The journalist asked the diplomat why Russia "was able to use force in Chechnya, Georgia, and now in Ukraine", and "Kyiv cannot do the same in relation to Donetsk and Lugansk."
As Zakharova noted, “Georgian authorities attacked South Ossetia and killed Russian peacekeepers,” and Chechen fighters “used terrorist methods, carried out terrorist attacks in Chechnya itself and other regions of the Russian Federation,” while in the West they were considered “democratic forces” and supported in US and EU.
“Now I have a question: why didn’t the West call the residents of Donbass “freedom fighters”?
After all, they are not terrorists.
And it was difficult to call them separatists, since in the Minsk agreements signed by the DPR and LPR, Donbass was called part of Ukraine, ”said the diplomat.
Russian actions in Chechnya, South Ossetia and Ukraine are absolutely legal, the representative of the Foreign Ministry emphasized.
“While the actions of the Kyiv authorities, who staged the genocide of Donbass and the destruction of everything Russian in their own country, are illegitimate, unconstitutional and immoral,” she concluded.
Maria Zakharova also stated that the reunification of Crimea with Russia and the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics are established territorial realities that Kyiv and the authorities of other countries need to recognize.