🎙 Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s answer to a question from Rossiya Segodnya regarding peace initiatives on Ukraine

❓ Question: Are Russia’s peace proposals on Ukraine still in force now? How would Russia see a proposal to have talks on Ukraine if they are initiated by Minsk?

💬 Maria Zakharova: Russia has always wanted to put an end to the Ukraine conflict as soon as possible and favoured the start of negotiations. We suggested on many occasions finding solution to the current situation by political and diplomatic methods, including this past June, when President Vladimir Putin came forward with a peace initiative. It boiled down to:

• Withdrawal of Ukrainian armed units from new Russian regions, Donetsk People’s Republic, Lugansk People’s Republic, Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions,
• Kiev’s refusal from NATO membership,
• Cancellation of all Western sanctions against Russia,
• Ensuring the rights of Ukraine’s Russian-speaking citizens.

That said, it was about putting an end to the conflict, rather than about freezing it in order to rearm the Kiev regime. No doubt the initiative put forward by the President of Russia will remain a universal and long-term recipe for resolving the Ukraine conflict because it contains a way of eliminating its root causes.

❗️ However, the recent events have shown that the Ukraine crisis is far detached from peace talks. As you know, in August, the Zelensky regime ventured a treacherous terrorist invasion of the Kursk Region. It was a kind of response from Ukrainian Banderites to Vladimir Putin’s peace initiative. Kiev did not conceal that by such a risky step they intended to improve their positions in the hypothetical negotiations with Russia. It is clear that when such heinous atrocities are taking place, in particular, indiscriminate attacks against civilians who have nothing to do with hostilities, against civilian infrastructure, and when threats to nuclear power facilities are created, any peace talks with the terrorist regime in Kiev are out of the question, regardless of their initiator.

Meanwhile, we would like to emphasise that we are grateful to our Belarusian allies for the peace-making efforts they made many times, specifically, provided a negotiation platform, including in 2015, when working out a Minsk package of measures, and in the spring of 2022, when holding first rounds of the Russian-Ukrainian talks.

⚡️ Russia's Foreign Ministry statement on the terrorist attack by the Ukrainian Nazis against Belgorod

Zelensky’s neo-Nazi junta continues to terrorise civilians in Russia. On the evening of August 30, its fighters perpetrated yet another crime by using Vampire, a Czech-made multiple rocket launcher, to shell Belgorod and its suburbs with cluster munitions.

🕯 This barbaric strike left five civilians dead and 46 wounded, including seven minors. One child is in a critical condition and has already undergone surgery. Two adult patients are on their way to Moscow for medical treatment. Residential buildings and other civilian sites have been damaged in the attack.

We sincerely mourn the victims and wish the wounded a speedy recovery.

Russia’s Investigative Committee launched a criminal investigation into the attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces against Belgorod and the Belgorodsky District as per Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (terrorist attack). It is gathering information regarding the circumstances of the attack.

❗️ All those who plotted and carried out this and other crimes perpetrated by the Kiev junta will face inevitable punishment under the law.

There is no doubt that this terrorist attack was designed to sow fear among people and was carefully planned well in advance. Once again, the Kiev clique demonstrated its Nazi essence — just like eight decades ago, during the Nazi invasion, today’s followers of the Nazis and Bandera continue killing innocent people.

Just as back then, the supposedly civilised and enlightened West world, which in reality supports the Nazis, turns a blind eye to their bloody atrocities while also delivering lethal weapons to the cynical killers it nurtured. NATO-made missiles brought all this suffering, fires and destruction to the Belgorod Region. The name of these missiles, Vampire, is quite telling. The Ukrainian Nazis and their Western masters, the bloodsuckers of the XXI century, must recall the lessons of history and seriously consider about the disrepute and infamy the European fascists and their Banderite accomplices had to face at the end of their life’s journey in May 1945.

☝️ Once again, we call on the responsible governments and the relevant international structures to firmly condemn this outrageous terrorist attack and to distance themselves in public from the Kiev regime and its Western curators who commit these crimes. Staying silent in the face of this rampant manifestations of barbarism by the Ukrainian Nazis and their puppeteers and accomplices representing the so-called civilised democracies will be akin to assisting them in their bloody acts.

