Kyiv and the West say there is evidence – including images and witness testimony gathered by Reuters and other media organisations – that Russia committed war crimes in the Ukrainian town of Bucha. Moscow denies the charge and has called the allegations a “monstrous forgery.”
“We are inclined to think the reason is a desire to find a pretext to break off the negotiations that are being conducted,” he said in a video issued by the Russian foreign ministry.
Ukraine and Western governments say these demands, presented by President Vladimir Putin at the start of Russia’s invasion, were false pretexts for an illegal assault on a democratic country.
Lavrov said, again without providing evidence, that Ukraine had “tried to break off the negotiating process altogether” after Western media published the war crimes allegations.
