A German journalist asked Zelensky how Europeans can help kill more Russian soldiers. Russia responded with a criminal case.
Russia has opened a criminal case against Michael Martens, a correspondent for the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), over remarks he made about the killing of Russian servicemen, the Russian state news agency TASS reported, citing a source.
Martens is charged under Part 2 of Article 282 of Russia’s Criminal Code, which criminalizes incitement of hatred or enmity committed in public and carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić held a press conference in Belgrade on August 8, where the FAZ journalist asked a question: “Can you tell us Europeans, what can we concretely do to help you to kill more Russians?” Martens immediately clarified that he meant Russian servicemen specifically.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called the question “unacceptable and criminal,” while Russia’s embassy in Germany called Martens’ words “disgusting.” The statement also said that German authorities’ failure to condemn the question was “dispiriting.”
Martens later wrote that his question referenced remarks by Winston Churchill. He was apparently referring to the question “Who was killing the most germans, and how we could help them to kill more?” According to British officer Fitzroy Maclean’s recollections, Churchill made the remark while discussing support for Yugoslav partisans during World War II.
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