'Show them off at the market for three rubles': Russian media advocates 'medieval barbarism' against Ukraine

The ghastly rhetoric spewed by propagandists on Russian state television has been significantly intensifying as President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine continues to go badly. In the last week alone, the Kremlin's mouthpieces have trumpeted all-out war with Europe and the United States and chuckled through twisted fantasies about obliterating New York City with a nuclear weapon.

But an even more alarming trend emerged earlier this month when one of Putin's puppets advocated for genocide against the Ukrainian people in a lengthy essay. The war crimes perpetrated by Russian troops further underscore Moscow's complete disregard for Ukrainian lives. And based on what was said on Friday, the atrocities are likely to get worse.

A pundit on Russia 1 openly called for Ukrainian civilians who are sheltering underneath the Azovstal metallurgical plant outside of the besieged port city of Mariupol to be either entombed forever in the facility's catacombs or captured and sold off as slaves to human traffickers.

"They're sitting in this basement. We should cement all exits shut, and leave only one of them open, just in case there are civilians held in there. We could spit on all the rest," he said.

Keep in mind that the narrative inside of Russia is that Ukrainian resistance fighters, along with whoever else the Kremlin designates, are secret neo-Nazi terrorists plotting to murder native Russians. So the use of the word "civilian" typically only refers to Russian-speaking people living in separatist-controlled Eastern Ukraine. Average Ukrainians, meanwhile, are viewed as subhuman and expendable.

"I don't share the humanitarian ideas or great ideas about putting them in cages," the host continued. "Show them off at the market for three rubles. These are criminals, these are animals. After what we've seen, there can't be any humanism toward them. Let anybody do whatever they want to them."

The man also decisively eliminated any remaining chance that Russia shares the democratic values of the West and that it should do whatever it wants because its reputation has already been destroyed.

"We're trying to be liked by people over there," he complained. "We want people abroad to like us – in the West, in the US, in Europe – no one there will like us for a long time. We already tried and failed. So we can relax now."

He then turned back to dehumanizing the Ukrainians.

"These are criminals. Blood of our citizens is on their hands. They should get what they deserve," he seethed. "This is a great way to get rid of that scum no matter how they present the situation."

The translated video was posted to Twitter on Saturday by Julia Davis, The Daily Beast's resident Russia expert and founder of the Russian Media Monitor, which tracks the Kremlin's disinformation.

Watch below: