A top Russian diplomat has said that Kiev conducted a false flag attack in the city of Bucha after the withdrawal of Russian troops from the city.
The situation around the Ukrainian city of Bucha, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, is “yet another fake attack” that Ukraine is attempting to use against Russia.
During a meeting with Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths, Lavrov said, “We requested an urgent meeting of the Security Council on this specific issue because we see such provocations as a direct threat to international peace and security.”
According to a top Russian diplomat, the gruesome images in Bucha were created after Russian soldiers had left the city, with Ukrainian officials, allegedly influenced by their “Western patrons,” spreading “fake videos” from Bucha on social media.
“Russian servicemen left this city on 30 March, on 31 March the mayor of the city solemnly said that everything was in order, and two days later we saw how that very performance was organised on the streets, which they are now trying to use for anti-Russian purposes,” Lavrov added.
Lavrov’s comments come after pictures of dead bodies scattered across the streets of Bucha, a town in the Kiev region, fuelled claims that Russia was orchestrating the mass slaughter of people. Moscow has emphatically denied involvement in the killings, describing the footage from Bucha as “another provocation” staged by Kiev for the Western media.
Another video from Sergei Korotkih, the leader of the “BOATSMAN BOYS” – one of Kiev’s territory defence groups – appeared on the internet over the weekend. Fighters can be heard asking if they are permitted to shoot those who are not wearing blue armbands (a symbol of Ukrainian forces) and receiving a green light in the footage.
Many social media users speculated that the unsettling videos from Bucha were faked as some of the “corpses” appeared to move or even get up as soon as a car drove past them.
Aside from that, the Ukrainian National Police shared a video on social media on Saturday claiming to have undertaken a “clearing operation” in Bucha following the pullout of Russian soldiers.
“Today, on 2 April, in the liberated city of Bucha, Kiev region, special units of the Ukrainian National Police began clearing the area of saboteurs and accomplices of Russian troops,” the Ukrainian National Police said on Facebook.
The video of the “clearing op” was released before Ukrainian and Western media fanned the idea that Russia was killing civilians in vast numbers and circulated footage purporting to show bodies scattered across the streets.
Russia called the Bucha incident a “criminal provocation” and demanded a UN Security Council meeting on the issue, but the United Kingdom said no. Nonetheless, Moscow has hinted that it will urge a meeting on the subject once more. In turn, the Russian Investigative Committee has opened a legal probe into the matter.