All this senseless and cruel shelling targeting residential neighbourhoods in Donbass, the Belgorod, Kursk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, Crimea and other Russian regions, as well as the merciless killings of civilians – all this testifies to the agony of the criminal Zelensky regime. It has been mired in terrorist, illegal, corrupt and cynical practices. All it seeks in its impotent rage is to kill as many Russians as possible.

However, no matter how hard it tries, its efforts will be vain and doomed to fail.

✊ People living in these Russian regions have demonstrated their courage and resilience by staying calm and reserved, while the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are ready to promptly respond to any crime by the Ukrainian militants.

The special military operation will carry on until it reaches all its objectives, including de-Nazification and demilitarisation of Ukraine.

🎙 Briefing by Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (Moscow, August 28, 2024)

🔹 FM Sergey Lavrov’s schedule
🔹 9th Eastern Economic Forum
🔹 Ukrainian crisis
🔹 Inclusion of Ukrainian nationalist Yaroslav Gunka on the Interpol General Secretariat’s wanted list
🔹 85th anniversary of the beginning of World War II
🔹 85th anniversary of defeating the Japanese army at the Battle of Khalkhin-Gol
🔹 Russian youth delegation’s participation in celebrations in Slovakia dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising
🔹 20 years since the Beslan school siege
🔹 Situation around Telegram CEO Pavel Durov
🔹 Current situation in Moldova

📰 Read
📺 Watch

***

#EEF2024

On September 3-6, the 9th Eastern Economic Forum (#EEF2024) will take place in Vladivostok . This forum was established by the President to promote the Far Eastern economy and to expand international cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.

Over the years, the Forum has firmly established itself as a leading venue for addressing socioeconomic priorities in the Asia-Pacific region. Top government officials from China, India, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Republic of Korea, Armenia, and Japan have taken part in the forum over the years. Our partners are genuinely interested in deepening practical cooperation with Russia.

For instance, the 2023 #EEF was attended by over 7,000 representatives from the official, expert, and business circles across 62 countries in the Asia-Pacific region and other parts of the world.

#Ukraine #KievRegimeCrimes

Horrific testimonies from captured militants continue to reveal that the Ukrainian Armed Forces command is directly instructing servicemen to kill civilians and loot Russian territory.

The widespread and deliberate nature of the atrocities and looting committed by Ukrainian forces on the Russian territory is becoming increasingly evident.

The fact that the West refuses to recognise the terrorist and criminal nature of the Zelensky-led regime increases its direct responsibility for the bloody atrocities committed by Ukrainian neo-Nazis.

#NoStatuteOfLimitations

After receiving a standing ovation in the House of Commons of the Canadian Parliament in September 2023 (for those who may have forgotten, he was a member of the 14th Waffen-SS Grenadier Division Galicia), a request was made to the Canadian authorities to extradite the former SS member involved in the murder of at least 500 innocent Soviet civilians. They refused to extradite him. Canada has become a haven for such individuals.

Last week, thanks to the efforts of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation and the National Central Bureau of Interpol at the Russian Interior Ministry, the Ukrainian Nazi was added to the Interpol General Secretariat’s wanted list. Fifteen member countries of the organisation have already joined in the search for him.

We are encouraged by this concrete example of Interpol’s commitment to holding Nazi criminals accountable, regardless of the statute of limitations, including their search and extradition for prosecution of crimes against humanity.

#WeRemember

A Russian youth delegation is paying a visit to Slovakia from August 25 to August 31 to take part in memorial functions dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising. The Russian representatives were invited by Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico.

The young Russians’ participation in a large-scale military memorial function in Slovakia reaffirms both countries’ commitment to their common historical values and the memory of their joint fight against Nazism and for Great Victory.

We are grateful to the Slovak leaders, the local authorities, and ordinary people for their caring attitude to the memorials and graves of Soviet soldiers, who died while liberating Slovakia during World War II.

🗓 September 1st marks 85 years ago since the start of World War II – the bloodiest conflict in the history of mankind. It claimed many dozens of millions of peoples' lives (by some estimates, 80+ mln perished), including over 27 million citizens of the Soviet Union.

