The Ukrainian leadership lacks the political will to investigate the tragedy at the Odessa House of Trade Unions in May 2014. So a member of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Oleg Morozov commented on the message of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on the anniversary of the events in Odessa.

He recalled that the tragedy in the House of Trade Unions has many witnesses, there are also records of these events.

“With some effort, identifying this picture is fairly simple. Naturally, if the Ukrainian authorities wanted this then, yesterday or today, when President Zelensky publicly declares that he needs to be sorted out, then they would have figured it out a long time ago. We just need political will, ”Morozov said in an interview with RT.

As the senator noted, instead of investigating, Kiev continues to claim that the case is in Russia. “But the fact is that it is in Kiev that no one is interested in an objective investigation. The whole world would have been evaluated differently by the Ukrainian authorities if they had conducted an objective investigation, ”stated Morozov.

Earlier, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called Russia disinterested in clarifying the causes of the tragedy in Odessa as a party. The corresponding message is published on the website of the department.

In particular, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry claims that Russia allegedly "insisted on the extradition of at least nine people who took direct or indirect part in organizing the riots in Odessa under Russian flags."

“We call on the international community to continue joint efforts to counter Russian propaganda and misinformation, which are an important element of Russian aggression and destabilizing actions directed against Ukraine and other democratic states,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Note that earlier on the situation with the investigation of the incident in the House of Trade Unions, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky spoke. The Ukrainian leader expressed confidence that the state should make every effort to clarify the circumstances of the tragedy.

“Each of us must do everything so that this never happens again,” Zelensky wrote in his social networks on the afternoon of May 2.

State Duma deputy Ruslan Balbek called the position of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry an attempt to establish the Iron Curtain over investigative actions in the tragedy in Odessa.

“It seems that today the president in Ukraine is a person who shares real power with someone else: some of his decrees are being implemented, others are not. And in the case of the Odessa tragedy, someone vetoed the disclosure of the causes of deaths, ”the deputy said in an interview with RT.

Balbek called the attempt to link Russia with the death of people in Odessa through the mention of people with the flags of the Russian Federation a cynical step.

“Under the flag of the European Union on the Maidan, people were killed with particular cruelty, but for some reason no one is suing the European Union. So, the position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine regarding the Odessa tragedy is completely false and propaganda, ”the parliamentarian is sure.

The head of the State Duma’s committee on international affairs, Leonid Slutsky, believes that Ukraine deliberately delayed the investigation during the era of President Petro Poroshenko. The deputy noted that the current president’s team also did not take noticeable efforts to reveal the truth.

“Now, six years after the tragic events, Russia was to blame for the interpretation of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. Kiev, following the example of its overseas curators, is trying to relieve itself of responsibility and find an excuse for its own criminal inaction due to an external factor, ”RIA Novosti quotes Slutsky.

The position of the Foreign Ministry of Russia and the UN

Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry appealed to conduct a full investigation of the Odessa events in 2014. The Russian Foreign Ministry recalled that we are talking about a "barbaric crime committed with special cynicism and cruelty", which caused widespread public and international resonance.

“However, the establishment of all the circumstances of the incident, despite the huge number of videos from the places of events and eyewitness accounts of eyewitnesses, has still not been completed, and those responsible for the mass deaths of people have not been deservedly punished,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Recall that on May 2, 2014, Ukrainian radicals staged riots in Odessa. The culmination was the arson of the city House of Trade Unions, in which anti-Maidan activists were blocked. As a result of those tragic events, 48 ​​people died.

The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed to the lack of progress in the investigation of the events of May 2014 and cited a similar assessment of the actions of Kiev by the UN.

“The change of power in Ukraine in 2019 did not affect the situation. The UN was forced to once again note the absence of any progress in the investigation of the Odessa tragedy, ”the Foreign Ministry added.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine also spoke out on the anniversary of the Odessa events, again calling on Ukraine to conduct a thorough and unbiased investigation into the tragedy.

“Court presidents should give priority to criminal proceedings in pending cases. Families of victims have the right to truth and justice for the death of their loved ones, ”said Matilda Bogner, head of the UN monitoring mission on human rights in Ukraine.

Commenting on the situation surrounding the investigation of the tragedy in Odessa, Vladimir Olenchenko, a senior fellow at the Center for European Studies at IMEMO RAS, pointed to the lack of progress in this matter over the past six years.

“It was necessary to conduct an investigation, to conduct it within a reasonable time. But 6 years have passed and the question remains open. It is puzzling that the Ukrainian side is trying to redirect this to someone, ”the expert said in an interview with RT.