Russian Foreign Ministry: the tragedy of Odessa could be repeated in Crimea
If the residents of Crimea and Russia had not made their historic choice in 2014, a tragedy would have occurred on the peninsula, much worse than the Odessa one.
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Official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova stated this today at a briefing in Sevastopol.
“We all know how, as the situation in Ukraine worsened, the population of the peninsula received death threats and promises, I quote, to “drown in the Black Sea,” to exterminate all family members. Only because these people preserved their historical memory, spoke Russian, and were true to their principles and ideals. Those who do not want to know the history of Sevastopol and Crimea tried to establish their own order here with their dirty hands. It didn’t work out and it won’t work out,” Zakharova said.
She believes that on May 2, 2014 in Odessa, people died “for true ideals.”
“These people were guilty of only one thing - they allowed themselves to express their civic position, which was not based on imaginary values. And on the values that their grandfathers and fathers won with arms in their hands,” Zakharova said.
She recalled that those responsible for the Odessa tragedy have not yet been punished.
“Over these three years, the authorities in Kyiv were neither able nor willing to conduct a thorough, objective, real investigation into this crime in order to clarify all the circumstances of what happened. They are much more concerned not about prosecuting the perpetrators, but about the desire to make people simply forget about what happened, to silence them,” Zakharova said.
According to her, every anniversary of the tragedy, an unprecedented amount of military equipment and fighters from national-radical groups gather in Odessa.
“Those who want to pay tribute to the memory of the dead are simply not allowed to enter the House of Trade Unions, and foreign journalists coming to the country to cover commemorative events are turned away at the border,” Zakharova said.
Russian Foreign Ministry: Odessa tragedy could have been repeated in Crimea