Russian state media runs op-ed titled ‘No One Should Remain Alive in Ukraine’
Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti published an inflammatory column Wednesday titled There’s No Other Option: No One Should Remain Alive in Ukraine by columnist Kirill Strelnikov. The piece argues that Western assessments portraying Ukraine’s military favorably are mere propaganda designed to keep Ukrainians fighting as “laboratory rats” for Western military research.
The column contrasts Western praise for Ukrainian military capabilities with Kyiv’s growing setbacks on the battlefield. Strelnikov quotes American think tanks, such as the Atlantic Council, which recently published an article stating that Ukraine is “one of Europe’s leading military powers,” and he then notes that a new U.S. Army manual focuses on Russian military tactics as examples of effective modern warfare. The news outlet Agentstvo points out that citing the Atlantic Council, which has been banned as an “undesirable organization” in Russia, is illegal.
A former editor at Politrussia.com and a regular guest on Russian state television, Kirill Strelnikov is typically introduced as a political analyst. The state-run news outlet RIA Novosti featured his No One Should Remain Alive column prominently on its homepage. The op-ed concludes that Ukrainians have chosen to “die for their Western masters” and that Russia will no longer try to win their hearts and minds:
The time for coming to one’s senses has passed, and we will no longer make appeals or try to convince anyone. If people are consciously and willingly prepared to die for their masters, that is their choice.