WASHINGTON, August 26. /TASS/. Washington's accusations of war crimes against Moscow are nothing more than ‘another fake aimed at discrediting the Russian special military operation’, the Russian embassy in the US said on Friday.
"The State Department continues to disseminate speculation about the ‘filtration camps’ allegedly set up by us in the DPR, as well as the involvement of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the destruction of educational, medical institutions and cultural facilities in the LPR. This is another fake aimed at discrediting the Russian special military operation.," the embassy's press service said in a statement.
The Russian diplomatic mission noted that "Russia is committed to observing the norms of International Humanitarian Law." In turn, the embassy stressed, "back in 2014, representatives of Kiev announced the use of "special measures" against residents of southeastern Ukraine, aimed at identifying persons who allegedly "could be associated with separatists." "In other words, it was about purging everyone whom the Ukrainian special services would suspect of disloyalty to the neo-Nazis who had settled in Kiev. Since then, the actions of the Ukrainian authorities have become more and more brutal. The United States chose to take no notice of that for eight years. Even now, they don't see it from point-blank range," the embassy said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, noting that the operation was aimed at the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.