United Nations investigators probing alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine have warned that rhetoric broadcast by the Russian media could qualify as incitement to genocide. In a September 25 address to the UN Human Rights Council, the leader of the UN’s Commission of Inquiry investigative team, Erik Mose, spoke of his concern over allegations of genocide in Ukraine. “For instance, some of the rhetoric transmitted in Russian state media may constitute incitement to genocide,” he stated, commenting that the UN investigation into allegations of genocide will continue.
Mose’s comments come days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used his address to the United Nations General Assembly to accuse Russia of committing genocide in Ukraine. During his address, the Ukrainian leader highlighted Russia’s alleged mass abduction and indoctrination of Ukrainian children. “This is clearly a genocide,” he stated.
Russian officials and regime propagandists face widespread accusations of inciting genocide against Ukrainians. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has set the tone, frequently stating that Ukrainians are actually Russians (“one people”) and repeatedly accusing Ukraine of being an illegitimate “anti-Russia.” In one of his most recent outbursts, Putin attacked the “anti-human essence” of the modern Ukrainian state.
Meanwhile, genocidal anti-Ukrainian rhetoric has become an everyday feature of Russia’s carefully choreographed and tightly censored state media. Presenters and pundits routinely dehumanize Ukrainians and question Ukraine’s right to exist while portraying the country as an artificial state and an existential threat to Russia. Critics say this poisonous propaganda has fueled a litany of war crimes committed by the invading Russian army inside Ukraine, with Russian troops accused of engaging in mass executions, widespread torture, and forced deportations. In areas under Russian occupation, all traces of Ukrainian national identity are being systematically erased.
Despite widespread evidence indicating both genocidal actions and genocidal intent, the United Nations and other international bodies have so far refused to directly accuse Russia of committing genocide in Ukraine. In a recent interview, Yale University historian Timothy Snyder argued that most people in the West are well aware Russia is committing genocide in Ukraine, but claimed that political leaders and institutions remain deeply reluctant to say so as this would oblige them to intervene more decisively while also explaining their earlier inaction.