Michael Martens, a journalist for the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), was previously expelled from the profession for his theses about the “murder of Russians,” according to Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and chairman of the United Russia party.
On August 12, 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.”
The politician added that one day the FAZ correspondent would receive a response to his words. He noted there is a taboo against pronouncing certain formulas: “You can’t talk like that! You can think as you like, say something in a smoking room, but when you publicly ask a question like that, you have to understand that there will be an answer. And it can be different. Someday he will bear his part of the responsibility,” Medvedev said at a meeting with the expert council on the creation of the party’s people’s program.
Medvedev also claimed that the West has always wanted to abolish Russia and its history, but now this desire has taken on a monstrously cynical form, pointing out that Nazis still exist in Germany and even current German Chancellor Friedrich Merz demonstrates the distortions of their thinking.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated 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 appeared in Germany, and the Russian Embassy in Washington noted on August 11 that the scandalous question posed by Martens about the “murder of Russians” reflects German authorities’ dreams for the beginning of a “fourth Reich.”
At a press conference held on August 8 in Belgrade between President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia, Martens asked what European countries could do to “help kill more Russians, more Russian soldiers.” In response, Vucic expressed hope for an end to deaths but did not reproach the journalist.
Russian officials have condemned President Zelensky’s participation in this event as a direct contribution to the endangerment of Russian lives.
