Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that he considers the incidents in the Ukrainian city of Bucha “a provocation aimed at discrediting Russia,” noting that the Kremlin records conflicting statements by US President Joe Biden and the Pentagon about these incidents.
“What has happened in Bucha is a big and well-orchestrated operation whose purpose is to discredit Russia. The Kremlin rejects any accusations against the Russian army.”, Peskov said in a statement on Tuesday.
Peskov stressed that the Kremlin “suspects that an international investigation could now be conducted in a neutral fashion into the provocation in Bocha.”
He added that “We call on the leaders of the West and the UN Security Council to stay away from emotions and think with their minds.”
The Ukrainian government had accused Russia of perpetrating a massacre in the city of Bucha, but many have expressed doubts about the claim. Analysts noted that there was no blood near the bodies on the ground, and that some of the dead were wearing white armbands and could have been killed by Ukrainian security forces or regional defence troops. The timing of the massacre is extra cause for doubt, as the Russian forces had already left Bucha days before the reported mass murder allegedly took place.
