Russia’s lies throw any statements by Kremlin into question – Serheyev

Saturday, October 4, 2014 - 11:08 (EEST) Section: Latest news

False and cynical accusations from Moscow against Ukraine regarding the genocide of its own people have deepened the doubt of the international community about any statements made by the Kremlin authorities on the situation surrounding the current conflict in Donbas.
Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Yuriy Serheyev said this at a briefing in New York on Friday, Ukrinform’s correspondent reported.
“At the very outset of a new 69th session of the UN General Assembly Russia’s propaganda went beyond morality. Russia accused Ukraine of genocide of its own people, trying to cover crimes of its own mercenaries,” he said.
He recalled that on September 25, 2014, a Russian delegation sent a letter to the president of the UN Security Council to accuse Ukrainian military units of the mass murder of people whose bodies were found in graves near the village of Nyzhnia Krynka. Later, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov repeated this accusation at UN headquarters and at a press conference where he stated with “deep sadness in his voice” that the Ukrainian Armed Forces “killed almost 400 people whose unidentified bodies were found in a mass grave.”
“By saying this, Mr. Lavrov put himself into a very confusing situation from the diplomatic point of view and gave an additional motivation for the entire international community and world media to deepen their doubt regarding any information that comes from top Russian officials on the ongoing crisis in eastern Ukraine,” Serheyev said.
The Ukrainian diplomat also drew attention to a statement made by a leader of pro-Russian separatists, Purgin, who actually denied Lavrov’s comment, adding that only nine people were found in the mass grave and that Moscow misinterpreted everything.
“This confusing web of lies built by the Russian propaganda machine became a subject of journalist investigation by a leading British newspaper, The Telegraph, whose authors unmasked in detail all lies of the Russian leadership, Kremlin media and pro-Russian terrorists. All of them, as we say, ‘are confused in their prejudicial evidence,'” Serheyev said.
The Ukrainian diplomat said that this and similar steps were “part of a powerful targeted information campaign by official Moscow to discredit Ukraine and its policy of peaceful settlement of the situation in Donbas.”