MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS/. Kiev’s speculations about "Russian aggression" are nothing but an attempt to dodge responsibility before its own people, a Russian lawmaker said on Tuesday.
"Kiev is sparing no effort to evade dialogue with the real party to its conflict," Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the international committee of Russia’s Federation Council upper parliament house, wrote on his blog, commenting on Ukrainian parliament’s resolution on "repelling Russian armed aggression" adopted on Tuesday. "From the point of view of both propaganda and diplomacy, it is more convenient for Kiev to speak about a ‘war with Russia’ not to undertake responsibility for the casualties among its own people in its anti-terrorist operation, to enroll external support and sympathy from Western residents and dodge the implementation of the Minsk agreements.
In his words, it would not be an easy task for the Ukrainian authorities to explain their citizens their current actions "when truth surfaces." "They can hardly hope time would work wonders and people would forget everything - we a living in a different age, the age of internet and spy satellites. Of course, if they don’t seek to ‘eliminate’ physically or at least muzzle literally all witnesses of their crimes. But in this case the fate of the entire nation is frightening," Kosachev said and stressed that "the answer rests with the people, not with politicians."
On Tuesday, April 21, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament) passed a resolution approving the statement on "repelling Russian armed aggression." According to the Rada website, a total of 259 Ukrainian lawmakers voted in favor of the resolution, above the required minimum of 226 votes. An explanatory note says the document is aimed at "creating legal grounds for submitting a consolidated claim to the Russian Federation in connection with the armed aggression against Ukraine," which started on February 20, 2014.