Putin compares Ukraine conflict to ‘genocide’

At a meeting with Russia’s Presidential Human Rights Council on Thursday, Vladimir Putin said that current events in eastern Ukraine “are very reminiscent of genocide.”

The president offered these remarks in response to a question from Rossiya Segodnya executive director Kirill Vyshinsky about the need to codify the concepts of “genocide” and “inciting genocide” in Russia’s justice system.

“I should say that Russophobia is a first step toward genocide. What’s happening now in the Donbas — you and I can see it, we know — is very reminiscent of genocide, which you mentioned,” Putin said, stressing the need to proceed carefully in order to avoid devaluing concepts like genocide.

In November 2021, the Kremlin accused Kyiv of plotting a military solution in eastern Ukraine, which Russia-backed separatists have controlled since 2014.