Written by Timofei Sergeitsev in RIA Novosti, the editorial rhetoric – What Russia Should Do in Ukraine – is inflammatory, even by the standards of the Russian state media. He claims that the word “Ukraine” itself is synonymous with Nazism and should not be allowed to exist.
“Depersonalization is inevitable and de-Ukrainianization,” Sergeyev wrote, declaring that the idea of ​​Ukrainian culture and identity was false. A prominent scholar whose career has been spent studying the historical genocide said he felt sick reading the article – but was also convinced that the Kremlin was using it to justify the atrocities in Ukraine against the Russian people and army. “It’s just a clear, well-designed model of what is going to happen,” said Eugene Finkel, an associate professor in the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. “This article crossed the line between talking and thinking about invading as some sort of war crimes collection into something much more coordinated.” Bags containing the bodies of civilians who residents say were killed by Russian soldiers are seen in a cemetery after being collected from the streets of Bucha, in the Kiev region. (REUTERS / Zohra Bensemra)
When Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a military invasion of neighboring Ukraine on February 24, he justified the war by calling it a way of “demilitarizing” and “demilitarizing” the country – completely baseless propaganda. However, Sergeitsev’s article uses these words and goes much further, writing that Ukraine’s elite “must be cleared as retraining is impossible” and that “a significant part of the masses are passive Nazis and accomplices”, Russia’s punishment for Ukrainians people are justified. A former Canadian ambassador to Ukraine said his remarks were a matter of great concern, noting that the article was like a handbook for Russian soldiers. “It’s essentially a rhetoric of ‘permission to kill,’” said Roman Waschuk, who continues to work closely with the Zelensky government in Ukraine. “He says that if someone considers you a terrible Ukrainian, you can ‘walk away’ for good.” CLOCKS Ukrainian lawmaker calls on West to end Russia’s “inhumane” tactics

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The article was published on April 3, the same day that the bodies of at least dozens of civilians were found in the Bucha suburb of Kiev after the withdrawal of Russian forces.
Many of the bodies showed signs of torture or had their hands tied when they were killed. Eyewitnesssmall told the media that the civilians were executed by Russian soldiers during almost a month of occupation. Many world leaders have accused the Russian military of war crimes. including the Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Enoughand they want Putin to be investigated as a war criminal.

“Nothing is published without permission”

The key question, of course, is whether the article directs the Kremlin’s real policy toward Ukraine – or whether the author was trying to push the Russian leadership in that direction. While Russian state media sources are notorious for outrageous allegations, RIA Novosti is considered to be particularly close to the Kremlin and often tries to reflect official thinking, Finkel said. “Here we are talking about an official state news agency and nothing is published without the above permission.” Washcuk says he believes there is ample evidence that Russia intends to eliminate as many prominent Ukrainian leaders as possible. View of a dragon with the depiction of Russian President Vladimir Putin in his mouth on a lake in Helsinge, Denmark. Some world leaders have suggested that Putin be tried as a war criminal. (Mads Claus Rasmussen via REUTERS)
“Western intelligence services said in January that Russia was compiling lists of assassinations and arrests of people they considered hostile to their cause and too Ukrainian,” he said. “This [editorial] it just says the quiet part out loud. “ Other Russian media observers have suggested that while the main article was certainly published with the consent of the Kremlin leadership, it is not necessarily so. “It’s not the Kremlin’s official line,” said Kirill Martynov, deputy editor of Novaya Gazeta, Russia’s best-known independent media outlet.

Justification for an unjust war

Martinov fled Russia in the days following the invasion due to a government crackdown on independent media. He now works from Riga, Latvia. Martynov said he suspected the author of the article had been asked by the publisher to provide some justification for what was happening in Ukraine – and this article is what he concluded, reflecting the generally ad hoc nature of the invasion since it began almost six weeks ago. before. “They [the Kremlin] “They started the war for no reason and then came up with a fantastic explanation for why it’s necessary. The longer the war goes on, the more fantastic the explanations they will give,” Martynov told CBC News. Sergeitsev, the author of the editorial, has in the past written other extreme pieces about Ukraine for the same edition and has appeared as an expert on Russian state television, but is not known in Russia. People react as they gather near a mass grave in the city of Bukha, northwest of the Ukrainian capital Kiev on Sunday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of committing “genocide” and of trying to exterminate “the entire nation” of Ukraine. (Sergei Supinsky / AFP / Getty Images)
Martinov said it was impossible to know how much of an impact an individual article like this would have on the Russian population, given Ukraine’s continued demonization of the state media and that other sources of information about the war were banned. The Levada Institute, arguably Russia’s most trusted pollster, mentionted One week after the start of the war, Putin’s approval rating jumped to 83 percent, but Martinov warns that we should read too much. “It’s a complicated poll story in a totalitarian regime,” he said. “People are pretending [in order] to keep their families and workplaces safe. “ Since Russian bombs and artillery began demolishing cities such as Mariupol and Chernihiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russian forces of “genocide”, which he reiterated on Monday in the aftermath of the . He said Russia was trying to eliminate “the whole nation” of Ukraine. Putin meets with Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov in the Moscow Kremlin. (Mikhail Klimentiev / Kremlin via REUTERS)
But Finkel, the genocide scholar, said he is usually extremely reluctant to use the term, as it is very difficult to prove. “His definition [genocide] “These are acts committed with the intention of destroying a moral, racial or ethnic group,” he said. “There is a tendency to call genocide what we do not like. “But there is a criterion that is quite difficult to prove: you have to prove the intention, which is almost impossible to do.” However, Finkel says articles like this on RIA Novosti, along with speeches denying Ukrainian identity made by Vladimir Putin and former president Dmitry Medvedev indicate a pattern of behavior and, most likely, show intent. It may not be clear commands from above, ‘Kill these people,’ but the combination of state rhetoric and the actions of the soldiers on the ground makes me think that [this is] not only some units that lose moral discipline – it is bigger than that “. For Ukrainians, the possible ratification of the Russian agenda may not have a very direct impact on the way the war is unfolding or even on the military assistance provided by Western nations. But Waschuk says it will certainly make negotiations with Russia more difficult. “It means that it is much more difficult to come up with some temporary peace proposals,” the former ambassador said. “The assassination of Butsa is an emotional barrier and makes it more difficult for Western countries to pressure Ukraine to end this war.”