After presenter Anton Krasovsky said that Ukrainian children should have been drowned, Ukraine's foreign minister demanded a global ban on the Russian RT news channel.
After a few hours, Margarita Simonyan, the channel's editor-in-chief, announced that she had suspended Anton Krasovsky as a result of his "disgusting" remarks, adding that no one at RT agreed with him.
EU sanctions have been placed on Krasovsky, a pro-war commentator on Russian television. Krasovsky suggested that children who criticized Russia should have been "thrown straight into a river with a strong current" on his show that aired last week.
He was commenting on a story by Russian science fiction writer Sergei Lukyanenko who said that children in Ukraine informed him they would have better lives if Moscow hadn't occupied their nation in the 1980s during his first visit there.
"They should have been drowned in the Tysyna (river)," Krasovsky replied. "Just drown those children, drown them." He added that they could also be burned after being forced into huts.
In a brief excerpt of the interview posted on social media, Krasovsky also made fun of claims that Russian invaders had sexually assaulted elderly Ukrainian ladies.
"Governments which still have not banned RT must watch this excerpt. This is what you side with if you allow RT to operate in your countries. Aggressive genocide incitement, which has nothing to do with freedom of speech. Ban RT worldwide," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted. Krasovsky should be sued for his remarks, according to Kuleba.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the order for soldiers to invade Ukraine, RT America's operations were permanently suspended in March. The Kremlin has a strong grip on Russian state television, which has actively supported its invasion of Ukraine. Presenters frequently refuted allegations of Russian war crimes, and many of them seized the opportunity to urge Putin to approach the invasion with even greater vigor.
"For the children of Ukraine, as well as the children of Donbas, and all other children, I wish that all this ends as soon as possible, and they can live and study in peace again - in the language they consider native." Simonyan continued in a statement posted on the RT website.
RT is a state-run, foreign news channel that is supported by the Russian government. Additionally, to running pay television and free-to-air channels aimed at viewers outside of Russia, it also offers online content in the following languages: Russian, English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, and Pay TV.
