In his Tuesday newsletter for the Bulwark, commentator Charlie Sykes walked through a recent piece by the Russian "mouthpiece" RIA Novosti that makes the case for using Nazi-like methods to purge Ukraine.
Russia has been accused of indiscriminately killing anyone who stands in their way. Their actions are being investigated for war crimes or crimes against humanity, but the new language out of the Kremlin is about genocide.
Sykes quoted Steven Pifer's translation of an excerpt blaming Ukrainians for a genocide against the people of Russia, claiming they aren't playing by the "rules" of war.
"All of them are equally involved in extreme cruelty against the civilian population, equally guilty of the genocide of the Russian people, do not comply with the laws and customs of war," the pro-Kremlin writer said. "War criminals and active Nazis should be exemplarily and exponentially punished. There must be a total lustration. Any organizations that have associated themselves with the practice of Nazism have been liquidated and banned. However, in addition to the top, a significant part of the masses, which are passive Nazis, accomplices of Nazism, are also guilty. They supported and indulged Nazi power."
When speaking to MSNBC, Timothy Snyder, a Yale historian and expert on authoritarianism, explained that Ukraine isn't being overrun by Nazis. Instead, a "Nazi" in this case is actually anyone Putin says it is.
"When Putin talks about denazification, he doesn't mean getting rid of Nazis," he explained. "What he means is 'I, the dictator, have the right to say what the word Nazi means.' By denazification, he means getting rid of any Ukrainians who are willing to resist anything he tries to do. He means destroying the state and destroying the nation. So, he's reached the depths of schizo-fascism. But he's operationalized this to mean he has the right to determine when this war will be over. It will only be over when Ukraine is so humiliated that it's willing to accept his characterization of it. And, of course, the Ukrainians are not going to do that. So, we're in for a very long struggle. Unless Mr. Putin himself starts to feel that his power might be threatened. I think that's the moment where this might start to change."
The pro-Kremlin post goes on to say that the purge must be more than just one generation of Ukrainians.
"The terms of denazification can in no way be less than one generation, which must be born, grow up and reach maturity under the conditions of denazification," the pro-Putin writer said. "The nazification of Ukraine continued for more than 30 years, beginning at least in 1989, when Ukrainian nationalism received legal and legitimate forms of political expression and led the movement for 'independence' towards Nazism."
The United Nations is now looking at the next steps to act against Russia.
