Everybody six months ago was saying, ‘Oh, Russia’s so bad, Russia’s invading Ukraine.’ “No, Russia came to save the people of Donbass. And people are like, ‘Where’s Donbass, where’s Donetsk?’ Nobody in the world, expect perhaps Russia, understood what was happening,” Monson said.
This is not the first time that Monson has regurgitated Kremlin disinformation regarding Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. In April, the All-Russia People’s Front—a political coalition started by Russian President Vladimir Putin—posted several videos featuring Monson parroting Kremlin talking points. These included claims that Russia was not interested in occupying Ukraine and that its only intention was to rid the country of fascism.
Monson has long been a useful propaganda tool for the Kremlin and its occupied states in eastern Ukraine. When widespread protests took place across Russia in 2017, Russian state television opted to distract viewers from potential dissent by shifting the focus to a combat sports gym in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where Monson hosted an MMA masterclass to a group of small children while lamenting on how the people of Luhansk were the “victims of the government of Ukraine.”
https://www.bloodyelbow.com/platform/amp/2022/9/22/23367039/former-ufc-fighter-jeff-monson-pro-russia-propaganda-film-eastern-ukraine-mma-politics