MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. Descendants of first-wave Russian emigres, who fled the country after the 1917 October Revolution and moved to Western countries, have called on European leaders to stop blaming Russia for all the troubles and assess the Ukrainian conflict without bias.
The open letter written by Prince Dmitry and Princess Tamara Shakhovskoy, the representatives of a famous Russian family, and signed by more than 100 Russian emigres, was published by the Rossiyskaya Gazeta on Thursday. “The knowledge of the past of the pre-revolutionary Russia gives us a possibility and also a responsibility to unmask obvious historic falsifications which have led to the current drama in Ukraine,” the authors of the letter say.
They also insist that the “current aggressive hostility against Russia is illogical and the policy of double standards is running high.” “Russia is accused of all the crimes, without evidence a priori it is declared guilty, while other countries enjoy astonishing indulgency,” the letter reads.
The authors of the letter also cite as an example numerous instances of violence committed by the Ukrainian army against peaceful citizens in eastern Ukraine and against the Russian Orthodox Church in the country.
“We will not stay indifferent and silent witnesses of the systematic destruction of the population of Donbas, flagrant Russophobia and hypocritical approaches which fully contradict the interests of our beloved Europe,” the letter says.
The West has introduced anti-Russian sanctions over Moscow’s alleged involvement in the Ukrainian crisis. Russia has repeatedly dismissed Western allegations that it could in any way be involved in hostilities in the south-east of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian conflict has killed more than 4,700 and displaced over one million people since April.