Russian TV can be a terrifying place at the best of times, and now even the daytime programmes are taking more of a turn for the dystopian.
A clip from daytime programming in the country has been shared online and shows the dangerous messaging being spread amid Vladimir Putin’s ongoing illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Francis Scarr from BBC Monitoring posted a clip on Twitter, writing: “In many countries, daytime TV consists of anodyne cookery or travel shows.
“Meanwhile in Russia, they’re discussing whether Ukrainians can be "re-educated" or need to be ‘eliminated’”.
\u201cIn many countries, daytime TV consists of anodyne cookery or travel shows\n\nMeanwhile in Russia, they\u2019re discussing whether Ukrainians can be "re-educated" or need to be "eliminated"\u201d— Francis Scarr (@Francis Scarr) 1673445625
The footage shows presenters and pundits from state TV discussing how it was time for the country to “switch to clearer and more specific wording with regards to Ukrainians…”
The presenter in the footage then says: “We don’t have enemies. We don’t have the kind of hatred towards Ukrainians. We call them ‘adversaries’, we consider them to be a fraternal nation.”
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Daniil Bezsonov, a senior Moscow proxy official in Russian-occupied Donetsk, then spoke about Ukrainians, saying: “The ones who’ve taken up arms and come to kill us, they’re enemies, simple as that! And those who are fighting with a gun or is persecuting our Russian people… There are different types of guns. Words are also guns in this situation.”
Another person in the studio then ominously asked the question: “Should enemies be eliminated or re-educated?”
To which Bezsonov replied: “Strictly eliminated. The enemy’s children can be re-educated, but the enemy himself must be eliminated.”
It’s the latest chilling message to emerge from Russian state TV as the conflict continues.
Russian forces are now “moving over their own corpses” as casualties mount following weeks of intense fighting in eastern Donetsk. The battlefield in salt mining town Soledar is covered with bodies as Ukrainian troops hold out their positions despite waves of Russian attacks.
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