Russia: America using actor Morgan Freeman to push anti-Moscow message

A Russian diplomat said that Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman was effectively tricked into participating in a video encouraging Americans to fight back against Moscow’s influence, according to a new report.

Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, wrote the comments in a Facebook post that was translated by Russia’s Tass News Agency on Wednesday.

“Morgan Freeman has been roped in, just like Colin Powell was,” Zakharova said.

{mosads}”I believe this is another story about the end justifying the means. However, we will know who is behind this story sooner than we knew about the true contents of the infamous test tube,” she added.

Zakharova was referencing an incident in 2003 in which Powell displayed a prop test tube containing white powder to members of the United Nations Security Council.

Powell, who at the time was serving as President George W. Bush’s secretary of State, was attempting to gain support for military intervention in Iraq by demonstrating the chemical weapons the country was allegedly harboring. 

Zakharova’s comments come after the Tuesday launch of a new nonpartisan group called the Committee to Investigate Russia, which seeks to educate Americans about the national security threat Russia presents due to its “continuing attacks on our democracy.”

Freeman is featured in a video on the organization’s website, in which the actor urges viewers to imagine Russia’s actions in recent months as a movie plot.

“We have been attacked. We are at war,” Freeman says in the video.

The Oscar winner also called on President Trump to address the nation about the “attack” the United States “came under” during the presidential election.

“And we owe it to the brave people who have fought and died to protect this great nation and save democracy,” Freeman says at the end of the video. “And we owe it to our future generations to continue the fight.”

In a declassified report released in January, the intelligence community said Russian President Vladimir Putin called for an influence campaign aimed at helping Trump win the White House.