A Russian lawmaker has said that roughly half of Ukraine’s population must be killed in order to “eliminate Nazism,” remarks that mirror years of increasingly extreme Kremlin messaging about Ukraine’s existence and politics.

The statement drew criticism because it calls for mass killing and uses “Nazism/denazification” language that Russian officials have frequently employed to justify or describe the war. Experts and observers have previously argued that this rhetoric functions as propaganda—meant to delegitimize Ukraine and dehumanize opponents—rather than reflect credible, verifiable claims.

The comments landed amid a broader information campaign in which Russia portrays the conflict as necessary to remove alleged “Nazism” or “nationalists” from Ukraine, even as Ukraine’s political system and leadership are widely described as incompatible with that framing. The latest remark adds another example of how the “denazification” narrative can escalate from political accusation to calls for violence.