Russian TV propagandist claims British people are eating squirrels because of food shortages

9 March 2023, 11:53

A Russian TV show host and Kremlin propagandist has claimed that British restaurants will start serving squirrels because of food shortages in the UK.

Britain has suffered from a relatively low supply of some vegetables, like tomatoes and cucumbers. Some have blamed Brexit for the shortages, while others have pointed to a poor harvest in north Africa.

Few have linked the sight of bare shelves to the UK sending weapons to Ukraine to help fight off the Russian invasion.

But news of the vegetable shortages in Britain has reached Moscow, where a propagandist has implied a link with the UK's support for Ukraine.

Olga Skabeeva, host of the 60 Minutes talk show on Russian television, claimed this week that enterprising British restaurateurs were making use of the abundance of squirrels to fill the gap.

She said: "Today we realised that in the one-time Great Britain in some restaurants they will be serving squirrel, because there are lot of the animals in the parks.

"Why not eat them, given the food shortage?

"But [British people] are not backing down from the decision to help [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy, to supply weapons.

"That means, they are going to eat squirrels, but also send howitzers."

Ms Skabeeva's comments came in the week where Russia continued to bombard Ukraine, killing at least nine people overnight on Thursday morning with a series of missile strikes.

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The UK has supplied Ukraine with weapons including Challenger tanks, alongside several other NATO countries, like the USA and Germany.