Russian TV Calls for Hangings of Ukrainians in Occupied Cities

As Russia ramps up its assault on Ukraine, some pundits on Russian state television have advocated implementing hangings by court-martial in the country if Russia is successful in establishing control.

Speaking on Russia-1, a state-owned Russian television channel, one expert cited Russian President Vladimir Putin's "special military operation" in Ukraine that began on February 24.

The pundit, whose identity was unclear, repeated the Kremlin's line that the invasion launched by Putin is a "special military operation" to disarm Ukraine and detain leaders it claims are neo-Nazis. Ukraine and the West say this is a false pretext used in an attempt to justify the invasion.

"I would restore the death penalty by hanging through military tribunal," he said, noting that he believes some in Ukraine pose a danger to Russians.

"There are people in Ukraine who threaten Russian citizens and create a threat for us," he claimed.

"In my view, this is of utmost importance," he said.

According to The Daily Beast columnist Julia Davis, other pundits later agreed, while one of them noted that the constitution of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) conveniently permits the death penalty.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.

Ukraine abolished the death penalty more than two decades ago.

The pundit's remarks come as Russia's invasion of Ukraine enters day 19, and as peace talks between Russia and Ukraine continue on Monday.

On March 3, a European intelligence official told Bloomberg that Russia's intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service, has drafted plans for public executions in Ukraine after cities are captured.

The agency is also planning a wider crackdown on protests by pushing violent crowd control measures, and detaining protest organizers as part of efforts to break Ukrainian morale, Bloomberg's Kitty Donaldson reported.

Newsweek was unable to independently verify the reports.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on March 8 that the goal of Moscow's "special military operation" in Ukraine is to prevent a war there.

"The goal of Russia's special military operation is to stop any war that could take place on Ukrainian territory or that could start from there," the foreign minister said in a statement, according to Britain's Russian Embassy.

Putin has said that he wants to achieve the "demilitarization" and the "denazification" of Ukraine, although Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish.

"Its goal is to protect people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide... for the last eight years," Putin said during an address on state television, shortly after he announced Russian troops would invade Ukraine.

A fresh round of talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials are taking place by video conference on Monday. Previous negotiations were held face-to-face on the Belarusian border.

Follow our live blog for updates on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.