A Russia Today presenter, Anton Krasovsky was fired from the state-controlled television channel for saying that Ukrainian children should be drowned for criticising Russia, according to a report from Russian Free Press. 

He had made those comments during a discussion with science fiction author Sergei Lukyanenko last week. At the time, the author had narrated an incident where he had met Ukrainian children in the 1980s who had told him they would be better off if Ukraine was not occupied by Moscow. 

The channel’s editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan released a statement announcing Krasovsky’s departure, saying, “At the moment, I am stopping our cooperation, because neither I nor the rest of the RT team can allow even the thought that one of us is capable of sharing such a game.”

Who is Anton Krasovsky?

Anton Vyacheslavovich Krasovsky is a Russian pro-Ukraine war commentator, journalist and television personality. 

Born on July 18 1975, Krasovsky attended the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Moscow. While he began working in 1996, he was relatively unknown until he became the campaign manager for presidential hopeful Mikhail Prokhorov in 2011. 

Prior to becoming a campaign manager, he worked as a journalist and editor for the pro-Kremlin NTV channel. After Prokhorov’s presidential campaign failed, Krasovsky founded the pro-Kremlin channel Kontr TV, alongside Sergey Minaev, another pro-Russia journalist. 

The tv personality shot into the limelight in 2013 during a discussion on a proposed ban on homosexuality. On-air, Krasovsky announced that he was gay. Shortly after, he announced his resignation from the channel while denouncing the work environment there. Krasovsky’s on-air statement wasn’t made available online. Allegedly, he was fired the same day as he announced his resignation. 

Shortly before the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the 47-year-old said that he opposed the possibility of the breadbasket of Europe joining NATO. He suggested that Russia would start a war to stop such an event. 

In October, Krasovsky published a video which showed him dancing in response to missile attacks by Russia which left 14 Ukrainians dead and nearly a 100 injured.