Russian Senator Blames Ukraine, West for Journalist Zhuravlev’s Death in Zaporozhye Region

Konstantin Kosachev said that the incident speaks of the falsity of the statements of Americans and Ukrainians about the non-use of weapons against civilians

Vice Speaker of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Konstantin Kosachev Sofia Sandurskaya/TASS

© Sofia Sandurskaya/TASS

MOSCOW, July 22. /TASS/. The wounds of journalists and the death of RIA Novosti correspondent Rostislav Zhuravlev in a Ukrainian cluster munitions strike prove that the assurances of the Americans and Ukrainians about the non-use of these weapons against civilians are lies, and therefore both Kiev and Washington equally share responsibility for this crime, Russian Federation Council Deputy Speaker Konstantin Kosachev said on Saturday.

"The use of cluster munitions is inhumane and must be excluded from combat practices. And all the assurances of the Americans and Ukrainians that they are not planning to use these weapons against non-combatants turned out to be blatant lies. The responsibility for this crime falls equally on Ukraine and the United States," the senator wrote on his Telegram channel.

Kosachev said that the reports about the death of a journalist was "horrifying news."

"We mourn alongside the family, the friends and colleagues of Rostislav Zhuravlev. It is extremely tragic, but simultaneously exhausting evidence that Ukrainian military clique and their patrons do not have any moral constraints," the deputy speaker of the upper house of Russia’s parliament said.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported that four Izvestia and RIA Novosti journalists suffered wounds on Saturday afternoon as a result of a Ukrainian cluster munitions strike on the Zaporozhye Region. Zhuravlev died from his wounds during evacuation, the others journalists’ condition is stable.