This Wednesday, Moscow again maintained that the massacre of civilians in the Bucha suburb is a “set-up” that must be investigated. The international community attributes the crime to the Russian Army and several media outlets have released satellite images that contradict the Russian version of events. Reason why several Western powers are preparing a new round of sanctions against Russia.
Despite the withdrawal of Russian troops from the outskirts of kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, the tension seems to be at one of its peaks. The reason: the killing of dozens of civilians in a suburb near the capital, Bucha, which has prompted accusations of “war crimes”.
While Ukraine claims that Russian troops were the ones who murdered, tortured and left dozens of civilians lying in the streets of Bucha, Russia maintains that everything is a “set-up” orchestrated by Ukraine to further dull its image before the international community. An argument that the Kremlin repeated this Wednesday.
“Undoubtedly, the monstrous set-up in Bucha should and needs to be investigated,” said the spokesman for the Russian Presidency, Dmitri Peskov, at his daily press conference.
Moscow has claimed to be in favor of the proposal by António Guterrres, UN Secretary General, who on Tuesday asked for it to be carried out an “independent” investigation about what happened in the Ukrainian town.
“But to really find out what happened, the investigation must be really independent and impartial,” Peskov said.
Since the day the bodies were discovered, Russian authorities have insisted that “not a single inhabitant suffered acts of violence” while their troops controlled the city. A version completely opposed to those of the Western powers, which are preparing new sanctions against Russia after the events.
Why does Russia insist that it is a setup?
This April 6, the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, María Zajárova, assured that the alleged “montage” is intended to justify more sanctions against Moscow and to derail the peace talks with kyiv.
“It is a well-organized tragic show … It is a fake intended to denigrate the Russian army, but it will not work,” Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov said on Tuesday.
To support this version, Russia has pointed out that its troops left Bucha on March 30; the mayor announced the removal of these on March 31 and the bodies were shown for the first time on April 3. Based on this and due to the speed of the information flow about the war, the Kremlin assures that the chronology does not fit –something questioned by various media-.
His version is that, after the Russian troops left, the Ukrainians entered the city and staged the massacre. They also maintain that the bodies do not have the expected signs of degradation after several days in the open; something that only medical examiners can determine.
In addition, the Russian Defense Ministry has claimed to have evidence that Ukraine’s 72nd Main Psychological Operations Center helped set up a similar scenario in a town 23 kilometers from kyiv, as well as in Sumy, Konotop and other cities.
However, the Russian Executive has not yet presented any evidence to support these claims.
In the United Nations, an organization that has been determined to clarify the facts, accusations have also been exchanged between Russian diplomats and representatives of Western countries, such as the United States.
Not listening to us again in UNSC today. Or being diplomatically deaf. Why should Russia be held accountable for sth it didn’t do? Let those who staged this heinous provocation be held accountable, we are very much for it #Bucha https://t.co/Xq3jwpdJhy
— Dmitry Polyanskiy (@Dpol_un) April 5, 2022
“Without listening to us again in the United Nations Security Council today. Or being diplomatically deaf. Why should Russia be held accountable for something it didn’t do? Holding accountable those who staged this heinous provocation is something we strongly support. agreement,” said Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, following accusations against Bucha by his American counterpart.
From Russia they also assure that in the Donbass -a zone in conflict for eight years- there have been several massacres in which the Ukrainian soldiers They tied people up and shot them in the head from behind., just like what happened in the Bucha killings of civilians. However, they have not provided any evidence for this claim either.
“The collective West has closed its eyes and ears and doesn’t want to hear anything,” said Peskov, who also accuses the Western media of giving a “very biased” view of what happened during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The evidence about what happened in Bucha so far
So far, several public and private entities have provided some evidence and testimonies to try to clarify, as far as possible, what happened in Bucha.
The first images were published exclusively by the American newspaper ‘The New York Times’in a video showing that the bodies of the civilians were apparently in the same place several days before the Russian troops left the town.
Contradicting the Russian version of events, satellite images provided to the newspaper by Maxar Technologies – a private US space technology company – show that at least eleven of the bodies had been lying in the street since March 11, the date on which the town was occupied by Russia.
This Wednesday, Germany also released satellite images showing a mass grave and corpses in the streets during the presence of the Russian Army in the town.
“There is analysis of satellite images taken between March 10 and 18, 2022 showing that Bucha’s victims were lying on the ground since at least March 10. Reliable data shows that from March 7 to 30 including Russian forces were present in the area,” said the spokesman for the Government of Germany, Steffen Hebestrei, during a press conference in Berlin.
Hebestrei also accused Vladimir Putin of “having accepted these human rights violations and these war crimes to achieve his goals.”
Along the same lines, the Ukrainian authorities shared videos showing the corpses during the Russian occupation; and several testimonies from civilians corroborate the facts.
“I told them, don’t shoot, I’m a civilian… And five shots were heard,” said a witness and inhabitant of Bucha to the newspaper ‘El País’.
After the events, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, special adviser for the prevention of genocide at the United Nations, expressed on Wednesday her “consternation and condemnation for the disturbing event in Bucha, which points to very serious indications of the possible commission of war crimes.”
The genocide expert also assured that an “independent investigation” is necessary to clarify the facts and joined other senior UN officials in calling for a ceasefire.
Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Council is scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to suspend Russia’s participation in the body. Something that Moscow describes as “an attempt by the West to establish its conception of what Human Rights are.”
💬#Zakharova: Suspending Russia from the #A Human Rights Council is designed to punish it for its independent policy.
☝️ Russia’s non-participation will undermine the council’s universal nature and give the West a free hand to establish total control in the human rights sphere pic.twitter.com/Dp1s78oac3
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) April 6, 2022
Despite not having conclusive evidence, the indications of Russian authorship of the crimes in Bucha have launched another round of sanctions against Russia, focused on energy exports from there -with the prohibition of Russian coal and gas, among others- . In addition, sanctions have also been imposed against members of Putin’s family, such as his two daughters – whose identity is a mystery.
With the sanctions stemming from the war, the Russian economy is headed for its biggest economic contraction since the years after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and, according to experts, the economic outlook for Russia in the short term is not favorable. Something that many qualify as “the price of war.”
With Reuters, EFE and local media
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