One of Vladimir Putin’s sickest propagandists faces criminal action after his “genocidal” diatribe calling for Ukrainian children to be drowned by Russian soldiers.
Anton Krasovsky, 47, is both a star presenter and a senior executive with sanctioned RT, a key Russian government mouthpiece and cheerleader.
Putin’s pundits regularly advocate decimating Ukraine or laying waste to the West with nuclear weapons.
But his comments on drowning Ukrainian children caused horror even among his own chiefs.
He was suspended - but not fired - by his boss, propagandist-in-chief Margarita Simonyan, head of RT.
“Just drown those children, drown them in the Tysyna [River],” he had said in recorded TV comments that were not edited.
“You throw them in the river with a strong undercurrent...
“Shove them right into their huts and burn them.”
The head of the Russian Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin - a former university classmate of Putin’s - today ordered a check on Krasovsky’s “harsh” televised remarks.
This could lead to criminal action and possible jail, with six years as a maximum sentence
Krasovsky - director of broadcasting for RT - issued an apology to anyone he had offended but stopped short of withdrawing the actual offensive remarks.
He said: “Listen, I feel truly uneasy about somehow missing that red line [in what I said] about the children.
“Sometimes it happens that you get taken away while on air. And you cannot stop.
“I apologise to everyone who got stunned by this.
“I beg [Russian RT head] Margarita [Simonyan] to pardon me.
“And I apologise to all those who saw this as wild and unthinkable.
“I hope you can forgive me.”
Simonyan - who usually exchanges loving messages and warm praise with Krasovsky - said his TV comments were "savage and disgusting”.
“Perhaps Anton would explain himself by saying what temporary insanity it was caused by, and how it slipped off his tongue.”
She said: “It is hard to believe Krasovsky truly thinks children should be drowned.
“As of now I am suspending our cooperation, because neither myself, nor the rest of the RT team can allow even a hint of thought that any of us can share such nonsense .”
Despite repeatedly advocating harsher Russian measures in the war, she added: “To the children of Ukraine, as well as to children of Donbas and to all other children, I wish for it all to end as soon as possible, so that they can live peacefully and study in the language they consider to be their mother tongue.”
Meanwhile, Russian TV continued to pump out its propaganda with another vile claim that Ukrainians are “mentally sick” Russians who will later recover and understand the errors of their ways.
One example was staunchly pro-war pundit Sergei Mardan who asked: "Who is our enemy was never outlined by anyone in the last seven months.
“For some inexplicable reason, our bosses are shy about it…
“They regularly repeat ritual mantras about [Russians and Ukrainians being] ‘one people’.”
War reporter Vladlen Tatarsky replied: “What are Ukrainians?
“I suddenly understood it. A Ukrainian is a Russian who got mentally sick….
“A Ukrainian is a Russian spiritual transvestite who is trying to squeeze into another skin.
“I was always interested - when was this moment when they shifted from a healthy Russian person…into total schizophrenia?
“The future of Ukraine, those people who live there, is that they are Russian people and they will return to their normal state.
“When we win in Ukraine, the future of these people is that they are Russian people who ho recovered from their craziness, their spiritual transvestism, and returned to their normal state.”
Krasovsky has previously aired vile comments on TV without censure.
On TV protester Marina Ovsyannikova - a former editor who walked onto a state television news bulletin with an anti-war message, he said: "The b**** should be jailed for ten years.”
He has previously referred to Ukrainians as “animals” in broadcasts.
