DISINFO: Hate speech against Russians is accepted on French TV
SUMMARY
It seems that you can use the most racist, the most xenophobic terms about certain nations while for some others, it is completely unacceptable. If you criticize the excessive presence of migrants in France and you indicate that this lowers labor costs for the working classes, and therefore the wages of the working classes, you are a fascist, you are a Nazi; [....] while you can openly say that the Russians are cockroaches, or are rats, and the hosts on the big TV chains say that they understand [...].
RESPONSE
Recurrent pro-Kremlin narrative stating that western countries are russophobic and that the use of hate speech against Russians is accepted.
The article refers to a particular discussion in the studios of LCI about the Russians who are leaving Russia massively after the illegal military invasion of Ukraine and after the military mobilisation.
The contributor is known for her straight talk against the oppression of the Ukrainian people, she learned French in the Soviet Union and sometimes can make linguistic twists not common by native speakers. Here she uses an expression Les rats quittent le navire", in English “the rats leave the ship”. This expression is commonly used in everyday life without being related to racism or discrimination against one ethnic group. The expression is used to describe a desperate situation, an "every man for himself" situation, like that of Russians who leave the country because they refuse to fight in Ukraine or be sent to jail for refusing this war.
The idea that western media in general are “Russophobic” is a common trope on today’s Russian state and Kremlin-affiliated outlets. It seeks to drum up an "us versus them" feeling and mobilise a sort of patriotic sentiment. Short of substantial arguments, the term has become an easy slogan which the Kremlin uses to reject any criticism or opposing view.
Read also related cases: Western media have an information policy that is supposed to create a hatred of Russians , Nazi Ukraine kills Russian speakers in East and wants to set up monoethnic state , The EU preaches trivial Russophobia presented as European values , Europe’s Russophobia dates from 16th century.