YouSaid · the spoken record

Snyder

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18

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2023-03-14

most recent

2023-03-14

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1

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un-security-council

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1. “What the Russian representative said is that whenever Ukrainians — in history or at present — claim that they exist, that is Russophobia. As I have been trying to say, that is a colonial attitude. The big Power does not have the right to say that the small Power has no history. The claim that a country has no history is genocidal hate speech. In that sense, I think, and in that sense only, this meeting has been useful.”

   2023-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9280 (2023) · source

2. “As a historian of Russia, I look forward to the day when there can be free discussion of Russia’s fascinating history. Speaking of history, the Russian representative denied that there was such a thing. I would refer him to excellent works by historians who know both languages, such as my colleague, Serhii Plokhy, at Harvard. I would refer people, in general, to my open class at Yale, which makes the point about Ukrainian history more eloquently than I can here. But more fundamentally, I would like to thank the Russian representative for helping me to make the point that I was trying to make in my earlier presentation. It is not for the representative of a larger country to say that the representative of a smaller country has no history.”

   2023-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9280 (2023) · source

3. “I take that as a badge of pride and as a very small element in a larger attack on Russian culture. My work has been devoted, among other things, to chronicling the mass murder of Russians, including at the siege of Leningrad. I have been proud over the course of my career to learn from historians of Ukraine, Poland and Europe in general, as well as from historians of Russia. It is unfortunate that the best historians of Russia — and the best scholars of Russia in general — are not allowed to practice their own disciplines now. It is unfortunate that organizations such as Memorial, which has done heroic work in Russian history, are now criminalized in Russia. It is unfortunate that memory laws in Russia prevent the open discussion of Russian history. It is unfortunate that the word “Ukraine” has been banned from Russian school books.”

   2023-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9280 (2023) · source

4. “I refer the representative of the Russian Federation to the video archives of Russia’s State television channels. For those who do not speak Russian, I refer them to the excellent work of Julia Davis, who has assembled an archive of relevant Russian video material. With respect to the sources concerning actual Russian atrocities in Ukraine, the simplest thing to do would be to allow Russian journalists to report freely from Ukraine. For everyone else, the simplest thing to do would be to visit Ukraine, a land that has a democratically elected bilingual President, who represents a national minority, and ask the people of Ukraine about the war in either Ukrainian or Russian. Ukrainians speak both languages and can answer in both languages. The representative of the Russian Federation saw fit to attack my qualifications.”

   2023-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9280 (2023) · source

5. “Similarly, Dmitry Medvedev, a member of the Russian Security Council, repeatedly makes on his Telegram channel the kinds of directly genocidal remarks that have been discussed today. With respect to Russian State television, it is very important to note that I simply quoted Russian State television, which is an organ of the Russian State. As the President of the Russian Federation has himself said, it represents Russian national interests. The statements made on Russian State television are therefore significant not only as expressions of Russian policy but also, as has been said, as a mark of genocidal motivation for the Russian population. That is true to such an extent that the presenters on Russian television have themselves expressed their concerns about the possibility that they could be prosecuted for war crimes.”

   2023-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9280 (2023) · source

6. “Mr. Snyder: It has been a pleasure to be with you, Mr. President, and among diplomats. The Russian representative saw fit to ask me about sources, and I am very happy to oblige. If we are concerned about the sources of statements of high officials of the Russian Federation, I refer the Russian representative to the website of the President of the Russian Federation, on which he will find speeches by the President of the Russian Federation, denying that Ukraine exists on the grounds that Ukraine was invented by Nazis and communists and that a Viking baptized himself 1,000 years ago. I do not comment on the historical validity of those arguments. I simply point out that they are a matter of public record and are the statements of the President of the Russian Federation.”

   2023-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9280 (2023) · source

7. “That is why today’s meeting is important. In Russia’s genocidal hate speech, the idea that Ukrainians have a disease called Russophobia is used as an argument to destroy them, along with the arguments that they are vermin, parasites, satanists and so on. Claiming to be the victim when you are in fact the aggressor is not part of the defence — it is actually part of the crime. Hate speech directed against Ukrainians is not part of the defence of the Russian Federation. It is part of the crimes that Russian citizens are committing on Ukrainian territory. In that sense, in calling today’s meeting, the Russian State has found a new way to confess to war crimes.”

   2023-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9280 (2023) · source

8. “The term “Russophobia” is an imperial strategy designed to change the subject from that of an actual war of aggression and shift it to the feelings of the aggressors, thereby suppressing the existence and experience of the people who are most harmed. The imperialist says, “We are the only people here. We are the real victims. And our hurt feelings count more than other people’s lives.” Russia’s crimes can and will be evaluated under Ukrainian law, because they are taking place on Ukrainian territory, as well as by international law. To the naked eye, we can see that there is a war of aggression, crimes of humanity and genocide. The use of the word Russophobia — the claim that Ukrainians are ill rather than experiencing an atrocity — is colonial rhetoric and part of a larger practice of hate speech.”

   2023-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9280 (2023) · source

9. “The term “Russophobia” is a claim by the imperial Power that it is the victim, even as it is carrying out a war of atrocity. That is historically typical behaviour. The imperial Power dehumanizes the actual victim and claims to be the victim. When the victim opposes being attacked, murdered and colonized, the empire says that is unreasonable, an illness — a phobia. That claim that the victims are irrational — that they are phobic and have a phobia — is meant to distract from the actual experience of the victims in the real world, which of course is an experience of aggression, war and atrocity.”

