Tranquillus in Exile
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An editorial by Timofei Sergeitsev in RIA Novosti, "What Russia should do with Ukraine", is inflammatory even by the usual Russian state media standards. It claims the word "Ukraine" itself is synonymous with Nazism and cannot be allowed to exist.
"Denazification is inevitably also De-Ukrainianization," Sergeitsev writes, saying that the idea of Ukrainian culture and identity is fake.
When Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, he justified the war by characterizing it as a way to "demilitarize" and "denazify" the country. Sergeitsev's editorial seizes on those words and takes them much further, writing that Ukraine's elite "must be liquidated as re-education is impossible", and "as a significant part of the masses are passive Nazis and accomplices", Russian punishment of the Ukrainian people is justified.
The key question is whether the editorial is channelling actual Kremlin policy on Ukraine — or whether the author is trying to push Russia's leadership in that direction. While Russian state media are notorious for making outrageous claims, RIA Novosti is seen as being especially close to the Kremlin and often attempts to reflect the official thinking,
Roman Waschuk, a former Canadian ambassador to Ukraine, says he believes there's been ample evidence to suggest Russia's intention is to eliminate as many prominent Ukrainian leaders as possible.
"Western intelligence agencies were saying in January that Russia was drawing up kill lists of people they saw as inimical to their cause and overly Ukrainian," he said. "This editorial is just saying the quiet part out loud."
Other Kremlin watchers suggest that while it's certainly possible the editorial was published with the consent of the Kremlin, it's not necessarily the case.
Kirill Martynov, deputy editor of Novaya Gazeta, who left Russia after the invasion because of the government crackdown on independent media, said it's impossible to know how much impact an editorial such as this has on the Russian population, given the constant demonizing of Ukraine in the state media and that other sources of information about the war are banned.
Eugene Finkel, a prominent scholar of historical genocides, says articles such as this, along with speeches denying Ukrainian identity by Vladimir Putin and former president Dmitri Medvedev, do point to a pattern of behaviour and, likely, show intent.
"It might not be clear orders from above, 'kill those people,' but the combination of rhetoric and the actions of soldiers on the ground makes me think that this is not just some units that lost discipline — it's bigger than that."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/kremlin-editorial-ukraine-identity-1.6407921
"Denazification is inevitably also De-Ukrainianization," Sergeitsev writes, saying that the idea of Ukrainian culture and identity is fake.
When Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, he justified the war by characterizing it as a way to "demilitarize" and "denazify" the country. Sergeitsev's editorial seizes on those words and takes them much further, writing that Ukraine's elite "must be liquidated as re-education is impossible", and "as a significant part of the masses are passive Nazis and accomplices", Russian punishment of the Ukrainian people is justified.
The key question is whether the editorial is channelling actual Kremlin policy on Ukraine — or whether the author is trying to push Russia's leadership in that direction. While Russian state media are notorious for making outrageous claims, RIA Novosti is seen as being especially close to the Kremlin and often attempts to reflect the official thinking,
Roman Waschuk, a former Canadian ambassador to Ukraine, says he believes there's been ample evidence to suggest Russia's intention is to eliminate as many prominent Ukrainian leaders as possible.
"Western intelligence agencies were saying in January that Russia was drawing up kill lists of people they saw as inimical to their cause and overly Ukrainian," he said. "This editorial is just saying the quiet part out loud."
Other Kremlin watchers suggest that while it's certainly possible the editorial was published with the consent of the Kremlin, it's not necessarily the case.
Kirill Martynov, deputy editor of Novaya Gazeta, who left Russia after the invasion because of the government crackdown on independent media, said it's impossible to know how much impact an editorial such as this has on the Russian population, given the constant demonizing of Ukraine in the state media and that other sources of information about the war are banned.
Eugene Finkel, a prominent scholar of historical genocides, says articles such as this, along with speeches denying Ukrainian identity by Vladimir Putin and former president Dmitri Medvedev, do point to a pattern of behaviour and, likely, show intent.
"It might not be clear orders from above, 'kill those people,' but the combination of rhetoric and the actions of soldiers on the ground makes me think that this is not just some units that lost discipline — it's bigger than that."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/kremlin-editorial-ukraine-identity-1.6407921