MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Moscow shares the concern of the UN experts in relation to the escalation of the situation in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbass which led to an increased death toll."
"We share the concern of the UN expert over a sharp escalation of the situation in Donbass which led to a significant increase in civilian casualties and damage to many infrastructure objects. We support the recommendations on strict implementation of the Minsk agreements."
According to the report, in the three months between November 16, 2016 and February 15, 2017 a total of 23 civilians were killed and 107 injured.
Moscow believes that the indictments of Kiev using illegal detention, torture and inhumane treatment in Donbas, registered in a UN report, should be condemned.
"The new facts of the Ukrainian authorities, in particular the Security Service of Ukraine, carrying out illegal detentions, torture, inhumane treatment and sexual violence, refusing medical aid should be unconditionally condemned," the ministry said in a statement.
The statement added that Moscow shared the concerns of UN experts in the context of social and financial situation of disadvantaged groups in Donbas that had deteriorated as a result of Kiev's refusal to pay pensions and social payments to them and of a transport blockade by radical groups.
The new report by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine is politically biased and is an attempt to shield the authorities in Kiev, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
According to the statement, the ministry expressed regret that UN experts had refrained from condemnation of Ukrainian authorities responsible for escalation of the conflict, adding that the report was politically biased and was an attempt to shield Kiev.
"We have to note that a significant part of the report is politically biased. Many sections of the document represent an attempt to shield the authorities in Kiev, to obscure the crimes committed by them against their own people," the statement said.
In April 2014, the people of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions refused to recognize the new Ukrainian government that came to power in what they perceive to be a coup. Ukraine’s government launched a military operation against the regions that, following the May referendums, proclaimed sovereignty.