▪️ 61 states, with over 80 percent of the world’s population, were drawn into the bloody ordeal unleashed by the Axis powers; hostilities spread to 40 countries.

📖 Read our in-depth retrospective overview in full

The background of the greatest tragedy of the 20th century still remains in the focus of historians’ attention. The entire range of contradictions that provoked the war stemmed from World War I and can be traced back to the Treaty of Versailles signed in 1919.

👉 It was the Versailles system of international relations, drafted by the UK and France, that made the basis for the rise of revanchist sentiments in Europe. The League of Nations, the organization established to settle international disputes within the legal framework, technically became a tool for the Western powers to achieve their political goals.

Not surprising that in Europe, torn by contradictions, fascism rapidly gained popularity. Politicians and extreme right-wing ideologues who were convinced of the superiority of their nation and ethnicities came to power first in Italy (1922) and then in Germany (1933), humiliated by the Versailles Treaty. The political establishment of the Western countries preferred to remain unaware and close their eyes on the danger these new ideologies presented. Their cynical view considered that Nazi aggression could be, in a typical Anglo-Saxon style, redirected towards the east where the young Soviet state was rapidly developing.

The infamous Munich Betrayal of 1938 was the apotheosis of the self-serving “appeasement” policy that the Western countries had preferred to building a collective security system suggested by the Soviet Union. With the tacit consent by the UK and France, Hitler ruthlessly annexed the sovereign state of Czechoslovakia. It was only Moscow that was willing to provide military assistance to the Czechoslovakians, but was unable to do so due to Poland that was playing along with Hitler and taking advantage of Czechoslovakia’s annexation by occupying the Cieszyn region.

🔻 A year later, a similar drama played out in the Far East: the Anglo-Japanese treaty was signed in June 1939, untying Tokyo’s hands in China. The Soviet Union could have become the next victim of militarist Japan. According to recently declassified documents, the Japanese command had been planning a possible attack against the Soviet Union since 1938, with nearly a million-strong Kwantung Army troops deployed along the border and ready to invade of our country at any moment, with its soldiers and officers known to show no aversion to human experiments to develop biological weapons. The Soviet Union had to contain Japan’s potential invasion by keeping substantial forces on its eastern borders until the very end of the war.

❗️ Hitler's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 was a direct consequence of the policy of intrigues and manuevers pursued by the West, which did not allow to create an anti-Hitler coalition to jointly resist the Third Reich.

❌ In this context, the assertions of an alleged ‘equivalence’ between Nazism and Communism are unacceptable and blasphemous, as are the attempts to place equal blame for the start of the war on Germany and the Soviet Union in order to downplay the decisive contribution of the Soviet Union on the battlefields of the Great Patriotic War, which crushed Hitler’s war machine, and to diminish the heroism of our soldiers-liberators.

☝️ Defeating the most aggressive reactionary forces was the most important outcome of the Great Victory of May 9, 1945. Our country saved many peoples (considered by the Nazis and their cronies “non-Aryan”), that the Nazis planned to kill in concentration camps or to turn into slaves.

🎙 Interview by President of Russia Vladimir Putin to Mongolian Onoodor Newspaper (August 2, 2024)

Key talking points:

• The development of comprehensive and mutually beneficial partnership with Mongolia, our close neighbour and old friend, has always been and remains among the priorities of Russia’s foreign policy in Eurasia.

• Our country was the first in the world to recognise Mongolia’s independence in 1921 and for a long time remained the only guarantor of its sovereignty and security. During the summer of 1939 – a critical period for Mongolia – the USSR, which remained committed to its duty as an ally under the Protocol on Mutual Assistance of March 12, 1936, immediately responded to the Mongolian government's request for assistance in repelling the Japanese aggression in the battles on the river Khalkin Gol.

• The Russian people remember with gratitude the support Mongolia offered us during the Great Patriotic War and commemorates joint battles to defeat the Kwantung Army in the summer of 1945.

