Moscow -- The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that a report prepared by the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine is far from objectivity and fact-twisting.
“Unfortunately, the authors of the document are still far from being objective in their description and assessments of the tragedy in East Ukraine. Facts relating to the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border are being twisted. The myth about the presence of Russian troops in the Donbas region is being cultivated. As previously, information from dubious sources is being used,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a commentary on Friday.
“Consider references to the Security Service of Ukraine, which was caught lying many times, and some ‘satellite images’ that were never shown. We think the report’s assessments and conclusions based on such ‘evidence’ are absolutely unacceptable,” the document said.
“Speaking of the difficult economic situation in the country, particularly in Donetsk and Luhansk, the mission for some reason shuns the Kyiv-imposed economic blockade of Donbas which aggravates the humanitarian disaster,” the ministry said.
“The OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) is silent on the fact that the Ukrainian armed forces were using cluster and incendiary munitions against the Donbas civilian population. Nor has the report found any room to acknowledge that the Ukrainian army and radicals from the ‘National Guard’ were using Grad multiple rocket launchers in shelling residential quarters, though proof of it is contained in a relevant report by the well-known human-right organization Human Rights Watch,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
“Once again serious problems of the Russian-language population of Ukraine are being ignored. The document contains not one word about the reduction of the Russian component in education, the ban on a number of teacher guidebooks and numerous threats against priests and takeovers of the churches belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate,” the ministry said.
“Nevertheless, under the pressure of facts, the monitors did make an attempt to look objective and reflect the most flagrance instances of human rights violation by the Ukrainian authorities and forces, which primarily include mass kidnappings, arrests, sexual violence, torture and murders. We take note of the information about a number of criminal inquiries launched into the so-called ‘volunteer squads.’ We hope the monitoring mission will be closely watching the inquiry. Those responsible must not remain unpunished,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in the commentary.
“(The report) also confirms data about blatant ‘fraud’ by Kyiv in prisoners-of-war exchange, whereas the DPR and LPR (the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics) have approached their obligations in good faith,” the document said.
Surprisingly, “this time (the report) has shunned the subject of the Malaysian Boeing crash,” the ministry said. “We are urging the mission not to follow the lead of those who are seeking to wind up the inquiry and hide the evidence of this horrendous crime, and to keep this important issue within their field of vision,” the commentary said.
“Currently, the parties to the Ukrainian domestic conflict, which claimed thousands of lives, need to do whatever is possible to peacefully resolve the crisis in the framework of international law and on the basis of the agreements reached in Minsk,” the ministry said.
“We hope this call will be heeded in Kyiv. For its part, Russia is doing all it can to help settle the situation,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
