Russia accuses Ukraine of using civilians in Azovstal, Mariupol as 'tool of blackmail'

Russia on Tuesday accused the Ukrainian government of "misleading the civilians" of Mariupol and those that were holed up at the Azovstal plant in the port city as a "tool of blackmail." Official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on May 17 labelled the Ukraine's ruling government as "propagandists" for calling the far right ‘neo Nazi’ Azov battalion holed up at the Azovstal for a month “heroic.”

Azov battalion, whose symbol is the reminiscent of the Nazi Wolfsangel, has many fighters in the frontline that have expressed “disturbing political views" in the past interviews with reporters of the Guardian newspaper. According to the newspaper, the Azov battalion even planned to bring the fight against the Kyiv’s own regime after the battle in the strategic port city of Mariupol. They called Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin “not a Russian but a jew.”

Fighters at Azovstal steelworks 'simply betrayed' by Kyiv: Moscow's Foreign ministry spokesperson 

Speaking to the Sputnik Radio on May 17, Maria Zakharova reiterated the origins of the far-right militia group that go on to describe themselves as the “ethnic nationalist" fighters in interview with the Guardian. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson asserted that the fighters at the Azovstal steelworks were “simply betrayed” by the leadership in Kyiv, and for a reason. 

Ukraine’s government used civilians, and everyone else making narratives about the Azov fighters “to blackmail everyone else. Aimlessly, absolutely thoughtlessly and soullessly,” said Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova. She also accused Kyiv’s regime of misleading, saying that there were no civilians that Moscow’s forces was launching attack on, but that those people were held as human shields by the Azov fighters, according to Zakharova.

Russia's foreign ministry spokesperson went on to say that Kyiv’s regime “regularly used the tactics of blackmailing a number of states, primarily European ones, in order to solve the tasks that the United States of America set them in the first place.” She went on to add, "This is one of the most convenient tools for Washington to influence the situation in the European Union.”  "The insight for the EU countries [in the context of the current situation in Ukraine] will be difficult," Maria Zakharova asserted.