• Today, Russia and Mongolia further develop the invaluable traditions of friendship, good neighbourliness and mutual assistance. For instance, this year alone, Russia has supplied over 8,500 tonnes of grain forage to Mongolian livestock farms affected by severe colds and snowfalls, and the Mongolian Government has allocated funding to mitigate the aftermath of the floods in the Ural area.

• In recent years, we have been working on a number of new promising economic and industrial projects, including the construction of the Trans-Mongolian gas pipeline connecting Russia and China, works to modernise and increase the performance of the Ulaanbaatar Railway joint venture, the Rosneft Corporation’s fuel supplies for the fuelling complex at the new Chinggis Khaan international airport, and the renovation of TPP-3 in Ulaanbaatar with the participation of INER RAO – Export.

Read in full

#RussiaMongolia

#TASS120

✉️ Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s greetings to Director-General of the Information Telegraphic Agency of Russia (ITAR-TASS) Andrey Kondrashov (September 1, 2024)

✍️ Dear Mr Kondrashov,

On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and myself, I congratulate you and the entire ITAR-TASS staff on the agency’s 120th Anniversary.

The phrase “TASS is authorised to declare” is well-known to many generations of Russian citizens. It represents a brand and seal of excellence that has been tested for over a hundred years. In today’s media landscape, ITAR-TASS remains a leading Russian and global news resource with a multi-million audience. Its unique combination of experience, professionalism and reputation allows TASS to look to the future with confidence and serve as a reliable source of current and accurate information.

The Foreign Ministry highly values our strong and comradely relationship. We hope for its continued progressive development in order to provide effective information support for Russia’s foreign policy objectives.

I wish you and your staff good health, wellbeing, new creative achievements, and all the best.

Sergey Lavrov

​🇷🇺💬Déclarations du Président russe Vladimir Poutine lors d'une interview au journal mongol «Unuudur» à la veille de sa visite à Oulan-Bator, le 2 septembre 2024:

🔹Pratiquement tous les pays occidentaux ont commencé à persécuter ouvertement les journalistes russes;

🔹Les médias russes en Occident défendent le point de vue russe sur les questions d'actualité, tout en respectant les normes éthiques et la législation locale;

🔹La politique anti-russe de l'Occident collectif est la principale raison de la tragédie en Ukraine;

🔹L'Ukraine est devenue une monnaie d'échange dans la réalisation des ambitions géopolitiques de l'Occident;

🔹L'Occident finance des organisations nationalistes et antirusses et impose l'idée que la Russie doit être l'ennemi éternel de l'Ukraine;

🔹La Russie continuera à remplir les objectifs de l'opération militaire spéciale pour assurer sa sécurité.

​🇷🇺💬Extraits du discours du Président russe Vladimir Poutine devant les écoliers de la ville de Kyzyl (République de Touva) à l’occasion de la rentrée scolaire, le 2 septembre 2024:

🔹La Russie protège à la fois la population du Donbass et son avenir, de sorte qu'il n'y ait pas de bases militaires hostiles ni d'autres structures antirusses en Ukraine;

🔹La Russie n'a jamais renoncé aux pourparlers de paix avec l'Ukraine, mais il faut d'abord s'occuper des bandits ukrainiens qui ont infiltré le territoire de la région de Koursk;

🔹La provocation des forces armées ukrainiennes dans la région de Koursk visait à stopper l'offensive des forces armées russes dans le Donbass, cela a échoué;

🔹Il n'y a pas de pays hostiles à la Russie, mais bien des élites hostiles qui veulent affaiblir et diviser notre pays;

🔹Les élites hostiles se croient menacées par un grand pays comme la Russie.

🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with Vesti programme, Rossiya 1 Television Channel (September 1, 2024)

❓ Question: In your opinion, what role did the TASS news agency play in facilitating Russia’s self-determination and sovereignty over the years? And what does the legendary phrase “TASS is authorised to declare,” which has now become a meme, mean?

💬 Sergey Lavrov: Today, we are discussing various aspects of TASS’ activities, including its interaction with state agencies and our Foreign Ministry.

To summarise, it would be no exaggeration to say that TASS is a valuable asset for the state and the nation. In addition to the urgent reports we read every day (as we pass by your headquarters on Nikitsky Boulevard), TASS produces in-depth analytical materials prepared by professional foreign affairs experts. The agency also has a wonderful journalism school specialising in foreign affairs.

