Putin’s False Claims on Cluster Munitions Use and White House’s Double Standards

As observed by the Russian independent publication Agenstvo, Putin’s comments to propaganda “journalist” Pavel Zarubin lasted just over a minute, during which he appeared to make two false claims about cluster munitions.

The international human rights protection organization “Human Rights Watch” announced already on February 25, 2022 – the second day of Russia’s full-scale invasion – that Russia fired a 9M79 missile equipped with a 9N123K cartridge charge at a hospital in the Ukrainian city of Vukhedar. This strike killed four Ukrainian civilians and injured six others.

Investigative journalism project “Bellingcat” had already recorded in February of last year several caseswhen Russia used cluster munitions.

The April 8, 2022 rocket attack on the Kramatorsk station can be considered the case of the use of cluster munitions that caused the most widespread resonance. In this strike by the occupiers, 58 Ukrainian civilians were killed and about 100 more were injured by a rocket fired from the Tochka U complex.

Apart from the outright lies about the use of cluster munitions in Ukraine, Putin’s claim that Russia has sufficient stockpiles of various types of cluster munitions also raises doubts.

According to the Russian independent publication “The Insider”, the Russian army may have many air bombs filled with cluster bombs in its arsenal, however, Russia uses them very rarely, given the serious resistance of Ukraine’s air defenses.

In his comment, Putin also said that some time ago, the administration of the US president had given its assessment of cluster ammunition, calling the use of such ammunition a crime. That too is a lie.

In fact, such a comment was not made by any of the current White House employees, but by the former press secretary of the administration, Jen Psaki.

She spoke about this issue in February 2022, answering a journalist’s question about Russia’s use of cluster munitions against civilians. Psaki stated at the time that if the information about the use of cluster munitions turns out to be true, it could be considered a war crime.

The Russian Foreign Ministry and Russian propaganda are now using this statement by Psaki as “proof” of the White House’s double standards regarding the possible use of cluster munitions.

2023-07-18 21:02:00
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