‘Inciting genocide’: Kiev urges ban on Russian RT after calls for Ukrainian children to drown

Kiev has called for a ban on Russian state-controlled RT media after Anchor called for Ukrainian children to drown.

RT News (Russia Today) app can be seen on a smartphone in this illustration, taken on February 27, 2022 (Image: Reuters)

By India Today Web Desk: Ukraine called the Russian state-controlled RT media outlet an instigator of genocide and called for a ban on Sunday after one of its commentators called for Ukrainian children to be drowned because they viewed Russians as occupiers under the Soviet Union. RT has come under intense scrutiny for its coverage of the ongoing crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

RT host Anton Krasovsky said on a show broadcast last week that children who criticized Russia should have been “thrown” directly into a river with a strong current. He had contact with the Russian science fiction writer Sergei Lukyanenko.

“They should have drowned in the Tysyna (river),” Krasovsky intervened. “Just get those kids down, drown them.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for a global ban on Russian RT, saying: “Governments that have still not banned RT should watch this excerpt.”

“This is what you are broadly doing if you have RT operating in your countries. Aggressive genocide incitement (we will try this person for that), which has nothing to do with free speech. Ban RT worldwide!”

Krasovsky is a pro-war commentator on Russian television who has been sanctioned by the European Union. Another part of the interview showed that Krasovsky also laughed at reports that Russian soldiers raped older Ukrainian women during the invasion.

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RT America permanently halted operations in March after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to invade Ukraine.

Russian state television, heavily controlled by the Kremlin, has been a vocal cheerleader of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Presenters have routinely rejected reports of Russian war crimes, and many have used airtime to urge Putin to approach the invasion even more aggressively.

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(With input from Reuters)