Russian TV Pundit Calls For Ukraine To Be Erased From Map

A political scientist and a guest on Russian state TV agreed that Ukraine should be erased from the map as the pair reflected on the ongoing conflict in Russia's neighbour.

Political scientist Rotislav Ischenko told TV host Sergey Mardan that in addition to Ukraine disappearing, the memory of the nation should also be erased.

Mardan agreed and also claimed that Russia is an empire and would occasionally need to experience conflict like empires of the past.

A clip of their exchange has gone viral on Twitter since being posted on social media by the Daily Beast's Julia Davis on Sunday. The clip has been viewed more than 100,000 times.

"Meanwhile in Russia: The host and his guest concur that Ukraine should be erased off the map and even the memory that it existed should be destroyed," she wrote as a caption.

"The host says that Russia will always be an empire and being in a state of war is only natural for any empire of Russia's size."

Mardan began the conversation by comparing comments made by Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov and Vladimir Putin's Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov.

"Dmitry Peskov said that the overthrow of the current government in Kyiv is not one of the goals of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine," host Mardan said.

"Today, Sergey Lavrov said that the Ukrainian people will be freed of their neo-Nazi rulers.

"Who are you for, Peskov, Lavrov, or for Ukraine being erased from the map of the world?"

Ishchenko replied: "From my point of view, as long as Ukraine continues to exist in any state, the threat to Russia will also continue to exist.

"Clearly, Ukraine is not the only one posing a threat but Ukraine is a direct, constant threat.

"You can deal with Hungarians, Poles, Americans, Mexicans or anybody else, even with penguins in the Antarctic but you can't agree on anything with Russian people who call themselves Ukrainians.

"On the basis of rejecting everything that is Russian, this is an eschatological enemy.

"Therefore, in my opinion, I don't know whether or not it will remain. This is a problem not only in terms of the military actions in Ukraine, this is a problem of global politics.

"I believe that all efforts should be devoted to making sure that there is not even a memory left of it."

Mardan said that he agreed before calling for the war with Ukraine to continue and saying that Russia is an empire.

The host added: "An empire of such a size, and Russia is an empire, at its core, by its structure, Russia was, is and can only be an empire.

"An empire is always a military nation and a military nation has to fight from time to time. It has to bring into submission or pacify the barbarians that it is surrounded by.

"Right now, the barbarians are on our Western borders, a difficult campaign against barbarians is underway."

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.