You're reading: Moscow calls Ukraine report of UN OHCHR ‘hypocritical’

Moscow - The latest report concerning the situation in Ukraine presented by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is "biased and hypocritical," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich has said.

“We have carefully studied the latest, fourth, report published by
the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the basis of
information presented by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in
Ukraine,” Lukashevich said in a commentary, which was published on the
Russian Foreign Ministry’s website.

“Our main conclusion is that this report is biased and even hypocritical,” the diplomat said.

“What is the price of its key message that the government of Ukraine
is allowed to legitimately use force to restore the rule of law and
order in the east of the country? It effectively serves to justify
Ukraine’s ongoing punitive operation,” he said.

Lukashevich also accused the report of misrepresenting the events taking place in Ukraine today.

“It claims that Kyiv allegedly launched a military campaign in
response to militiamen’s actions. In this connection, I would like to
remind everyone that the local population took up arms in order to
protect themselves and their families from ultra-nationalists and
neo-Nazis, including mercenaries,” he said.

“The report fails to mention that the Ukrainian army and National
Guard radicals have used Grad multiple rocket launchers at least four
times, killing 16 people and injuring a large number of civilians. These
facts were confirmed by a recent statement issued by the Human Rights
Watch organization,” Lukashevich said.

Furthermore, the OHCHR chose to keep silent about the detentions and
mistreatment of Russian journalists from the Zvezda and LifeNews
television stations, he said.

“In our opinion, allegations that two Russian journalists of VGTRK
could have been killed both by Ukrainian servicemen and militiamen are
cynical,” Lukashevich said.

The report also contains scores of other unfair assessments, he said.

“Nevertheless, observers have been unable to ignore certain
violations of human rights and the norms of international law, as well
as brutal violence on the part of the Kyiv authorities. The mission
would have fully discredited itself if it had decided to remain silent
about these matters,” Lukashevich said.

“In particular, it was noted that the current conflict was initially
sparked by the disregard of the legal demands in the east of Ukraine
concerning broader autonomy in the issue of self-governance and the
opportunity for these people to speak their mother tongue,” he said.

According to the report, indiscriminate strikes launched by the
Ukrainian army and National Guard against towns and villages in eastern
Ukraine are the reason behind the growing number of civilian casualties,
Lukashevich said.

“The report reiterates that so far there has been no progress in
investigations of the tragic events that occurred on the Kyiv Maidan, in
Odesa and Mariupol. One can hardly expect at least one of these
inquiries to be brought to a conclusion,” the diplomat said.

“The report mentions the witch-hunt underway in Ukraine. The Kyiv
authorities have been detaining all persons whom they suspect of
sympathizing with the militia, have banned Russian television channels
and have deleted undesirable comments on social networking websites. It
[the UN report] also addresses intolerance, extremism, attacks on
representatives of ethnic and religions minorities, as well as instances
of anti-Semitism,” Lukashevich said.

The authors of the report agreed that “all amendments to the
constitution of Ukraine should be put up for a broad public debate, and
should not be prepared behind the scenes,” he said.

“However, the report of the UN Monitoring Mission fails to include an
important demand that the punitive operation that is being conducted by
the Kyiv authorities against their own people must be stopped
immediately. Without it, any talk of human rights in Ukraine becomes
pointless,” the Russian diplomat said.

“In our opinion, efforts by the Office of the UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights and the UN Monitoring Mission in Ukraine should not
seek to justify either directly or indirectly the violence being
committed by the Ukrainian authorities. Rather, its efforts should be
aimed at securing a ceasefire and launching dialogue between Kyiv and
representatives of the east in order to restore peace in this region,”
Lukashevich said.