some Brits do eat squirrel, and they are good eating. Given that it’s an invasive species, it’s a really use for them and the “season” is always open.
They look like a lot of work for two bites 😉
Moskali have a habit of accusing other countries of living like they do, lol.
moskovia is really desperate for lies to dress up as fact in order to discredit anyone they can.
moskovia descends even further into the axis of ignorance it shares with the few other fucked up countries with which it shares a failed ideology.
They are the epitome of stupidity on this planet. If aliens were to visit us, they would categorize the ruskies as primates, in the line of spider monkeys.