US seeks to inflame Ukraine crisis with claims of crimes against humanity: Russian envoy
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Soldiers with the Ukrainian armed forces fire a Howitzer at Russian positions in the Donbas region on Feb 14, 2023.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
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WASHINGTON – Washington is trying to demonise Moscow and foment the crisis in Ukraine with allegations of Russian crimes against humanity, Russia’s Ambassador to the United States said on Sunday.
The Biden administration formally concluded that Russia has committed “crimes against humanity”
“We regard such insinuations as an unprecedented attempt to demonise Russia in the framework of the hybrid war unleashed against us,” Ambassador Anatoly Antonov was quoted as saying.
“There is no doubt that the purpose of such attacks by Washington is to justify its own actions to fuel the Ukrainian crisis.”
Organisations supported by the US Agency for International Development have documented more than 30,000 war crime incidents since the invasion, according to the US government. Ukrainian officials said they were investigating the Thursday shelling of the city of Bakhmut as a possible war crime.
The UN-backed Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said it has identified war crimes but has not concluded whether they amount to crimes against humanity.
The coming Friday will mark a year since Russia launched what it calls “a special military operation”
The war has killed tens of thousands, uprooted millions, pummelled the global economy and made Russian President Vladimir Putin a pariah in the West.
The Kremlin has intensified operations across a broad swathe of southern and eastern Ukraine, and a major new offensive has been widely anticipated.
The US and its allies have provided Ukraine with increasingly sophisticated arms, including modern battle tanks, and Western leaders have discussed more aid at a series of meetings in Europe in recent days. REUTERS
