The shocking moment a Melbourne university student was sensationally booted from the Q&A studio after he claimed Russia was under threat from Ukrainian ‘Nazi’ killers has divided Australians.
Sasha Gillies-Lekakis appeared in the audience during Thursday night’s episode before he was later asked to leave after making the contentious statement.
‘As someone who comes from the Russian community in Australia, I’ve been pretty outraged by the narrative created by the media depicting Ukraine as ‘the good guy’ and Russia as the ‘bad guy’, he told the panel.
‘Believe it or not, there are a lot of Russians here and around the world who support what Putin is doing in Ukraine, myself included.’
His controversial take on the invasion sparked a fierce debate on the panel and ultimately saw him booted from the show, prompting raucous applause.
Q&A host Stan Grant addressed Gillies-Lekakis later in the show and repeatedly asked him to leave, explaining the advocacy of violence would not be tolerated.
Sasha Gillies-Lekakis (pictured) was asked to leave the Q&A studio after he said he supported what Putin was doing in Ukraine and claimed there were other like-minded Australians
‘Something has been bothering me, I have to admit, since we had Sasha’s question earlier about Russia, and it’s been playing on my mind,’ the host said.
‘Sasha, people here have been talking about family who are suffering and people who are dying. I understand you wanted to ask your question about – is there some reasoning for this?
As audience members take the opportunity to give their two cents, the host shuts down any the discussion and points his arm toward the door.
‘Can I just say – I’m just not comfortable with you being here. Could you please leave? Sasha, I’m sorry. You can ask a question, but we cannot advocate violence. I should have asked you to leave then.’
However, not all Aussies agreed with Grant’s decision to boot the student from the audience, with dozens taking to social media to debate the contentious moment.
Tasmanian Labor MP Brian Mitchell weighed in on the intense debate on Twitter.
‘Get absolutely f*d with this clickbait garbage. Putin invaded a peaceful Democratic neighbour that posed no threat to Russia. His forces have murdered civilians, including children. There are not two sides to this story,’ he said.
‘Well done Stan. Very proud of what you just did live,’ another user agreed.
‘What happened to our free speech on the ABC? Cut off his question, didn’t answer his question, and kicked him out,’ another tweeted.
‘I don’t agree with his view and agree that his opinion may be compromised on bias information, but the only way people can resolve conflict is with open conversation.’
‘Should have let this guy finish his question in full without cutting him off. Thought the idea of a Q&A was to hear different points of view even if you disagree with them,’ another said.
‘He did ask his question earlier in the show. His answer was truly offensive,’ one woman replied.
‘He asked his question and then started spewing bulls*** stats/propaganda, it can be cut off when it’s no longer a question,’ a second agreed.
Q&A host Stan Grant (pictured) asked the university student to leave the live audience after the panel discussed his statement and said ‘we can’t have people advocating violence’
Sasha Gillies-Lekakis (pictured) is a Melbourne university student who claimed that since 2014 the Ukrainian government had collaborated with Nazi groups to besiege the Russian population
‘How is shutting him up and kicking him out fair discussion for both sides? Stop the censoring and one way media,’ another user commented.
‘Well done Stan for telling him to leave. He was supporting the murder of civilians and children,’ another user disagreed.
During his address Mr Gillies-Lekakis claimed that since 2014, the Ukrainian government had been collaborating with Nazi groups to besiege Russia.
Putin has argued Ukrainian nationalist battalions, descended from local swastika and ‘SS’ wearing divisions from WW2, still operate in modern Ukraine.
The leader has used this rhetoric to justify the invasion of Ukraine, however, it has been widely debunked by world leaders and experts as Russian propaganda.
The student went on to claim Nazi groups had killed 13,000 Russians in the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine, citing the United Nations as his source.
While there is no evidence for claims of genocide, Putin has used the word to pretext launching a war against Ukraine, among other reasons.
When gas supplies were interrupted to parts of eastern Ukraine in 2015, the Russian leader stated it ‘smells of genocide’, and in 2021, Putin said the conflict zone in Donbas ‘looks like genocide’.
As other Q&A audience members began to heckle Mr Gillies-Lekakis he asked where Australia’s outpouring of grief and concern was for the 13,000 Russians killed.
Host Stan Grant took the question to the panel, asking if there was a moral equivalence to the attacks and if there had been provocation from Ukraine before Russia invaded the capital, Kyiv.
Liberal MP for Mackellar Jason Falinksi said it was simple.
‘There is no moral equivalency to murder. Just because someone is murdered it does not give you the right to murder someone else.’
‘Secondly, the sovereignty of a nation cannot be simply wiped out because one individual decides without evidence, that he is going to do that.
‘We live in a world at the moment which is managed by the rule of law. If we change that to a position where people just get to decide what they want to do because they’ve got more guns than the next person, that is not a world I want to live in.’
He said the situation in eastern Europe was ‘not going to end well’ unless the West was incredibly assertive about pushing back the unwarranted aggression.
Shadow Minister for Defence Brendan O’Connor said the student’s claims had proven how the Russian leader’s misinformations had made their way Down Under.
‘Putin has been deploying misinformation for years, he is undemocratic by nature, he kills off his opposition, he uses all forms of propaganda,’ he said.
Mr O’Connor said Putin had misrepresented conflicts in Ukraine for his own benefit.
The university student was asked to leave after host Stan Grant said his question had advocated for violence – something that wasn’t tolerated on the ABC program
As Mr Gillies-Lekakis continues his heated spiel the camera panned to the visibly uncomfortable panel, where one woman is seen raising her eyebrows (pictured)
According to the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Sasha Gillies-Lekakis is an Honours Student in Spanish and Latin American Studies.
Its website states Sasha is passionate about Cuban history and politics and recently graduated from the University of Melbourne.
It comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday announced Australia was pledging $105 million to help Ukraine, including $70 million in military equipment.
‘We’re talking missiles, we’re talking ammunition, we’re talking supporting them in their defence of their homeland in Ukraine,’ he told reporters.
‘I’m not going to go into the specifics of that because I don’t plan to give the Russian government a heads-up about what’s coming their way, but I can assure them it’s coming your way.’
