#Zakharova: Analysing fake news about Russia is one of my routine responsibilities. Statements made by Russian officials are often distorted beyond recognition. We are used to this. But Stefan Scholl from Sudwest Presse has gone further than many, if not all, in an article titled “Russia: A big settlement of accounts with the US” (Russland: Große Abrechnung mit den USA), which he wrote in the wake of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s annual news conference.
First, Mr Scholl claims that Lavrov said what he did not say. “He [Lavrov] presented a peaceful protest by pro-Ukrainian Tatars in March 2014 as an attack by Islamic extremists on the Crimean Parliament,” the German journalist writes.
In reality, Sergey Lavrov said the following: “A short time after this, on February 26, the putschists – those who had seized power in Kiev – directly authorised the use of force by the Right Sector, as well as such organisations as Hizb ut-Tahrir and a Wahhabite group, to take the Crimean Supreme Council building by storm. Many tend to forget about this now. All this happened within five days of the European grandees’ failure to persuade members of the opposition to deliver what they signed up to on February 20. Only after that all processes were triggered. They all started when the use of force against the Crimean Supreme Council was authorised and it immediately became crystal clear that the Crimeans had nothing to do with these illegitimate authorities. This was also a violation of international law, including the Budapest Memorandum I mentioned earlier on, under which Ukraine undertook not to support xenophobic sentiments.”
Here is a link to show Mr Scholl what the “peaceful protest by pro-Ukrainian Tatars” on February 26, 2014 could result in. http://youtu.be/w5M6jw_1VE4
Two people were trampled to death in the crowd that day. It was only thanks to the selfless actions by the local law enforcement agencies, PRO-CRIMEAN politicians and members of the public, as well as God’s will – I believe it played the key role – that bloodshed and a direct clash between Crimea’s ethnic communities were prevented that day.
I wonder what Stefan Scholl would have written about these events had he or his loved ones been among those “peaceful protesters”?
Second, Mr Scholl accuses Sergey Lavrov of mismatching facts about the developments in Ukraine and writes that the Maidan events took place AFTER February 20, 2014. In fact, they took place several months earlier, and similar events also happened several years before that. Mr Scholl does not write who organised the Maidan protests or how it was done, or the role that was traditionally played in them by, say, the German government. He should have written about this. But he has failed to tell his readers about the outcome of these “peaceful protests” in Kiev, where peaceful civilians were shot dead by unidentified snipers. He has not told his readers that at least 48 people died on May 2, 2014 in the Trade Unions House in Odessa, which was set on fire by the Right Sector radicals [this organisation is prohibited in Russia] and the so-called Maidan self-defence forces. Nor has he told his readers about the so-called Friendship Trains carrying radicals from Kiev to Crimea to subjugate it in February and March 2014. He has not written about these events because they do not fit the myth about the Revolution of Dignity.
Third, Mr Scholl, much to his own delight, added a comment on Sergey Lavrov’s statement made by Ukrainian correspondent Roman Tsimbalyuk [Roman Zymbaljuk], possibly immediately after the minister’s news conference. For some reason, Mr Scholl has no doubts about the objectivity of this journalist, who has been fighting the “aggressor” behind enemy lines for several years in the harsh conditions of Moscow, where personal risks are comparable to those experienced by journalists in Somalia, to believe the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. Mr Scholl never thought about talking with Russian journalists who have been deported from Ukraine several times on charges of infringing on Ukraine’s national security, or, better still, with the Crimean witnesses of those events.
This is some article, indeed.
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