German EU Official in Hot Water After Claiming Russians ‘Aren’t European’, Don’t Value Human Life

Western political leaders and media quickly dusted off Cold War and even 19th century propaganda about Russian otherness, barbarism, cruelty, and inhumanity amid Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, with some deciding to take it to the next level.

European Union Institute for Security Studies deputy director Florence Gaub has raised eyebrows after a controversial appearance on German television in which she suggested that Russians “aren’t Europeans” and don’t place much value on human life and individualism.

“We must not forget that even if Russians look European, they are not European in a cultural sense. They think differently about violence, about death”, Gaub said, speaking to 2DF talk show host Markus Lanz earlier this week.

“You mean they’re more hardened, or what?” Lanz asked.

“Well yes. They have no concept of a liberal, post-modern life. A concept of life that each individual can choose. Instead, life simply can end early with death. Russian life expectancy is quite low, you know…That’s why they treat death differently, that people simply die”, Gaub responded.

After her comments sparked a backlash online, the political scientist wrote a seven-part Twitter thread explaining her words, saying that three quarters of Russia’s landmass is in Asia, suggesting that Russian “values” don’t align culturally to Europe, that Russians see the conflict over Ukraine “in a different way than we do”.

“Perhaps most importantly: do Russians think they’re European? Some do, some don’t. But they certainly don’t think of themselves as EU European. And that was my point last night”, Gaub wrote.

Facing continuing attacks, with one critic suggesting that what she was really saying was that “Russians are savage barbarians who only want to kill”, the political scientist doubled down, posting a clip of her controversial clip and writing “Bucha. Mariupol. Aleppo.” – a reference to cities in Ukraine and Syria where Western media have accused Russia of horrific war crimes.

Bucha. Mariupol. Aleppo. https://t.co/W3gLAWqWF3

— Florence of Arabia 🇪🇺🇫🇷🇩🇪 (@FlorenceGaub) April 13, 2022

“‘The Russian is an orc’, only put in more beautiful language”, one user quipped, commenting on Gaub’s words. “Where ‘orc’ as a term is only the pop-culturally prettied up term for ‘subhuman’”, another added, referring to the term used by the Nazis to refer to Slavs, Jews, Roma, and other "inferior" peoples. “How can you throw out such racist garbage?” one person asked.

Others responded by listing off place and cities where Western countries have been accused of crimes of their own. “Auschwitz. Buchenwald. Bergen-Belsen”, one user wrote. “Fallujah. Tripoli. Kabul”, another added. “It was the Red Army that liberated Auschwitz. ‘Modern Europeans’ were responsible for it”, one person recalled.

A few users simply asked Gaub to stop digging a hole for herself.

“Florence, you can be against the conflict without dehumanizing Russians. Greetings from someone who 'may look European’ but is a bit uncivilized in your eyes”, a Russian person wrote.

Gaub did find a few supporters, however, with one person calling her remarks a “sad truth” that “unfortunately no one wants to talk about so openly”, and others adding to her list of cities.

Russia’s military operation in Ukraine has sparked an outburst of pent up Russophobia in the West, with its proponents calling for a blanket ban, boycotting, and blacklisting of everything from Russian-themed foods and books to classical literature and music, historical political figures, and even Yuri Gagarin, the Soviet cosmonaut who became the world’s first space traveller.