Russian State TV Finally Finds Someone Has Gone Too Far

A prominent Russian state TV figure drew the line on Sunday after a TV host and his guest engaged in an exchange where the pair discussed drowning, raping and burning Ukrainians.

The editor-in-chief of Kremlin mouthpiece RT, Margarita Simonyan, took to her Telegram channel to brand the remarks as "wild and disgusting," while declaring that RT had suspended cooperation with the TV host concerned, Anton Krasovsky.

Below, Newsweek has rounded up eight examples of appalling remarks made on Russian state TV since President Vladimir Putin invaded neighboring Ukraine on February 24.

Drown, Burn Children

RT director of broadcasting Anton Krasovsky has apologized after he and science fiction writer Sergei Lukyanenko dehumanized Ukrainians and casually discussed raping and killing them.

During the exchange, Lukyanenko said he had heard stories about Viagra packs being handed out to Russian soldiers as an example of "hysteria" and "sick fantasies."

Krasovsky interjected and said: "For them to rape Ukrainian grannies. Gawd, those grannies would spend their burial savings to get raped by Russian soldiers."

He also said Ukrainian children should be "thrown straight into a river with a strong current" or "burned in a hut."

Krasovsky said in a statement on his Telegram channel that he had been carried away and "could not stop."

"I apologize to everyone who was stunned by this. I apologize to Margarita, to everyone for whom this seemed wild, unthinkable and insurmountable," he wrote. "I hope you will forgive me."

Starve, Freeze Civilians

A week earlier, a Russian politician said during a discussion on Russian state TV that Moscow should focus on targeting Ukraine's electricity supply to freeze and starve civilians and trigger outbreaks of disease.

Strikes across Ukraine in recent weeks have affected some 30 percent of the country's energy infrastructure, according to officials.

"The absence of electricity means the absence of water, the absence of refrigerators, the absence of sewers," said Andrey Gurulyov, a deputy in the State Duma. "One week after all electricity is cut off, the city of Kyiv will be swimming in s***, pardon my expression. There will be a clear threat of an epidemic."

Another panelist retorted that Russia was fighting against Ukraine's military, not its civilians, and asked how targeting Ukraine's energy systems would benefit Russia in the long term.

Host Olga Skabeeva interjected by saying that Russians were "by no means gloating" and suggested that Putin had no other choice.

"We're forced to react…and we will react," she said.

Justifying Civilian Deaths

Konstantin Dolgov, former Russian commissioner for human rights, said on TV channel Russia-1 in a clip shared on Twitter earlier in October, that missile strikes on Kyiv and several other Ukrainian cities that killed multiple civilians, were aimed at "military infrastructure...the infrastructure of war."

Dolgov was repeating the Kremlin line that coordinated strikes on October 10 that killed at least 19 people and injured 105, were attacks against Ukraine's energy, military and communications infrastructure, made in retaliation for an explosion on a key bridge to the annexed Crimea Peninsula.

"These strikes are not against civilian infrastructure. In my opinion, it's very important to understand," he said, against the backdrop of images and clips that showed strikes hitting bridges, residential areas and roads.

'Everyone Will Be Destroyed'

Russian state TV guests and hosts said in September that if Russia is threatened, "everyone will be destroyed."

Shortly after Putin warned the West that he wasn't bluffing about the use of nuclear weapons should Kyiv continue to receive support, military expert Igor Korotchenko and state TV host Skabeeva chimed in on the matter.

"It is impossible to defeat Russia without a nuclear explosion. It's out of the question," said Skabeeva. "We will not allow the destruction of our country, if you're trying to destroy us, you will be destroyed along with us.

She added: "Push us into the corner—everyone will be destroyed. Is that what they're trying to achieve?"

Nuclear Strike Threat

Gurulyov, former deputy commander of Russia's southern military district, said on Russian state TV in September that Putin could strike the U.K. with nuclear weapons and turn it into a "Martian desert" over its involvement in Ukraine.

'Destroy' West

Also in September, Russian Senator Igor Morozov urged the Russian president to "destroy" the West and said that the "real war" with Ukraine is starting.

"The phase of us conducting a special military operation, while Ukraine and the entire West waged a powerful hybrid war, is over. Today, we need to understand: the real war is starting," said Morozov, who is also a member of Russia's Council of the Federation Committee for Foreign Affairs.

"We can't show mercy to anyone any longer…we have to change our own perception with which we entered this special operation. All of them are fighting against us…we need to protect Russia, we need to save our people and to do everything possible to destroy the West."

'Re-education' of Children

The head of the Russian parliament's defense committee, Andrey Kartapolov, suggested on Russian state TV that children from Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine should be sent to military boarding schools in Russia for "re-education."

Kartapolov, a former deputy defense minister and army commander, claimed that Ukrainian children had been brainwashed.

"There are many problems over there, for sure. A lot has to be restored, rebuilt from scratch but the biggest problem today is people," Kartapolov said, adding that Russia needs to "deal" with Ukrainian children.

Ukraine 'No Longer Exists'

In July, RT's Simonyan claimed on the channel Russia-1 that Ukraine "cannot continue to exist."

"We should be building our future with culture, with heating and without Ukraine," Simonyan said.

When the anchor of An Evening with Vladimir Solovyov asked, "Why without Ukraine?" Simonyan replied, "Because Ukraine as it was, cannot continue to exist."

She made the remarks as the Ukraine war was about to enter its sixth month.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's foreign ministry for comment.