Moscow calls for investigation into discovery of mass graves in Donetsk
Andrei Kelin, Russia’s envoy to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said action needs to be taken to try and establish more information surrounding the discovery.
“We will insist on a serious investigation, preferably independent and preferably international. Facts must be established, and these facts must be made public and investigated,” he said.
Mr Kelin also suggested the OSCE should oversee any investigation looking into the mass graves.
The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine this week filed a report which stated that three unmarked graves containing a number of bodies were found near the village of Nyzhnia Krynka, approximately 35 kilometres (21 miles) north east of the city of Donetsk.
One of the graves allegedly contained the bodies of up to 40 civilians, while the others were filled with the bodies of rebel militia and Ukrainian army soldiers, according to Alexander Zakharchenko, prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).
Initial OSCE reviews of the site indicated that the crimes could have been committed in late August.
The Russian foreign ministry has labelled the massacre a war crime, and has suggested that pro-Kyiv National Guard volunteers may have been involved in the incident, suggestions which Kyiv has rejected.
The ministry has also called for an urgent, international investigation into the incident.
Donetsk health officials say that 1,300 civilians have been killed in the region as a result of the fighting between pro-Kyiv forces and rebel militia groups, while another 3,500 have been injured.
(VoR, RIA Novosti, ITAR-TASS)