BY ALISS HIGHAM ON 9/8/23 AT 7:47 AM EDT

Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Joneshas compared the U.S. to the 9/11 hijackers in an interview with a prominent Russian state-media pundit.

In the 45-minute interview with Vladimir Solovyov, one of Moscow’s chief propagandists, Jones made a series of unsupported or false accusations against some of America’s wealthiest people and drew comparisons with their “control” of the country and the September 11 hijackings.

Jones has rarely made media appearances since he was ordered to pay damages to people involved in or affected by the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting for spreading false theories about the incident. His interview with Solovyov is another example of how the Russian propaganda machine exploits the views of U.S. commentators and conspiracy theorists to further its narrative around the war in Ukraine.

Speaking to Solovyov on his show Full Contact, Jones said that he is proud to be an American but that he lives in an “occupied globalist country”. He accused “oligarchs” like “Klaus Schwab and Bill Gates” of being in control of the country. In a series of outlandish comments, he claimed they are “arresting everybody” and that “our country is captured.”

“They are so used to wielding American power, of the country they’ve hijacked, like hijackers who take over an airplane,” Jones said. “They’re flying the American airplane into the building—like 9/11—that is Russia. And so I’m trying to stop that.”

He also said he was facing “assassination” threats but that he can “not back down at this point.”

Jones echoed claims made by Russian President Vladimir Putin, used as a pretext for launching the invasion in February 2022, that Nazis were operating in Ukraine. He said “we have to tell the truth about what’s happening in Ukraine, even if it gets us killed, because the globalists are insane, mentally [sic] degenerates.”

Speaking about the threat of nuclear war, he said that if there is such a conflict “at least it will kill the globalists so we can all die together.” For each of his claims Jones did not offer any sources or verification.

Solovyov said Jones reminds him of the “best years of Rush Limbaugh, with your temper, with your energy, and with your willingness to tell the truth.”

Jones has a long history of spreading false narratives regarding American and global events. In 2022 a Connecticut jury ordered the Infowars founder to pay $965 million in damages to the families of eight victims of the Sandy Hook shooting for the suffering caused by his peddling of false narratives. Jones had maintained that the shooting was staged as a ploy to bring in gun restrictions.

He later filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2022. “Like every other cowardly move Alex Jones has made, this bankruptcy will not work,” Chris Mattei, an attorney representing Sandy Hook families, told Reuters at the time. “The American judicial system will hold Alex Jones accountable, and we will never stop working to enforce the jury’s verdict.”

Newsweek was unable to find an email address or phone number with which to contact Alex Jones.