The former chief executive of the Formula 1 Group and billionaire Bernard Ecclestone said he would “take a bullet” for Putin last summer.
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“Unfortunately he’s like a lot of business people, certainly like me, that we make mistakes from time to time and when you make the mistake, you have to do the best you can to get out of it,” Ecclestone told Good Morning Britain in June 2022.
Ecclestone also criticized Zelenskyy and argued that the Ukrainian leader wasn’t making a “big enough effort” to discuss a peace plan and described Putin as a “sensible person.”
“The other person in Ukraine, his profession I understand, used to be a comedian, and I think it seems that he wants to continue that profession,” Ecclestone said of Zelenskyy.
After his comments prompted a backlash, Ecclestone apologized, telling Sky Sports: “Often people, I think, come out and say things or do things without really too much thinking. Probably I did the same, and I can understand people thinking I’m defending what he’s done in Ukraine, which I don’t.”
He added: “I was brought up during the war, the last war, so I know what it’s like. And I feel sorry for the people in Ukraine having to suffer for something they haven’t done. They’ve done nothing wrong.”
Source: Sky News
