Putin Allies Accuse Ukraine of Cannibalism: 'Genuinely Eating Russians'

A panelist on a Kremlin propaganda television program has referred to "cannibalism" when asked why Ukrainian troops are fighting against Russian forces.

Ever since the start of the war, current affairs shows on Russian state television have served up fake news, conspiracy theories and the vociferous disparaging of both the West and Ukraine.

From making nuclear threats against European capitals to pushing genocidal and dehumanizing rhetoric about Ukrainians, one pundit on Russia's First Channel has added an unusual contribution to Moscow's discourse on the war.

More than 10 months after Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine which has led to the destruction of its cities, Olesya Loseva, anchor of Vremya Pokazhet (Time will Tell), felt it was right to ask her guest Andrei Klinstevich, "I'm curious, what are they fighting for?"

Klinstevich, whose caption described him as the head of the Center for the Study Of Military and Political Conflicts, responded with his theory.

"Some young people have been, let's say, stupefied by the propaganda which has existed for a long time," he said on Monday, referring to Ukrainians.

"We know that the propaganda is simply misanthropic and virtually linked to cannibalism, again cases of this have been recorded on the front."

"They are doing this within some kind of identity. Attempting to cut themselves off from the Slavs and their kindred people and say that 'we're entirely different.'"

He said that most of them were people "who have been involuntarily sucked into it" and had been "mobilized from some factory" and sent to the front.

"They can't do anything about it. They know that if they turn back, they'll simply be shot," he said.

Loseva asked, "Like hostages?" Klinstevich agreed.

"They're like hostages as most people in Ukraine are," as he referred to "mass shootings which are periodically carried out there'' and "the complete powerlessness of people in the trenches."

The clip was tweeted by Francis Scarr of BBC Monitoring who wrote: "On Russian state TV they're having real trouble working out what Ukrainians are fighting for.

"A 'simply misanthropic' ideology 'linked to cannibalism' seems to be their entirely reasonable conclusion."

Cannibalism was also referred to on state television in neighboring Belarus, whose president, Alexander Lukashenko is an ally of Putin.

Pro-government anchor Yevgeny Pustovoy said on air that "Ukrainians are now genuinely eating Russians," as he referred to "dishes which are scarily similar to human bodies with lurid names."

Scarr shared the clip on Twitter, adding the message: "Belarusian state TV doesn't get much international attention, but it's just as bonkers as you'd expect it to be."