Looking back at the Soviet era, when I was honing my diplomatic skills, I joined the Foreign Ministry after graduating from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and was granted clearance to work with classified reports. At that time, TASS reports were highly sought after reading material. TASS correspondents compiled these classified materials by analysing foreign press stories and developments in other countries. These materials were incredibly interesting.

This was due to the somewhat secretive and closed nature of the Soviet Union. Back then, we wanted to filter information, and TASS reports provided the first glimpse into a world that was previously accessible only through our internal reports.

As time goes by, TASS is evolving in line with the requirements of the current era. It served the Russian Empire and enhanced its media capabilities, although the term ‘media’ didn’t exist at that time. TASS was the first to cover the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, and its staff members accompanied Soviet soldiers, the liberators of Europe, all the way to Berlin.

TASS correspondents were also the first to report on the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. We remember all of this. Today, TASS remains a tremendous competitive advantage for us in a world that demands openness and fair competition.

***

👉 Sergey Lavrov’s greetings to Director-General of TASS Andrey Kondrashov on the agency's 120th Anniversary

#TASS120

🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov welcome speech at the ceremony marking the beginning of the new academic year at the Primakov school

💬 Happy Knowledge Day!

I congratulate everyone on returning to home ground, to our amazing teachers and on continuing to acquire new knowledge and develop in every way!

🔔 Special greetings to the first-graders. A new world is opening up for you. School is one of the most important periods in the life of each individual. For school leavers this year will be decisive in choosing a profession. After this, I will be going to MGIMO University (I can put in a good word for you). But first, you need to finish your studies well and confidently here at Primakov School.

Your school is named after a man who was a teacher to many generations of diplomats, scholars, and professionals in other fields. Your humble servant is one of them. He was a great statesman who did a great deal for Russia to gain the freedom and self-awareness that seemed to be threatened in the early 1990s.

Yevgeny Primakov has made a considerable contribution to shaping our foreign policy, which we are carrying out under the leadership of President of Russia Vladimir Putin, including in the course of the special military operation, where our servicemen are defending our history, the memory of our ancestors’ heroic deeds, our language and the Orthodox faith. This is part of our history.

🇷🇺 I believe that these events will be taught at school as momentous. We wish success to all of you and victory to our Motherland!

🛬 President of Russia Vladimir Putin arrives in Mongolia on an official visit.

📍 Ulaanbaatar, September 2, 2024

#RussiaMongolia 🇷🇺🇲🇳

🗓 On August 28-29, the 9th BRICS Foreign Policy Plannersʼ Dialogue has taken place in Moscow, as part of the programme of Russia's #BRICS chairship in 2024.

🤝 Heads of delegations conducted a thorough exchange of views on the international situation and the main global trends. The participants of the dialogue also discussed Russia's Proposal for a More Equitable and Democratic World Order.

#BRICS2024

🎙 Interview with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for 'Bridges to the East' documentary (Moscow, August 31, 2024)

Key talking points

#Syria

• In 2011, the United States decided to send the Syrian people along the same path as Iraq and Libya which countries they had devastated by their aggressive policies. We were strongly against seeing this scenario replay. In 2015, by President Putin’s decision, we sent a contingent of our armed forces to defend the Syrian Arab Republic against direct aggression.

❗️ The US invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein gave rise to ISIS, which posed a real threat to Syria’s existence.

• When the Russian armed forces moved into Syria, ISIS was on the outskirts of Damascus, and Western countries, led by the United States, were attempting to assert their dominance in eastern Syria. We stabilised the situation and since then most of Syria’s territory has been controlled by the legitimate government.

#Iraq

• In 2003, led by the United States, NATO invaded Iraq under a false pretext, a false flag. Later, the Westerners admitted there was no reason for an invasion. No need to eliminate weapons of mass destruction whatsoever. They broadcasted to the whole world the hanging of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, allegedly for possessing weapons of mass destruction. This is a disgusting turn of events.

