Russian State TV Boss Says Drown Ukrainian Children, Burn Families Alive

A Russian state TV host and his guest engaged in an exchange where the two discussed drowning, raping, and burning Ukrainians.

In a video uploaded to Twitter on Sunday by Russian Media Monitor creator Julia Davis, RT director of broadcasting Anton Krasovsky and writer Sergei Lukayanenko dehumanized Ukrainians and casually discussed raping and killing them.

The conversation led Kings College London visiting professor of defense studies, Michael Clarke, to say it was an example of "the complete moral degeneracy" in Russian President Vladimir Putin's Russia.

Clarke told Newsweek: "There are lots of these exchanges across the three main state-controlled channels. This one is only unusual in the severity of its racist spite. The fact that RT's director of broadcasting is making most of the comments is significant as the authority he carries with the network indicates that RT is not just giving airtime to some random outrageous racist but is aligning itself with the sentiments."

During the exchange, Lukyanenko mentioned stories about Viagra packs being handed out to Russian soldiers as an example of "hysteria" and "sick fantasies."

However, Krasovsky interjected and said: "For them to rape Ukrainian grannies. Gawd, those grannies would spend their burial savings to get raped by Russian soldiers."

Since being shared to Twitter by Davis, also a columnist for The Daily Beast, the video has been viewed more than 1 million times.

Meanwhile, a United Nations report in September found that some Russian soldiers had committed acts of violence against Ukrainians, including instances of rape and torture.

The report said: "There are examples of cases where relatives were forced to witness the crimes. In the cases we have investigated, the age of victims of sexual and gendered-based violence ranged from four to 82 years."

The offensive remarks, including racial slurs about Ukrainians, continued after Lukyanenko said he had previously been to the country in the 1980s where children there had told him they were being occupied by Russia.

Krasovsky responded: "Whoever says that Moskals (a now-slur for Russian) occupied them, you throw them in the river with a strong undercurrent."

He then lashed out about the supposed conditions of homes in a mountain range in Western Ukraine before adding that Ukrainians should be killed inside of them.

"Over there every piece of s*** little house, there are masses of awful, monstrous little houses. They s*** all over the Carpathian Mountains. [The] Carpathian Mountains are disgusting…Shove them right into those huts and burn them up," Krasovsky said.

Krasovsky then said that Ukraine is "not supposed to exist at all" and asked whether it should "remain on the map of the world."

Lukyanenko replied: "Yes, because I wouldn't want to live in the same country with many of the people who will remain there. So, we will shoot them."

Clarke told Newsweek that he believed the comments would be "almost entirely negative to Russia's general campaign."

While he said the comments would make little difference to those who shared racist and genocidal beliefs in the country, Clarke said that most Russians would find the comments revolting.

"Most Russians are certainly not barbaric like this and appear to be increasingly disturbed at the way the country is now prosecuting the war, not just on the Ukrainian leadership but on the kith and kin of a fellow Slavic country," Clarke said. "In the outside world then I suspect it will go viral...since Krasovsky's view is like an honest cypher for what we suspect is now in Putin's twisted image of the issue."

He continued: "His role in RT cannot help but reflect on what the Kremlin wants to hear. If he said something even half that offensive about Russian soldiers or other Russian people, he would have long since been arrested. It's a good example, I guess, of the complete moral degeneracy in Putin's Russia. That is not the real Russia. But it is the official Russia for the time being."

Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for comment.

Other Instances of Russian State TV Speaking Negatively About Ukraine

There have been numerous cases where Russian state TV has appeared to prime audiences with increasingly aggressive talking points about Ukrainians and the war itself.

Earlier this month, television host Olga Skabeeva told viewers that Russia would continue to rain down missiles on Ukraine despite objections from "Western leaders."

Last month, Skabeeva said Russia would use nuclear weapons if it felt the country was under threat of being destroyed.