Cypriot member of the European parliament Fidias Panayiotou was eviscerated in an interview over the matter of the ongoing war in Ukraine by British journalist Caolan Robertson.

Robertson, who lives in Ukraine, challenged Panayiotou on his stance on the ongoing conflict, describing him as a “Russian asset” in a heated half-hour back-and-forth.

The interview began with Robertson saying he had spoken to various people who had raised concerns regarding Fidias’ stance over Russia, with Fidias responding that Robertson had interviewed “the two people that I consider my biggest haters in Cyprus”.

Panayiotou then asked Robertson what evidence he had to substantiate his assertion that he is a Russian asset, with Roberson replying that “the evidence is what you post on your feed that gets millions of views and is shared by pro-Kremlin accounts”.

“That makes you an asset to Russia,” he added, before going on to say, “the evidence is what you posted on your feed which is anti-Ukraine, which is Kremlin propaganda”.

He then asked Panayiotou who paid for his recent trip to Moscow, with Panayiotou replying that he had paid for the trip himself, before the conversation veered off into an argument over whether he had gone to the country’s Victory Day celebrations on May 9.

In his initial video about the matter, Panayiotou had asserted that he did not attend the parade, and he maintained this position during the interview, telling Robertson that “you have a lot of wrong information” when challenged.

“You are posting misinformation, propaganda … I didn’t go to the military parade, I’m telling you. Do you have any evidence? Do you have any evidence that I’m paid by Russia? You don’t!” he said.

Robertson responded, “I didn’t say you were paid by Russia, I said you’re an asset to Russia, which you are, and you propagate Kremlin lines from … a seat in democracy in Europe”, before asking Panayiotou, “why did you use your own money to go to Moscow during Victory Day celebrations?”

In response, Panayiotou referenced the Cyprus problem, saying, “Turkey invaded my country 50 years ago … so it’s a similar situation, what’s happening, so … with Turkey, we’re trying to solve the Cyprus problem with talks, trying to make communication with the other side and to find compromise to solve the problem”.

Robertson then interjected, asking, “why haven’t you gone to Ukraine?”, with Panayiotou responding, “wait, mastre”, the Cypriot Greek for “boss”, before adding, “we should try to stop the war now, we should try to have diplomacy”.

Panayiotou then said he was “enjoying this”, to which Robertson responded that “you brought this entire institution into disrepute”, before Fidias followed on that “this is beautiful because this is democracy”.

Robertson then said, “you have no interest in democracy”, adding, “you shill for Russia, who jail journalists, who throw everybody who criticises the state in prison, who have phony elections”.

Later in the interview, Robertson asked Panayiotou whether, in light of his trip to Moscow, he had any plans to visit Ukraine.

Panayiotou said he wants to go, with Robertson responding, “why haven’t you? It’s been three and a half years” since Russia invaded the country. Panayiotou said he was “looking into” the prospect with some of his colleagues at the European parliament.

“You seem so interested in Ukraine. You seem to talk constantly about Ukraine and Ukrainian politics, about Russian-speaking people. You haven’t been, why?” Robertson then asked, before adding, “I don’t think you have any interest in going to Ukraine because you would have done it by now”.

“You talk endlessly, negative sh*t about Ukraine, and you haven’t been,” he said.

Panayiotou’s response was that “I consider that I love the Ukrainian people, and that they also want to end this war as soon as possible”.

Robertson then told him that “the Ukrainian people are disgusted by your content”, asking him, “does that surprise you?”

“You know, I spoke with a lot of Ukrainian people about my content, and they are not disgusted,” Panayiotou responded, with Robertson telling him that Ukrainians are “overwhelmingly disgusted … at all levels of society”.

“I know because I live there and I asked about it all the time,” he added.

Robertson then highlighted comments made by Panayiotou calling for Russian-speaking areas in Ukraine to have referendums to determine whether they should remain part of Ukraine, and said that in those videos, Panayiotou had “quoted fake referendums that are done at gunpoint”.

Panayiotou insisted that there is “more than meets the eye” to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying that Ukraine’s ambition to join Nato was seen by Russia as an “existential threat”.

“This, I believe, is a United States war, that they started it, that they provoked it,” he added.

Robertson said that “this is Kremlin garbage”, with Panayiotou saying that “having the same opinion on some stuff that the Kremlin has doesn’t”, before tailing off and saying, “you are able to believe whatever you want here”.

The conversation then turned to the matter of a European parliament vote on a resolution regarding what was described as “the forced transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children, their illegal adoption, their assassination” in the resolution, and what Robertson referred to as “kidnappings”.

Panayiotou was one of 34 MEPs to abstain on the resolution, with 516 having voted in its favour and three having voted against.

Explaining his abstention, Panayiotou said that of the informational documents provided to MEPs on the matter, “one was from [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskiy, it was the website that Zelenskiy created”, and that the second was from Yale University, based on a study which he said former United States President Joe Biden’s administration had funded.

“I thought, I think, that they exaggerate the situation, but with the data that I had, I went and voted against, but then … after only four people voted against this … I went, as we have the right as MEPs, to go and change our vote. So, I went and voted abstention,” he said, before asking Robertson whether all 34 MEPs are Russian assets.

Asked why, if he believes the Ukrainian children should be returned to Ukraine, he did not vote in that direction, he said he thought the information available to him at the time “maybe was biased”.

He then suggested that “some of the kids there might want to be…” before Robertson interjected again.

“What are you talking about? What do you mean they want to be? They are children who were kidnapped by Russia. What do you mean they want to be? What on earth are you talking about?”

Panayiotou began responding, before Robertson rephrased his questions.

“Where did you get that from? What children want to be returned, want to stay in Russia, and how do you even know that?”

Panayiotou said there are “some children who are happy being there”.

“How do you know, out of these 20,000 children, that every one of them wants to return? That they are not happy there?” he asked.

Robertson described this line of questioning as “ludicrous”.

“It is ludicrous that you would say that children who have been kidnapped from their homes, homes that have been bombed, want to be with their kidnappers … This is one of the most insidious things I have ever heard from someone,” he said.

“What the f*ck are you talking about? You actually believe this. It’s actually an evil thing to believe and I have spoken to children who have been relocated back to Ukraine and they were devastated. They had their identities erased, and you justify it by saying some of them speak Russian.”

He was then asked whether he will “continue making anti-Ukraine propaganda and pro-Russian propaganda for the next few months”, Panayiotou replied, “I will do whatever I want”.

“That is what my mandate is. I will exercise my mandate however I believe is good,” he added.