WATCH: Sky News Stops Interview With Russian Diplomat Over Mention of Zelensky Posting SS Symbol

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy had his interview with Sky News cut short after saying that Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky posted a photo of a soldier with SS insignia on social media.

Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian president posted his Victory Day statement together with a collection of photos of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, one of whom had a symbol of the Totenkopf division of the SS. That image was later deleted.

"Do you know what it is? It's an emblem of a German SS division in the Second World War. So he published on the Victory Day an emblem of a fighter of Right Sector [banned in Russia] with this emblem, saying that this is a symbol of [the] fight against Nazism as he sees it," Polyanskiy said.

The host tried to interrupt the diplomat, who in turn asked not to do that.

"This was deleted after half an hour but, of course, we have a copy of this... It means that [the] UK now is covering Ukrainian authorities, which display Nazi symbols during the Victory Day," Polyanskiy added, after which the host interrupted the diplomat saying the latter had run out of time.

Incredible—Sky News host asks Russian Deputy UN Rep Dmitry Polyanskiy about the British Defense Secretary comparing Russian troops to nazis, then CUTS HIM OFF after he pulls out a tablet and shows the audience Zelensky’s Instagram post of an SS totenkopf-wearing Ukrainian soldier pic.twitter.com/gYKhTkANtt

— Wyatt Reed (@wyattreed13) May 9, 2022

Polyanskiy later described the exchange on Telegram, saying "and there you have it, the famous freedom of speech in the West."

"Now they think 100 times before inviting Russian diplomats on live broadcast," he concluded.

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian provocations. The stated goal of the Russian operation is to demilitarize and "de-Nazify" Ukraine.