On February 24, Russia launched an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, pouring troops across the sovereign nation’s borders.
Various 90 Day Fiance stars spoke out against the war, including cast members from Ukraine and from Russia.
One alum from the franchise stunned and horrified followers with posts that seemed to defend the brutal invasion.
Though he has walked back some of his posts, Sasha Larin has made himself the odd man out during a global crisis.
On Season 7 of 90 Day Fiance, viewers saw Sasha Larin throw away his future sister-in-law’s freshly bought groceries because he didn’t like them.
Before meeting and impregnating Emily Larina, his current wife, he had impregnated and then left two previous women.
The father of three hadn’t made the best impression … but few expected to see something like this.
Last week, the world recoiled in horror as the Russian military poured over Ukraine’s border, shelling buildings, bombing homes, flattening cars and their occupants with tanks.
While thousands of Russians took to the streets in their own cities, knowing that they would be arrested, Sasha Larin took to his Instagram Story.
Unlike the millions of calls for peace, or for the end of the brutal attacks, he railed against hearing his country badmouthed.
We don’t doubt that some people took things too far, errantly blaming the Russian people for the orders of one deranged madman.
Despite intense control of Russia’s state-run media to pump out lies trying to “justify” the invasion, most Russians are outspoken in their calls for peace.
But it appears that the baseless propaganda put out by the Kremlin took root in Sasha’s mind.
“You have to be a complete idiot if you think that Russia invaded Ukraine without any [justified] reason,” Sasha announced in all caps.
Well, call us and essentially every geopolitical expert who doesn’t sit at the end of a very long table from Vladimir Putin “idiots,” then.
We are admittedly morbidly curious as to what possibly justification Sasha imagines that Putin could have.
Sasha is, for the record, not a culturally isolated man who has never left home or been exposed to new ideas.
In addition to being a grown adult, he has spent ample time in the United States, and has an American wife — Emily Larina.
As 90 Day Fiance fans recoiled at Sasha’s declaration of (support for the) war, Emily took to her own Instagram Story.
“We both hate war,” Emily emphasized, sharing screenshots of (partially redacted) private messages that she had shared with someone else.
She admitted that they had grown up differently, and got their news about world affairs very differently.
Reading between the lines, it sounds like Sasha might be the sort of person who sticks to one source and takes whatever it tells him — especially if it confirms his biases.
In the case of this conflict, that likely means Russian state media or people who echo those stories.
Putin has put out numerous false claims about Ukraine, at times claiming that ethnic Russians are persecuted or their children tortured by the Ukrainian government.
He also claimed that he, a far-right authoritarian leader, is going to “de-nazify” the country … a country whose democratically elected president is Jewish and lost family in the Holocaust.
Despite her choice in husband, many 90 Day Fiance fans are fond of Emily.
She affirmed that she is devasted for the Ukrainian people.
Emily also noted that she (currently living with Sasha in Russia) lives near where major anti-war protests have taken place.
To be fair, Sasha did delete his outrageous Story posts and put up a new one.
In the new post, he made it clear that he dislikes war in a very general sense, because it involves the suffering of innocents.
He then also declared that he would never speak against his country, putting him at odds with countless courageous Russians who are actively doing so.
Sasha also wrote that, in the vaguest possible sense, he believes that things will be better soon.
He doesn’t say what his desired outcome would be.
We will not put words in his mouth, but his answer does not express a desire for the sovereign nation of Ukraine to maintain its independence, unfortunately.
Sasha also parrots an all-too-common sentiment that everyone has an “opinion” and so it should never interfere in relationships.
Opinions are about things like pizza topings and music playlists.
Reacting to the moral horror of a totalitarian regime massacring the people of a neighboring nation at the whim of a dangerous lunatic isn’t an opinion, it’s just part of being a person.
In contrast, like others from Ukraine and like most of the 90 Day Fiance cast from Russia, Yara Zaya has used her platform to speak on the topic.
She gave an interview late last week, relaying what she has heard directly from friends and family who are desperate to flee, struggling to survive.
Our hearts continue to go out to all of the innocents who are suffering and dying in the path of the Russian advance.