MOSCOW
The Russian foreign ministry has accused the UN’s human rights arm of bias over statements it made about the conflict in Ukraine.
Moscow has reacted against a press briefing in Geneva given by OHCHR representative Rupert Colville, claiming that “bias and prejudice” put the blame for recent fighting in southeastern Ukraine exclusively on pro-Russia militias.
"At the same time the shelling of residential areas of Donetsk and other cities, they were spoken about as if they committed themselves, and Ukrainian forces have nothing to do with it.
“Such unilateral approaches are unlikely to contribute to the implementation of the Minsk agreements, which the OHCHR is supposedly concerned about," the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
The foreign ministry also defended the imprisonment of ex-Ukrainian army pilot Nadiya Savchenko, who has been on a hunger strike. Colville's statement had called for the immediate release of the Ukrainian prisoner on humanitarian grounds.
According to the foreign ministry's statement: "N. Savchenko is charged with a felony – complicity in the murder of Russian journalists. The European Court of Human Rights refused to apply ... rule 39 of the Rules of Court, which confirms the legality and validity of the holding of the Ukrainian citizen in custody."
Savchenko was captured by separatist forces in Ukraine's Donbass region last July, after which she was smuggled across the border into Russia.
She was elected in absentia to the Ukrainian parliament during the elections of October 2014. U.S. and EU leaders have condemned her detention, while Russia has maintained that they are still carrying out an investigation into the allegation that she was responsible for a mortar attack that killed two Russian journalists.
