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Kremlin spokesman blames Ukrainian nationalists for shelling civilian infrastructure

When asked to comment on Western countries’ allegations about war crimes committed during the operation, he said that since the very start of the operation, the Russian military had a very strict order from the chief commander not to aim at civilian targets

WASHINGTON, March 29. /TASS/. The Russian military is not shelling civilian infrastructure facilities during its special operation in Ukraine, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told PBS.

When asked to comment on Western countries’ allegations about war crimes committed during the operation, he said that since the very start of the operation, "the Russian military had a very strict order from the chief commander not to aim at civilian targets." "And they are not doing that. They are not shelling houses. They are not shelling apartments. They are not shelling civil objects. They are only shelling <...> military infrastructure, in the context of one of the main goals of the operation, the demilitarization of Ukraine," Peskov noted.·"Then who is ruining the infrastructure, the civil infrastructure of Mariupol, for example? Those Nazi battalions inside Mariupol, they're simply killing those who would like to escape from the city. And these Nazi battalions, they are using the apartments as a shelter for their guns, for their armaments, for their tanks, for their snipers. That is causing the reciprocal fire. So, it is not the Russian military who is doing that," the Kremlin spokesman said.

The interviewer pointed out that the International Criminal Court (ICC) had launched an investigation into events in Ukraine. "If you are not doing anything wrong in Ukraine, why not cooperate with the ICC?" he asked. "We do not accept the jurisdiction of ICC," Peskov explained. "We did not acknowledge it before, and we do not accept it right now. And we are not going to accept it further," he added. In November 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an order saying that Russia did not plan to become a signatory to the ICC Rome Statute. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the court failed to become a truly independent and credible international justice body.