   2023-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9280 (2023) · source

10. “The term “Russophobia” is a rhetorical strategy that we know from the history of imperialism. When an empire attacks, the empire claims that it is the victim. The rhetoric that Ukrainians are somehow Russophobes is used by the Russian State to justify a war of aggression. But of course, it is the war of aggression — the setting itself — that matters. It is the invasion itself, the destruction of whole Ukrainian cities, the execution of Ukrainian local leaders, the forced deportation of Ukrainian children, the displacement of about half of Ukraine’s population, the destruction of hundreds of hospitals and thousands of schools and the deliberate targeting of water and heating supplies during the winter. That is the setting — that is what is actually happening.”

    2023-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9280 (2023) · source

11. “If we were sincerely concerned about harm to Russians, we would be concerned about what Russian policy is doing to Russians. The claim that Ukrainians are quote-unquote Russophobes is one more element of Russian hate speech. In Russian State television, those other claims about Ukrainians are intermixed with the claim that Ukrainians are Russophobes. For example, in the statement in which the speaker claimed that all Ukrainians should be exterminated, the reason he gave is that they should all be exterminated because they are Russophobes. That brings me to my second point — the claim that Ukrainians have to be killed because they have a mental illness known as Russophobia is bad for Russians because it educates them in genocide. But of course, such a claim is much worse for Ukrainians. And this is my second point.”

    2023-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9280 (2023) · source

12. “We have seen it in a year of State television reaching tens of millions of Russians every day. We see it when Russian State television presents Ukrainians as pigs, parasites, worms, satanists or ghouls. We see it when Russian State television proclaims that Ukrainian children should be drowned. We see it when Russian State television proclaims that Ukrainian houses should be burned with the people inside. We see it when people appear on Russian State television and say, “They should not exist at all. We should execute them by firing squad.” We see it when someone appears on Russian State television and says “We will kill 1 million. We will kill 5 million. We can exterminate all of you” — meaning all of the Ukrainians.”

    2023-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9280 (2023) · source

13. “Ninth, this war also means that a generation of young Russians — those who survive — will be involved in war crimes and will be wrapped up in trauma and guilt for the rest of their lives. That is great harm to Russian culture, and, like all these policies, that has been achieved by the Russian Government itself, mostly in the course of the past year. If we were sincerely concerned about harm to Russians, those are the things that we would think about. But perhaps the worst Russian policy with respect to Russians is the last one — number 10 — which is the sustained training or education of Russians to believe that genocide is normal. We see it in the President of Russia’s repeated claims that Ukraine does not exist. We see it in genocidal fantasies on Russian State media.”

    2023-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9280 (2023) · source

14. “Sixth is the downgrading of the Russian culture around the world and the end of what used to be called the russkiy mir — the Russian world abroad. It used to be the case that there were many people who felt friendly towards Russia and the Russian culture in Ukraine. That has been brought to an end by the Russian invasion, and that is Russian policy. Seventh is the mass killing of Russian speakers in Ukraine. The Russian war of aggression in Ukraine has killed more speakers of Russian than any other action by far. There is no comparison. Eighth is, of course, the fact that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to the mass killing of Russian citizens. Some 200,000 people are dead or maimed, and that is of course simply Russian policy. It is Russian policy to send young Russians to die in a war of aggression.”

    2023-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9280 (2023) · source

15. “Ukraine is a country in which there are two languages, and one can say what one likes. When I visit Ukraine, people report to me about Russian war crimes using both languages — Ukrainian or Russian, as they prefer. Fourth is the attack on Russian culture by way of censoring school books, weakening Russian culture at home and the destruction of museums and non-governmental organizations devoted to the memory of Russian history. All those things are Russian policy. Fifth is the perversion of the memory of the Great Fatherland War by fighting a war of aggression in 2014 and 2022, thereby depriving all future generations of Russians of that heritage. That is Russian policy and causes great harm to the Russian culture.”

    2023-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9280 (2023) · source

16. “That is irreparable harm to the Russian culture. Second is the destruction of independent Russian journalism so that Russians cannot know the world around them. That, too, is Russian policy and causes irreparable harm to Russian culture. Third is general censorship and the repression of the freedom of speech in Russia in the Russian language. That is an irony that bears noting. In Ukraine, one can say what one likes, either in Russian or in Ukrainian. In Russia, one cannot. If one stands in Russia with a sign saying “No to war”, one will be arrested and very likely imprisoned. If one stands in Ukraine with a sign that says “No to war”, regardless of what language it is in, nothing will happen. Russia is a country in which there is one language, and one can say very little.”

    2023-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9280 (2023) · source

17. “My second point is that, during this war, the term Russophobia, which we are discussing today, has been a form of imperial propaganda and imperial justification for Russian war crimes in Ukraine. Beginning with the first point, the premise when we discuss Russophobia is that we are concerned about harm to Russians. That is a premise that I certainly share. I share the concern for Russians. I share the concern for the Russian culture. Let us then think about the actions of this past year that have caused the most harm to Russians and the Russian culture. I will briefly name 10 such actions. First is forcing the most creative and productive Russians to emigrate. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused approximately 750,000 Russians to leave Russia, including some of the most creative and productive people.”

    2023-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9280 (2023) · source

18. “Mr. Snyder: I am very glad to address the Security Council. I will try to keep my remarks brief. I speak to Council members as a historian of the region, a historian of Eastern Europe and, specifically, as a historian of mass killing and political atrocity. I believe that the discussion that we are having today about the word Russophobia can clarify something very important about the character of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine and about the character of Russia’s illegal occupation of Ukrainian territory. I will limit myself to two main points. My first point is that harm to Russians and the Russian culture is primarily a matter of Russian policy. If we are concerned about harm to Russians and Russian culture, we should therefore be concerned about the policies of the Russian State.”

    2023-03-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9280 (2023) · source