MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. The lack of response to Moscow’s requests for a list of those killed in Bucha proves that it was an incident staged by Ukraine with the assistance of the US and the UK, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS.

"The lack of response from the relevant international organizations to requests from the Russian authorities and media to provide the list of those killed in Bucha makes it clear that it was a necrophilous staged incident," she said. "It was arranged by the Kiev regime at the behest and with the support of the Americans and the British," Zakharova added. According to her, the incident was inspired by "the act of provocation that the Third Reich had staged in Nemmersdorf in 1944."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Channel One on December 18 that Moscow had expected an investigation to be launched after the events in Bucha, at least to receive a list of those killed, but nothing had been done. Earlier, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) evaded a TASS question as to what was hindering an independent investigation into the Bucha events.

Russian Investigative Committee Chairman Alexander Bastrykin said in April 2022 that a criminal investigation had been launched under Article 207.3 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Public Dissemination of False Information about the Use of the Russian Armed Forces") following a Ukrainian act of provocation in Bucha, a suburb of Kiev. He noted that the Ukrainian Defense Ministry had provided video footage purportedly taken in Bucha to Western media outlets, describing it as proof of mass civilian killings, in a bid to discredit the Russian Armed Forces. However, statements made by the mayor of Bucha on March 31, 2022, combined with other reports, have substantiated the fact that the Russian army pulled out of the town on March 30. Moreover, a video filmed by Ukrainians which surfaced on social media platforms immediately after the withdrawal of Russian troops made no mention at all of the alleged killing of civilians.