“Antonyms” – russian TV show for daily agenda, the ex-head of which is a journalist Anton Krasovsky. On the 20th of October there was a guest Sergey Lukyanenko, who decided to touch on the topic of ukrainian children: “they (ukrainian children) were talking about Russian occupation of the Ukrainian territory, if it wasn’t for russians, they would probably be living like in France, but they are struggling, because they are occupied”.
Krasovsky’s response was not long in coming: “Such children should be drowned in the water, literally in the water. It’s not your method, that is why you are all intellectuals-science-fiction-writers, but to drown – this is our method”.
In 4 days Russia Today’s (RT) editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan gives feedback on this situation via her Telegram-channel: “Krasovsky’s statement is crazy and disgusting. Perhaps, he’s going to explain how on Earth he could have said that”. Simonyan also claimed that she has to stop her cooperation with Anton Krasovsky, because her team does not share the “madness” of her ex-colleague.
Lately Krasovsky decided to apologize. Again, using Russian messenger “Telegram”. He emphasized that in his speech “he couldn’t stop talking”.
“It happens from time to time: you’re doing a live TV show and suddenly you get carried away. You just can’t stop talking”.
Krasovsky’s statement provoked a storm of online discussions and judgements. Most people online, to put it mildly, do not support his willingness to drown children. They keep asking questions about his humanity, keep on blaming him for violation of the constitution and a lot of other things.
While the Russian Internet was trying to cancel Anton Krasovsky, Simonyan, in turn, has defended her ex-subordinate by reposting Telegram-post of Russian correspondent Dimitri Steshin. He says it’s impossible to get rid of his colleague (Anton Krasovsky) due to the fact that he has done a lot for the Russian special military operation and the Donbass. Both Dimitri and Margarita Simonyan agree that Krasovsky learned his lesson and there’s no point in putting the blame on him.
We can only guess how this conflict is going to influence Russia’s reputation.
