Calls for the further occupation of various regions of Ukraine are regularly broadcast on Russian television airs. These calls are usually combined with inciting enmity against Ukrainians. Such actions are a criminal offense according to Article 110 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
To incite hatred combined with calls for an aggressive war, the Russian propagandists use the following narratives:
- Ukrainians as a separate nation do not exist, therefore the territory of Ukraine must be annexed to the Russian Federation, and all Ukrainians must be forced to recognize themselves as Russians;
- Ukrainians are, in fact, Little Russians (Malorossy), who compose an integral part of the Russian people, and they live on the “original Russian land”, therefore it is necessary to “return the Little Russians” together with the territory to their “historical family”;
- Ukrainians are extremely dangerous and bloodthirsty Russophobes and Inhumans whom Europe is preparing to attack Russia, so Russia must completely seize Ukraine to protect itself from such a threat;
- There are no politicians in Ukraine to negotiate with, so Russia must “reach Lviv”, i.e. conquer the entire territory of Ukraine.
Some of the shows where such statements are made are based on narrative verticals. For example, in one of the KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA radio broadcasts, the presenter quoted Dmitriy Medvedev’s statement that only Lvov will soon remain of Ukraine. This statement provoked further inciting hatred against Ukrainians and direct calls for the occupation of some regions of Ukraine defined “historical Russian lands” by a political analyst invited to the air.
The same quote from Medvedev was also used by other Russian propagandists in their broadcasts. For instance, on the air of MARDAN show at Smotrim.ru platform a political analyst invited as guest explaining Medvedev’s quote about “historical borders”, stated that Russian strategic borders mean indisputably full control over the Ukrainian territory”.
In addition, to justify the armed aggression and occupation of Ukrainian territories, the Russian propagandists use various generalizations and “labeling” of the Ukrainian state as a whole. Such statements are combined with calls for exterminating the Ukrainian authorities named by the propagandists “neo-Nazi regime”, “fascist power”.
In some cases, propagandists call for seizing border territories of Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Sumy Regions not occupied by Russia. Such calls are argued by the fact that Russia should create a buffer zone along the border with Ukraine in order to supposedly protect Russians from shelling from the Ukrainian territory. It is worth noting that some of these calls were made public in February-March 2024, and a few months after that, the Russian army did begin the occupation of the border areas of the Kharkiv Region.
In some cases, calls for an aggressive war are combined with claims that Ukrainians may thank themselves for Russia waging a war. In such shows, Ukrainians are accused of deliberately not doing what Russia wants them to do, and therefore, as it were, provoking further conflict themselves.
In one of the cases, Sergey Karnaukhov, a TV presenter of the “Soloviev LIVE” Channel, stated that Russia is currently waging a war “on the boundary line of humanitarian values”, he wished the Russian military should not be prevented from “reaching Lvov”, with burning down and “razing” everything around at the same time. To illustrate such actions, the presenter referred to the complete destruction of the town of Avdiyivka by the Russian military.
Another narrative aimed at justifying the occupation is the statement that Russia should completely seize those regions of Ukraine that were included in the Constitution of the Russian Federation after the full-scale invasion, because they are an “integral part” of the Russian state. And this occupation is presented by the propagandists as “liberation”.
Calls for an aggressive war are often combined with the expression “to reach Lvov”, thus the propagandists call to occupy the entire territory of Ukraine. One of the arguments to justify the occupation in such cases is the statement that Russia should create a Russia-controlled “buffer” zone between Europe and the already captured territories of Ukraine, which the Russians consider “originally Russian”.
Calls to “reach Lviv” are also combined with explanations that the seizure of new territories of Ukraine will allow the Russians to protect the territories of Luhansk, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia Regions previously captured by Russia and called the “Russian lands” by the propagandists, from shelling.
In one of the ROSSIA 1 TV Channel airs, propagandist Rostislav Ischenko compared Ukrainians to Indians and said the Russians had to seize the entire territory of Ukraine and exterminate the Ukrainians as the Americans used to exterminate all Indians in the Northern America.
Upon the monitoring results, the CHRG analysts listed speakers whose statements featured aggressive war propaganda and hate speech towards Ukrainians:
Yuriy Kot a TV presenter
Sergey Markov a political analyst
Yegor Kholmogorov a writer, observer, social commentator
Nikita Daniuk PhD (History), a blogger
Dmitriy Yevstafyev a political analyst
Ilya Moschanskiy a military historian
Artem Sheynin a TV presenter
Rostislav Ischenko a political analyst
Sergey Karnaukhov a TV presenter
Igor Markov a politician.
The content was selected by the Crimean Human Rights Group with WORD OF WAR analytical service developed by CHANGING TOGETHER CA. TV shows of such Russian media as PERVYI KANAL, ROSSIA 1, Solovyov LIVE, aired in 2023 – 2024 were reviewed during the monitoring. The monitoring list also included selected video channels of some Russian and Crimean media and speakers having over 50,000 subscribers in YouTube and Rutube social networks and Telegram messenger.
The methodology for selecting and assessing the content was developed by Yulia Krylova-Hrek, PhD (Psychology), IRES researcher (Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University (Sweden), Ass. Prof. (Kyiv-Mohyla Academy National University), given the results of the previous Crimean Human Rights Group study: “Hate Speech in Online Media Publicizing Events in Crimea”.
The analysis author – Iryna Siedova, a CHRG researcher.
For examples of statements combining the calls for conquering Ukraine and hate speech, follow this link.
