'They don't see us as people': Kremlin propagandist accuses Ukraine of dehumanizing Russia

Kremlin propagandist and state television host Vladimir Solovyov suggested on Russia 1 over the weekend that President Vladimir Putin's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is a mission to save the "souls" of the Ukrainian people.

First, Solovyov defended the infamous Gulags that 20th-century Soviet dictators used to torture and kill political dissidents:

In Soviet labor camps, they knew your name, under which law you were imprisoned. You were an individual. In German concentration camps, you had no individuality. The goal of the Soviet camp was to reeducate, whatever you want to make of it. A German concentration camp, a European concentration camp, had the goal of destroying you as a person and then to break you down into parts.

Solovyov accused Ukraine of being a Nazi whose aim is to commit genocide inside of Russia:

Now, the descendants of the Nazi idea in Europe, talk about us as orcs, talk about us as the citizens of Russia, all of whom have to bear the responsibility. They're walking down the same path. They don't see us as people – denial of the right to be ourselves.

READ MORE: Watch: Russian state television says Ukraine is a 'medieval' country led by a 'monkey with a grenade'

Solovyov also declared that Russia is conducting a campaign of mercy:

This is the main difference between us and them. For them, we are orcs, Rashists, but we still pity them. We still count them as ours, but lost.

We hate the sin, not the sinner. This is why we will win. Because we see the people. We fight for their souls.

Footage and translation were provided by the Russian Media Monitor.

Watch below via The Daily Beast's Julia Davis or at this link.

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