US media has cited comments by Margarita Simonyan, the head of key Russian state media operations, calling Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion “collective insanity” and describing Ukrainians as Nazis with a “bestial nature:” According to the Washington Post report.
April 13,2022 RIGA, Latvia — After a month of fighting, the architects of Moscow’s war against Ukraine had to explain to Russians why Kyiv had not fallen. That’s when the most menacing rhetoric began. On state television, a military analyst doubled down on Russia’s need to win and called for concentration camps for Ukrainians opposed to the invasion. Two days later, the head of the defense committee in the lower house of parliament said it would take 30 to 40 years to “reeducate” Ukrainians. And on a talk show, the editor in chief of the English-language television news network RT described Ukrainians’ determination to defend their country as “collective insanity.” “It’s no accident we call them Nazis,” said Margarita Simonyan, who also heads the Kremlin-backed media group that operates the Sputnik and RIA Novosti news agencies. “What makes you a Nazi is your bestial nature, your bestial hatred and your bestial willingness to teart the eyes of children on the basis of nationality.
Read the rest here.
The Global Influence Operations Report (GIOR) reporting on Margarita Simonyan has included:
- In March, we reported that Simonyan’s TikTok account was still accessible in Europe despite various EU bans.
- In February, we reported that Simonyan, described as RT’s editor-in-chief and “a central figure” of Russian propaganda, was among those sanctioned by the EU in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- In July 2021, we reported on claims by Simonyan that she was personally helping multiple foreign families hoping to relocate to Russia to escape that their children were being taught in their schools.
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