Russia spent years setting the people of Crimea against Ukraine and preparing them for war, new study shows

In the occupied Crimea for years, Russia intentionally turned people against Ukraine and prepared them for a full-scale war, using the language of hostility and even dehumanizing Ukrainians, according to a study by the Crimean Human Rights Group, reports ZMINA.

In total, the researchers analyzed 11 Russian-language online media outlets that wrote about Crimea. The analysis includes publications for the period from December 2020 to the end of May 2021. In 10 of the 11 media, most of the analyzed materials contained hate speech.

The study found 560 materials with hate speech against Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars. Among such texts were manifestations of dehumanization — for example, Ukrainians were compared to animals.

"In the study, we recorded many calls for the extermination of Ukrainians in the Russian media. Given the atrocities committed by the Russian occupiers on our land from February 24 to the present day, these appeals had one goal — informational preparation for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide of the Ukrainian people," said the representative of the Crimean Human Rights Group Iryna Siedova.

According to her, the analyzed media also denied the state sovereignty of Ukraine and divided Ukrainians into "good" and "bad".