Suspended RT host under federal investigation
The head of Russia’s Investigative Committee (RIC), Alexander Bastrykin, has ordered an investigation into recent statements made by suspended RT host Anton Krasovsky, who suggested drowning and burning Ukrainian children.
On its official Telegram channel, the RIC said on Monday that it has been ordered to write up a report on “the situation that arose on the air of the television channel” after a user on social media requested that Bastrykin check Krasovsky’s series of “harsh statements.”
The comments in question were made in the latest episode of Krasovksy’s program ‘Antonimy’ (Antonyms), where he interviewed science-fiction writer Sergey Lukyanenko. The author said that when he was in a hospital in Western Ukraine back in 1980 he heard children saying that “Ukraine is occupied by Muscovites,” and that their lives were worse because of it.
In response, Krasovsky said that “it is necessary to straight-up drown these children,” and that as soon as a child says that “Muscovites have occupied [Ukraine]” it should be immediately thrown into a river with a turbulent current.
After Lukyanenko objected, Krasovsky doubled down and insisted that such children should be “beaten into the hut and burned.” The author called the host’s remarks “extremist.”
On Sunday night, RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan condemned the journalist’s comments as “wild and disgusting” and announced the immediate suspension of his contract with the channel.
“Neither I, nor the rest of the RT staff can allow even the thought that one of us is capable of sharing such nonsense,” Simonyan said.
Krasovsky has since come out with an apology to all those “stunned” by his statements, writing on his Telegram channel that he is “embarrassed” that he “didn’t see that line. About children.” He explained that “this kind of thing happens: You sit on the air and you get carried away. And you can’t stop,” adding that he apologizes to everyone to whom this seemed “wild, unthinkable and insurmountable.”
