Perpetrators of Brutal Attack on Russian Journalist to be Held Accountable — Diplomat

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, warned about the responsibility of those who supplied cluster munitions to Ukraine

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova Alexander Ryumin/TASS

© Alexander Ryumin/TASS

MOSCOW, July 22. /TASS/. Those who were involved in the brutal attack on Russian journalist Rostislav Zhuravlev will be held accountable, and responsibility will also be shared by the suppliers of cluster bombs to Kiev, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Saturday.

"The perpetrators of the brutal attack on the Russian journalist will inevitably face deserved punishment. The entire extent of responsibility will also be shared by those who have sent cluster munitions to their Kiev proteges," the diplomat said.

Zakharova believes that the Kiev regime "keeps practicing criminal terror." She recalled that on Saturday afternoon, as a result of the Ukrainian armed forces’ strike with cluster munitions on journalists of the Izvestia multimedia information center and RIA Novosti news agency, one journalist was killed and three more wounded.

"Everything indicates that the attack on the group of journalists was not carried out by chance. The correspondents were collecting information for a report on how the Kiev regime’s militants pound the populated localities in the Zaporozhye Region using cluster munitions banned in many countries. Those are supplied to Kiev by the United States," she said.

"Washington, along with London and Paris that send long-range missiles to Zelensky’s regime, merely pay lip service voicing concern for the safety of journalists, while in fact they are sponsors of terrorists," Zakharova said.

According to the diplomat, there are no illusions that international organizations will prefer, as they have already done in similar cases, "to turn a blind eye to this heinous crime, which, in fact, makes them involved in Kyiv’s terrorist lawlessness."

"This cynical blindness once again confirms their political engagement and dysfunctionality. The silence of such institutions does not mean that evil has been given an indulgence for murders and the endeavor to silence the inconvenient truth," Zakharova concluded.

Cluster munitions supplies to Kiev

On July 7, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the US had decided to provide Kiev with cluster munitions, the use of which is opposed by the United Nations. On July 13, US Army Lieutenant General Douglas Sims, Director of Operations of the US Armed Forces Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the Ukrainian armed forces had received cluster munitions from the United States.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier that Moscow reserved the right to use cluster munitions in response to the use of such weapons by Ukraine. He added that shipments and use of such weapons should be considered a crime.