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Maria Zakharova Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman

Ukrainian nationalists have been focusing on provocations, disinformation and fabricated episodes that are aimed at accusing Russia of war crimes. We saw similar staged shows in Syria several years ago.

On April 3, 2022, the world saw another crime by the Ukrainian authorities in Bucha where they faked the alleged murder of civilians by the Russian military. After checking the relevant reports and comparing information the Russian Defence Ministry promptly came up with a detailed rebuttal.

Until March 30, 2022, when Bucha was controlled by the Russian military and up to and including April 3 when they left, local residents freely moved around the city and used mobile phones.

They could have complained about any action by anyone, including the Russian military but there was nothing to complain about.

The Russian military delivered to the people of Bucha and other places in the Kiev Region 452 tonnes of humanitarian aid. Not a single civilian was hurt by a violent attack while Bucha was under the control of the Russian armed forces.

There has been no information to this effect. The roads from Bucha to other places, including Kiev, were not blocked.

In the process, Ukrainian troops shelled around the clock the southern outskirts of the city, including its residential areas (as they always do everywhere). They used large calibre artillery, tanks and multiple rocket launchers for this purpose.

On March 31, 2022, Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk of Bucha, who said in a video address that Russian forces had pulled out of the city, did not mention any executed residents. I suggest that you watch this video before it is deleted from YouTube, Twitter and other US platforms that are accomplices in this crime.

By spreading fake news and blocking the truth, alternative views, investigation material and straight talk, these platforms have become accomplices in this terrible tragedy in Bucha, which is the result of Kiev’s crimes.

I am accusing Western and primarily the US media of not only spreading fake news and disinformation, but of being an accomplice in the massacre in Bucha.

So, on April 3, 2022 after employees of the Security Service of Ukraine and, probably, the special services of other countries as well (this will have to be established) arrived in the city, the evidence of what was left in the city was revealed. In fact, it was not left but committed after militants controlled by the Kiev regime (or not controlled by it) arrived in the city.

Following the check, Russia immediately requested a meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss this situation and probably to share information if someone had additional evidence.

However, the British Presidency of the UN Security Council brushed aside our initiative twice in one day. A meeting on the situation in Ukraine was held only on April 5 but it was planned before as part of the programme.

The course of the discussion at the UN Security Council showed that our Western colleagues refused to consider the glaring inconsistencies in the footage from Bucha, which was aired by their media. As a matter of fact, they were not going to discuss anything in those videos. They made their accusatory statements and were done with it. It has always been that way, hasn’t it?

Was it any different after the provocation in Syria? Or after the faked scenes in Salisbury or Amesbury? Has there been at least one investigation that has been brought to conclusion, based on the law, or that was done within the legal field? Never.

Nothing. Everything has always been left hanging in the air. On the other hand, political accusations backed up by the expulsion of diplomats and sanctions are a tradition which was invariably maintained.

Obviously, this terrible and criminal fake was fabricated in order to justify yet another pre-planned package of sanctions, including mass expulsions of Russian diplomats from a number of Western countries, and to complicate (if not completely thwart) the talks in which Kiev began to show signs of taking a realistic approach.

The third, most important factor is to once again heighten tensions not only in the region, but around the world as well. They have to provide explanations to the people affected by the sanctions that the West imposed on Russia, which either backfired or ricocheted around the world.

They need to explain why sanctions continue to be imposed.

I think that these countries and political forces were asked to provide at least some explanations to the public in their respective countries as to why they are leaving it with record high fuel prices, food crises and supply chain problems due to flight cancellations, border closures, etc.