Russia State TV Host Wonders if Invading Ukraine Was Such a Good Idea

Russian State TV host Vladimir Solovyov appeared to question whether invading Ukraine was in Russia's best interest.

BBC journalist Francis Scarr shared the video of Solovyov on his Twitter page on Wednesday and the clip has so far been viewed more than 40,000 times.

This apparent point of reflection from Solovyov comes as the war in Ukraine shows no signs of stopping.

"Surely Vladimir Solovyov isn't beginning to doubt whether the launch of the 'special military operation' was such a bright ideal after all?" Scarr wrote as a caption.

Newsweek has not been able to independently verify when Solovyov made these comments, however.

"Now on the issue of rationality. This is perhaps the most interesting issue," Solovyov said in the clip, according to the translation provided in the video.

"Soon it will be almost eight months since the operation started and…Well clearly it's not a special military operation at all any more.

"Clearly we are fighting NATO. Moreover, the full stature of NATO is present there.

"Its fighters are now there as well as everyone else. I'm not even talking about equipment, intelligence, it's all there.

"But were we able not to start it on 24 February after what we've seen happening?"

Scarr added in a follow-up tweet that Solovyov quickly went on to condemn Ukraine.

"Predictably, after a few seconds of soul searching, Solovyov goes on to say that 'there was no doubt at all that Ukraine had been seriously preparing for war.' So no change of heart then. Russia continues to be the victim."

A video of Solovyov once saying that a war with Ukraine, would be "the worst crime you could think of" has also recently gone viral.

The video from 2008 shows Solovyov speaking at the Moscow Arts Theatre and saying that there will never be a war between the two countries.

Scarr posted the video on his Twitter page on Wednesday and the the clip has so far been viewed more than 1 million times.

"In Ukraine, there live people who are absolutely fraternal in spirit, blood and common history, a war with whom would be the worst crime you could think of," Solovyov said.

"We don't need to shout, 'Sevastopol is ours.' We don't need to shout, 'Crimea is ours,'" he added, six years before Russia illegally annexed the Ukrainian peninsula. Sevastopol is a major Crimean port city on the Black Sea.

"We just need to make life in our country so attractive that Ukrainians, Belarusians, Moldovans, Armenians, Georgians—all of them want to live in peace with us and come to us," Solovyov said.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.