Genocidal rhetoric: how russia promotes murder of Ukrainians at state level

The russian regime systematically discriminates against Ukrainians at the state level and commits actions that constitute the crime of genocide, including the creation of legal basis in russia for these crimes. The russian regime systematically works to dehumanize Ukrainians and rationalize the destruction of the Ukrainian state as well as the genocide of Ukrainians.

This was discussed during the presentation of the report on the genocidal rhetoric of the russian regime at the country’s main discussion platform BrainHub at Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform.

According to Serhii Zhukov, an analyst at the Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security, despite the fact that no direct genocidal rhetoric was found in the russian laws, there are a number of openly discriminatory norms affecting both Ukrainians in the occupied territories and russian citizens of Ukrainian ethnic origin.

Also, the analyst pointed out that the russian laws create a legal basis for committing actions against Ukrainians that constitute the crime of genocide: forced deportation, forced transfer of Ukrainian children from one national group to another, simplified adoption, simplified procedure for obtaining passports, legal permits for deportation from the war zone and deep into russia for allegedly humanitarian reasons, etc.

At the same time, Serhii Zhukov noted, the russian federation’s acts attempting to annex Ukrainian territories demonstrate the non-recognition of the existence of Ukrainian people as a whole.

“They replace it with some substratum, false (definitions – Ed,) such as the people of Crimea, the people of Sevastopol, the people of Zaporizhia region, the people of Donetsk region or the donetsk republic, etc. That is, this can also be considered as a deliberate non-recognition of the Ukrainian people at the state level and as an attempt to deny their (existence – Ed.) in the texts of the legal acts issued by either the state duma or the president of the russian federation in his decrees,” he explained.

The analyst emphasized the narratives that are created, particularly, by putin, and are then picked up and developed in the russian federation. This is primarily the narrative about the non-recognition of the Ukrainian people.

The kremlin state media, in turn, develop this topic further and promote the same narratives. Then the russian state media publish materials that not only deny the right of Ukrainians to exist, let alone to a separate state and the right to their own identity, but also include genocidal rhetoric that portrays Ukrainians as sick people who need to be treated from the diseases of “being Ukrainian.”

In addition, the same rhetoric applies to school textbooks, particularly history books. There had been little objectivity regarding Ukrainians in history curricula in the russian federation even before 2014, however, after a number of reprints, in 2022 an updated version of the history textbook for senior classes was published, and it contains outright accusations of alleged Ukrainian Nazism. All Ukrainians are depicted as Nazis in those books, and they are used to form the image of the enemy that must be fought against, and russia is depicted as the country with the full right to do so by any means.

According to Ihor Solovey, Head of the Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security, this report, which clearly shows the genocidal rhetoric of the russian federation against Ukrainians, will be translated into English and will be further promoted to foreign audiences and Ukraine’s partners, so that they could also see the criminal activities of the russian regime.

In addition, he expressed hope that the report will be of practical use during the investigation conducted by law enforcement agencies.

BrainHub is the country’s main discussion platform created by Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform. It brings together experts from the state and civil society sectors. BrainHub hosts intellectual discussions around the issues of the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. It’s the birthplace of the best ideas that will become the foundation for the road map of Ukraine’s reconstruction in all sectors: economy, infrastructure, education, agriculture, security, digital, etc.

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