Russian Embassy Accuses Sky News Australia of Mocking Concerns Over Anti-Russian Hate Speech
Dragon Media News Desk
The Russian Embassy in Australia has accused Sky News Australia of turning its concerns about the spread of anti-Russian hate speech into a subject of mockery and entertainment.
According to the embassy, the July 19 edition of The Macpherson Angle ridiculed its objection to remarks by Australian military personnel involved in training Ukrainian troops to become “best skilled in killing Russians.”
The embassy said that while such language had been treated as a source of laughter and satire by the Australian broadcaster, it evoked painful historical memories for the Russian people.
Its statement referred to Generalplan Ost, Nazi Germany’s plan for Eastern Europe, and cited a directive attributed to Adolf Hitler and dated July 23, 1942, concerning its implementation. According to the embassy, the directive spoke of killing three to four million Russians every year from a military perspective.
The embassy accused Sky News presenters and contributors of selectively quoting its earlier statement while concealing the principal concerns it had raised.
It said the narrative of “killing Russians” did not merely target soldiers engaged in combat but the entire Russian ethnic community. Such rhetoric could also place Australians of Russian origin at risk, the embassy warned.
The embassy further alleged that the military training and combat skills provided by the Australian Defence Force to the Ukrainian army were also being used in attacks against Russian civilians. This remains a claim made by the Russian Embassy.
The statement accused Sky News Australia of failing to examine what Russia describes as the root causes of the conflict in Ukraine and the background of anti-Russian rhetoric and violence since 2014.
The embassy also referred to remarks made in 2018 by former Ukrainian Parliament chairman Andrey Parubiy, who cited Adolf Hitler while discussing direct democracy. The Russian side presented the statement as an example supporting its claim that neo-Nazi ideology has influenced political life in Ukraine.
The embassy reiterated Russia’s position that it is fighting neo-Nazi ideology and related practices in Ukraine.
It noted that the Soviet Union lost about 27 million people during the Second World War while defeating Nazi Germany and other European forces that embraced similar racial doctrines. That sacrifice, it said, was too great to allow Nazism to re-emerge.
The statement warned that when hatred against one ethnic group is tolerated, accepted or amplified, no other community can remain immune from its consequences.
According to the embassy, hate speech can generate violence and terrorism, producing serious consequences for society as a whole.
In this context, it referred to Australia’s Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, arguing that such a body would not have been necessary if ethnic hatred and violence did not pose a serious threat.
Photo: Russian Embassy in Australia
