UNITED NATIONS, March 18. /TASS/. The Russian air force didn’t consider the Mariupol theater in Ukraine as a target, Russia’s UN envoy Vasily Nebenzya said at a UN Security Council meeting on Thursday.

Nebenzya said Russia’s alleged strike at a theater in Mariupol was one of the fakes that are being spread by Western countries.

"In fact, private persons as early as March 13 released information, which was obtained from Mariupol residents that had miraculously escaped from the city, that the Azov [nationalist battalion] was holding a huge number of people in that building and preparing a bloody provocation," he said. "The Russian armed forces were informed about the situation, and originally the theater building wasn’t designated as a target for an air strike anyway.".