Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that the discovery of bodies in Ukraine’s Bucha city was a “provocation” aimed at disrupting talks between Moscow and Kyiv.
“A question arises: what purpose does this apparently untrue incentive serve? We believe that this is an ongoing conversation to find excuses for torpedoes,” Lavrov said in a video message broadcast on Russian television said.
Talks between Russia and Ukraine continue after their top diplomats met in Turkey’s Antalya resort last month, the first such gathering since the start of Moscow’s military operation on February 24.
Russia announced last week that it would significantly reduce its military activities in northern Ukraine after a meeting in Istanbul.
Ukraine has proposed an international agreement with other countries guaranteeing its security in exchange for accepting a neutral and non-nuclear position, not joining NATO and refusing to host foreign military bases.
According to Ukraine’s proposal, Russia will not oppose Kyiv joining the European Union.
Lavrov said that the purpose of Buka’s position is “to divert attention from the negotiation process, from the fact that the Ukrainian party has withdrawn after Istanbul, trying to insist on new terms.”
But he said Russia was “ready” to continue talks.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russian soldiers of killing civilians in Buka after photos surfaced of bodies scattered on the streets after Russia’s withdrawal.
But the Kremlin has denied any responsibility and suggested that the images of the corpses were staged.
Russia has not officially responded to Ukraine’s security proposals and talks are continuing via videoconferencing.
Satellite photos show bodies in Bucha for weeks, refute Moscow’s claim Russia accused of ‘obvious war crimes’, Moscow denies killing civilians in Bucha