Russian TV Pundit Admits Elites Are Worried About Repercussions After War

A Kremlin propagandist has said that Russia's elite should not fear facing a trial in The Hague over Moscow's actions in Ukraine.

Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the TV network RT, which pushes the Kremlin line, justified the continued Russian bombing of Ukraine as "the only thing we can do in this situation."

She told Russia-1 anchor Vladimir Solovyov, "God knows we didn't want this," as she referred to the other pundits and those in power.

She also suggested that Russian actions were needed given that Ukraine was "getting ready to seize our Crimea" —the peninsula Moscow annexed in 2014.

"We are kind, polite and at times meek," she said, taking aim at those "in very high circles who are afraid to call things as they are because of what people there may think."

"We shouldn't care less about what they will think over there," she said, before going on to explain what she meant by "over there."

"People who are afraid of The Hague" should instead be afraid, "of losing, of being humiliated and betraying your people."

In the event of a Russian defeat in Ukraine, she believed that everyone would be culpable in The Hague's eyes, including the "street cleaner who sweeps the cobblestones behind the Kremlin."

"If you are afraid of The Hague, stay out of the forest," she said, prompting Solovyov to muse on the consequences of a Russian military defeat.

"If this happens, there won't be anything at all," Solovyov said, adding that this is because the whole world "will be turned into ashes." Solovyov and his fellow guests have repeatedly described how Russia can use nuclear weapons against countries in the West that have supported Kyiv.

The exchange was tweeted by journalist and Russia watcher Julia Davis, who wrote: "Meanwhile in Russia: top propagandists and their friends in high places are getting worried about the possibility of losing the war to Ukraine and being tried at the Hague."

Last week, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack accused Russia of "systemic" war crimes which were being conducted with the knowledge and backing of the highest levels of the Kremlin.

Van Schaack told a U.S. State Department briefing that there was extensive evidence collected by nongovernmental organizations, the media and dedicated war crimes investigators.

She said the evidence pointed to war crimes "committed in every region where Russia's forces have been deployed," which included attacks against the civilian population, civilian infrastructure and abuses of civilians and prisoners.

The Kremlin, which Newsweek has contacted for comment, has denied it targets civilians and rejected accusations of war crimes.

David Crane, the founding chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, an international war-crimes tribunal, told Newsweek in September that he expected there to be a legal action against Russia regarding war crimes and crimes against humanity "within 12 months."

However, Crane, scholar in residence at Syracuse University College of Law, New York, said that as well as war crimes, Moscow should also be prosecuted for the crime of aggression.

"The whole purpose of the United Nations is to settle disputes peacefully, and resort to force only as a last resort and Russian aggression is completely an affront to the United Nations paradigm."