Lavrov sends UN chief 12 questions on Bucha incident

UNITED NATIONS, May 19. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has sent a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres with 12 questions about the alleged massacre committed by Russia in Bucha, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said.

"For four years, we have been appealing to the UN Secretary General [Antonio Guterres] to help obtain the list of victims of the Bucha provocation. The fact is that he and his team have blamed Russia without any investigation," he said at a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine.

According to the Russian diplomat, Moscow views the incident as a "deliberate fake" used to derail the peace talks in 2022. "On May 1, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sent another letter to Secretary General Guterres with 12 clearly-worded questions. We are expecting straight answers, not another formal reply like the ones we have seen before," he added.

On March 30, 2022, the Russian army, as a gesture of goodwill amid negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul, withdrew from the Kiev area, including the city of Bucha. On March 31, 2022, this was confirmed on camera by the head of the local administration. Several days later, Western media released footage showing - unlike earlier recordings - bodies of people lying on the streets of the city, whose killings were immediately attributed to Russian troops by the West. In Russia, a criminal case was opened over the provocation concerning the dissemination of knowingly false information about the Russian armed forces.