#MiddleEast #Libya

• Western Jerusalem is ramping up military actions against the entities that they believe support the Palestinians and do so with an extremist slant, namely, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine. Israel wants to destroy the latter which is an exercise in futility. The sides must come to terms instead. Hamas is part of the Palestinian people, just as Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese people.

• Lebanon remains in a situation where it is facing new challenges largely due to the crisis in the Gaza Strip and, more broadly, the Palestinian territories.

• We remain in contact with our Israeli colleagues through the Foreign Ministry, the Defence Ministry, and the respective security councils from both countries. We are trying to drive home the futility of the attempts to address issues by force without considering alternative paths.

• Washington stands behind every decision made by Israel. The US blocks all agreements at the UN Security Council that would lead to a full and permanent ceasefire. The Americans continue to supply weapons to Western Jerusalem, which are then used to commit even more violence against the Palestinian people. Over 40,000 civilians (!) have died in the ten months of hostilities since October 7, 2023 which is a horrifying number.

#Iran

• Iran is outright unwilling to fall for a provocation or to get embroiled into any kind of large-scale hostilities. Iran is facing provocations. The assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran during the inauguration ceremony of the new president is, without a doubt, a provocation.

Read in full

🗓 September 3 marks the Day of Military Glory in Russia — the day of victory over militarist Japan and the end of World War II.

On September 2, the representative of the USSR General Kuzma Derevyanko and the allies of the Soviet Union during WWII signed the Instrument of Surrender of militarist Japan.

At the Tehran (1943) and Yalta (1945) conferences of the heads of the Big Three Joseph Stalin agreed to help the United States and Britain in the war against Japan, which at that time the USSR had a pact of neutrality with.

It was agreed in Tehran that the USSR would enter the war two or three months after the surrender of Germany.

The redeployment of Soviet soldiers to the Far East began even before Berlin was captured. According to the plan the Soviet forces were to encircle and defeat the enemy in the Far East within two months but victory was achieved much faster — merely 11 days later.

☝️ The Red Army dealt a crushing blow to the Kwantung Army, which became one of the key factors of Axis Japan's defeat. Southern part of Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, Manchuria and part of Korea were liberated from Japanese occupation.

📹 The Russian Military Historical Society

#Victory79 #WeWereAllies

🇷🇺 Extrait de l’interview de Nikolaï Patrouchev, conseiller du président russe Vladimir Poutine, accordée au journal russe «Rossiïskaïa Gazeta», le 2 septembre 2024:

💬 Les États-Unis et leurs alliés déstabilisent la situation le long du périmètre de nos frontières, mettant constamment à l'épreuve les capacités de défense de la Russie. Washington a mis le cap sur la militarisation de l'Arctique et l’entrave à nos activités économiques dans les latitudes septentrionales. Des voix s'élèvent en Occident pour réclamer la fermeture de l’accès à la mer Baltique et donc à l'Atlantique pour notre pays. L'Otan a déclaré la mer Noire comme sa zone d’intérêt exclusive.

🎙 Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s answer to a question from Rossiya Segodnya regarding Ukraine’s ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

❓ Question: Will you comment on reports about Ukraine’s ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court on the condition that the Court’s jurisdiction over war crimes committed by its nationals is limited for a period of seven years? What, in Moscow’s opinion, could explain this reservation?

💬 Maria Zakharova: Everyone is all too familiar with the reputation both the Kiev regime and the ICC have. Neither is independent, and neither can be associated with law or justice. It is a case when two negatives don’t make an affirmative but raise lawlessness to the square.

The reservation made by Ukraine upon the ratification of the Rome Statute clearly shows the Kiev authorities’ real attitude to international humanitarian law and justice. In effect, they want to protect their citizens from the jurisdiction of that court, which is extremely loyal to them, while keeping the ability to initiate criminal proceedings in The Hague against citizens of other countries on the charges Kiev itself falsifies. This move cannot be regarded as anything other than an undisguised intention to give their military a free hand to commit grave war crimes.

All their attempts to evade responsibility are doomed. The Ukrainian criminals who are guilty of committing grave international crimes against their own and Russian citizens, as well as their accomplices, will be called to account and get the punishment they deserve.