The Russian television network RT (former Russia Today) suspended one of its presenters on Sunday for advocating in a program to "drown or burn" Ukrainian children who saw Soviet Russia as an occupier in the 1980s.
The scandal began after Anton Krasovski made his comments on a program broadcast on Thursday. His words caused widespread outrage over the weekend and the network's director, Margarita Simonián, decided to remove the journalist.
"Antón Krasovski's statements are savage and disgusting. Perhaps Antón will explain what kind of temporary madness caused him and how it came to his tongue. It is hard to believe that Krasovski really believed that it was necessary to drown children," Simonián wrote on his channel. from Telegram.
The director of RT emphasized that the television channel team cannot share that opinion, and that the children of Ukraine and Donbass want "all this to end as soon as possible (...) so that they can return to live in peace and learn, in the language they consider native".
Krasovski made these statements during the interview he did with science fiction and fantasy writer Sergei Lukiánenko, broadcast on October 20, on his program Antonimi (Antonyms). The guest on the program said that in the 1980s Ukrainian children told him that "Ukraine is occupied by Muscovites. If it were not for Muscovites, they would live like in France."
The interviewer replied that "they should have been directly drowned."
And in response to Lukianenko's observation that "in Russia flogging was used for this purpose", Krasovski suggested "beating" children in the pine houses of Trascarpathia and "burning them directly". He also proposed to "shoot" the remaining residents of Ukraine.
Following those words, Kyiv called for a global ban on RT. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuleba accused the Kremlin-controlled channel of "aggressive incitement to genocide."
"Governments that have not yet banned RT should see this excerpt. This is what you agree to if you allow RT to operate in your countries. Aggressive incitement to genocide (we are going to put this person on trial for this), which It has nothing to do with freedom of expression. Ban RT worldwide!" the head of Ukrainian diplomacy wrote on Twitter.
After the outrage caused, the presenter apologized this Monday, assuring that "he got carried away live".
"I apologize to all those who were scared, I apologize to Margarita (Simonián), to all those who thought (that the comments) are wild. I hope you forgive me," he wrote on the VKontakte social network.
But this explanation is late. This Monday the director of the Russian Instruction Committee, Alexánder Bastrikin, ordered to open an investigation into Krasovski's words.
