Russia hits at Amnesty International over re-examining Ukraine report
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Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson says Amnesty International is planning on rechecking its report about Ukraine because it "does not suit mainstream media."
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Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova
Amnesty International intends to invite independent experts to recheck its own report on the crimes committed by soldiers in the Ukrainian armed forces, as its findings do not suit the authorities in Kiev, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Sunday.
"Because the result should be different. The one that suits the mainstream. Facts don't matter. Since they said the Kiev regime does not shoot at civilians, it means that it does not shoot. [It is an] anti-scientific approach," Zakharova said on Telegram.
The Russian spokesperson underlined that the presence of the aforementioned "anti-scientific" approach was a defining characteristic of Western "dictatorship".
Amnesty International on Saturday said it wanted to revise its research showing that the tactics used by Kiev's forces in the Donbass jeopardized the civilian population.
Before that, the rights group adhered to its defiance of the public outcry it was facing over its report saying Ukraine was endangering civilians.
According to the organization, Kiev has been operating weapons out of bases established in residential areas in the presence of civilians, which breaches rule 23 of Article 58(b) of Additional Protocol I that separates military objectives and civilian populations.
"Being in a defensive position does not exempt the Ukrainian military from respecting international humanitarian law."
The report highlighted the use of cluster munitions, an internationally banned weapon under the CCM treaty, by the Ukrainian forces on Ukrainian villages.
Zakharova previously confirmed that AI's allegations were true and they corroborate what Moscow has been saying throughout the conflict with Kiev.
The controversy, despite constituting the biggest crisis yet for Amnesty International under Callamard, who served as the UN's special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, marks a shift in the anti-Russian narrative championed in the West.
Since the start of Russia's military operation, accusations of the use of "human shields" by Ukrainian forces were long signaled by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Callamard on Friday told AFP in an email that Amnesty fully stands by the report subject to the "same rigorous standards" as all of Amnesty's publications.
The Times of London wrote in an editorial that Amnesty was "shredding its credibility by serving as a megaphone for the propaganda of the Putin regime" with a report that "pays no attention to the realities of military operations."
The right-wing Daily Telegraph newspaper said Amnesty "is not utterly and morally bankrupt - its anti-Western obsession has driven it into the gutter."
