MOSCOW. Nov 3 (Interfax) - The report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the incident in Ukraine's Groza village raises a lot of doubts and is politically motivated, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights earlier presented a report titled "Attack on Funeral Reception in Groza on October 5, 2023." The document was based on information collected during two visits there by employees of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine in Kiev.
"The information stated in the report raises big doubts. The conclusions presented in this quickly written material are based on testimonies of some 'witnesses' and evaluations of the mission itself, which alleges that no military targets were found near the location of the funeral reception. On the basis of these conclusions, the UN, in a manner characteristic of Westerners, unfoundedly qualifies the actions by the Russian Armed Forces as a violation of international humanitarian law," the ministry said.
It states that "a funeral reception for a high-ranking Ukrainian nationalist was being held" in the village of Groza at the moment of the explosion. "Many of his neo-Nazi accomplices were present there. It is visible in the photos that were published on the Internet immediately after the strike that almost all bodies belonged to men of draft ages," the commentary said.
It stated that "the Russian Armed Forces do not attack civilian objects and do not target civilians."
"By authorizing work on such politically motivated documents, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights again demonstrates behavior that is incompatible to the status of a high-ranking UN official, and deviation from the principles of objectivity and impartiality that make up the foundation of his mandate," the ministry said in its commentary.