Baryshnikov: Putin ‘trying to create a new history of Russia’

Mikhail Baryshnikov attends the "Immersive Van Gogh" art experience at Pier 36 in New York.
Andy Kropa/Invision/AP
Mikhail Baryshnikov attends the “Immersive Van Gogh” art experience at Pier 36 in New York.

Mikhail Baryshnikov is blasting Vladimir Putin over the Russian president’s invasion of Ukraine, saying he “does not care about people at all.”

“He’s trying to create a new history of Russia,” said the acclaimed ballet dancer — who was born in Latvia when the country was part of the Soviet Union and famously defected to Canada in 1974 — in a preview clip released Thursday from an upcoming interview on “CBS Sunday Morning.”

The full interview with Baryshnikov airs this weekend.

“How’s it possible he has kids himself?” Baryshnikov asked CBS’s Anthony Mason of Putin. “How’s it possible?”

Baryshnikov, the son of Russian parents, said witnessing the horrors of Russia’s offensive against Ukraine since the conflict began in February compelled him to speak out.

“I couldn’t stay silent this time,” Baryshnikov said.

Earlier this year, the former “Sex and the City” star co-founded True Russia, an online fundraising campaign for Ukrainian refugees.  

When Mason noted that Russians who publicly criticize Putin have “a way of kind of disappearing,” Baryshnikov replied, “Listen, I will be 75 years old.”

“What have I to lose?” he said.

Tags Anthony Mason Latvia Russia Russia-Ukraine conflict Russo-Ukrainian War Ukraine Vladimir Putin

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