MOSCOW, May 5 (RIA Novosti) – A paramedic in Ukraine’s southern port city of Odessa was prevented from helping victims of a fire that killed dozens in the city on Friday, according to a statement obtained by US-based activist Bruce Gagnon at the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space.
“For 15 years I saw a great deal, but yesterday I wanted to cry, not from pain not from humiliation, but from weakness. What occurred yesterday didn't even take place during the fascist occupation in my town in World War II. I wonder why the whole world is keeping silent?” wrote the 39-year-old paramedic, who called himself Igor R to protect his identity.
The paramedic was among the first responders who rushed to the scene of the deadly fire – but was stopped from coming to the aid of survivors by a group of “pro-Ukrainian Nazi radicals” who pushed the medic away and hit him in the face threatening that “soon me and the other Jews of Odessa are going to meet the same fate.”
Gagnon said in his letter to the Voice of Russia radio station that the US-backed government in Kiev came to power thanks to the violent Right Sector movement, a radical pro-Ukrainian militia that has since spearheaded a string of assaults on anti-Maidan protesters across Ukraine.
Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky earlier compared the Odessa carnage to Nazi crimes during World War II. “It’s a new Khatyn and Auschwitz,” he said, adding that the West’s complacence in the face of such atrocities was also criminal. “This violence must be criticized and curtailed,” Slutsky said.
Prominent American investigative journalist Robert Parry wrote an article Saturday on Consortsiumnews.com lambasting The New York Times for its substantial efforts to downplay or spin the Friday events in Odessa in order to whitewash the Ukrainian regime and its sponsors.
“The [New York] Times’ prejudice over the Ukraine crisis has reached new levels of extreme as the ‘newspaper of record’ routinely carries water for the neocons and other hawks who still dominate the US State Department,” Parry wrote.
The journalist underscored that in its attempt to exonerate the White House, the Times evaded placing any responsibility on the pro-coup mob for trying to smoke the “pro-Russian activists” out of the building, focusing its attention on onslaught of Ukrainian troops in the east.
“The coup regime from Kiev may succeed in slaughtering many ethnic Russians in the rebellious east — as the Times signals its approval — but will this bloody offensive become a Waterloo for whatever’s left of the newspaper’s journalistic integrity?” the author asked.
Gagnon echoed the sentiment in his letter, saying that “the US knew that Russia would have to react, that is why we've witnessed massive corporate media demonization of Putin during the past year or so. It helps make it easier for the American people to swallow another one of our interventions.”
He also accused America’s energy giants, such as ExxonMobil and Chevron, of orchestrating the anti-Russia mudslinging campaign in the West to stir chaos and a regime change to get at rich Russian oil and gas reserves.
“What is Russia to do? Roll over and watch themselves get more NATO ‘missile defense’ bases on their borders and fascists appointed to the 'new government' cabinet in Ukraine? More than 27 million people were killed during Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. The Russians are hyper-sensitive to fascists coming to power on their immediate borders – especially when the US-NATO are calling the shots,” Gagnon said.
Meanwhile, the European Union urged the Kiev regime on Saturday to conduct an independent probe into the more than 40 deaths in the Odessa blaze. Russian lawmaker Leonid Kalashnikov hailed the initiative, but said he doubted the steps would be taken.
“This is not the first EU statement and it pains me to say it won’t be the last one. But it’s still better than hiding in the trenches or come [to Ukraine] like CIA Director Brennan to bless another round of another military operation,” he said.
Friday saw the bloodiest Ukrainian violence since the February overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych, with dozens killed in clashes across the country. The highest casualty toll was reported in Odessa, where 46 people died and over 200 were injured. Victims were torched alive, suffocated or leaped to death after being blocked inside a blazing building where they tried to hide from a gang of Molotov-cocktail-carrying football fans and Right Sector radicals. Police did nothing to prevent the unrest and murder, according to eye witnesses.
