View of the Kremlin in Moscow, April 1, 2023. NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA / AFP
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that it had summoned the charge d’affaires of the French embassy in Moscow to protest against “fake postsabout atrocities attributed to Russian forces in Ukraine. Moscow hasstrongly protested against the statements published by the embassy on social networks concerningthe crimes attributed to the Russian military, the ministry said in a statement.
According to Russian diplomacy,it is categorically unacceptable to make false accusations against our military“. She accused France of “actively supplying military equipment and ammunition to the Ukrainian army and thus do everything possible to prolong the hostilities“.
Boutcha in question
According to Moscow, the publications in question relate in particular to the massacre attributed to Russian forces in Boutcha, a town near Kiev, where the bodies of coldly executed civilians were discovered after the withdrawal of Russian troops. Ukraine commemorated on Sunday the first anniversary of this macabre discovery, which has become the symbol of the atrocities attributed to Russian forces in the conflict.
Moscow denies any involvement in these deaths and has repeatedly mentioned a “stagingfrom Kyiv. The Russian Foreign Ministry again on Tuesday raised accusations “unfounded“, ensuring not to have seen”evidence“Russian crimes nor”objective investigationon the facts. Ukraine estimates that more than 1,400 civilians died in the Boutcha district during the Russian occupation, including 37 children. Among them, 637 were killed in the city itself.