MOSCOW, October 14. /TASS/.The current conflict in Ukraine has shown that the international law is in a deep crisis, with many international human rights groups turning a blind eye to the crimes against civilians in the country’s southeast, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.

“They [the events in Ukraine] have exposed a large-scale crisis of the international law, basic norms of the Universal declaration of human rights and the Convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide,” Putin said at a meeting of Presidential Council for Human Rights.

“We have witnessed double standards in the assessment of crimes against the civilian population in southeastern Ukraine, the violation of basic human rights, namely the right to life and the right to personal security. People there are subject to torture, cruel and humiliating punishment, discrimination and unjust decisions,” the president said.

The Russian leader thanked Russian human rights activists for their “fair stance” and for coming to Ukraine to help those who found themselves in a “difficult and sometimes deadlock situation.”

“Unfortunately, many international human rights organizations turn a blind eye to what is happening and hypocritically turn their backs,” Putin said.

Ukrainian-Russian estrangement key tragedy

Vladimir Putin noted, that Ukrainian-Russian estrangement is the key tragedy in modern Ukraine.

“The key tragedy unfolding before our eyes is estrangement of the Ukrainian and Russian peoples,” Putin said at a meeting of the Human Rights Council, stressing the importance of overcoming that situation.

Russia's president said he's sure that the humanitarian aspect in the Ukraine settlement is more important than the legal factor.

“We can’t idly stand by looking at how people die either of hunger or without medications, without medical assistance,” Putin said.

“It seems to me that humanitarian factors are more important in this case. We can’t stand idly by looking at how people die either of hunger or without medications, without medical assistance,” Putin said at a meeting with members of the Presidential Council for Human Rights.

“I heard such pretensions from Ukrainian colleagues, from European and American ones. It is strange, but that’s a given. It’s just beyond belief, but that’s a given,” he said.

Putin said he would continue work on the procedure of granting refugee status to those who need it, adding that the issues of financing humanitarian aid supplies and housing for refugees would also be considered.

Commenting on Russia’s humanitarian convoy to eastern Ukraine, he said it was impossible to reach an agreement on sending the convoy, and Russia had to act on its own.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also commented on the Ukrainian officials’ refusal to give aid to residents in eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk under the pretext that this city does not make part of Ukraine. “We cannot influence those who refuse to give aid, pay allowances inside Ukraine,” the president said.

The death toll as a result of the conflict in Ukraine has reached 3,682 and another 8,871 people have been wounded in the region, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported last week.

Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, unanimously adopted a statement on Friday calling on the parliaments of the world and the international organizations to investigate the crimes against civilians in southeastern Ukraine.