Latvian FM Rinkevics slams Russia over war crimes in Ukraine; 'needs real denazification'

With Russia facing massive backlash from global nations after the ruthless military aggression it unleashed upon Ukraine, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics on Wednesday asserted that Russia is the only country in the world that requires "real denazification." Taking to his official Twitter handle, Edgars Rinkevics stated that Russia requires denazification and cited scenes of genocide and war crimes committed by Russian armed forces in key cities of Ukraine. The statement of the Latvian Foreign Minister, following his strong remarks, has joined the slew of diplomats who denounced the war crimes with statements and imposing stringent embargoes upon the Kremlin. 

Edgars Rinkevics wrote on Twitter, "After seeing so many horrific scenes of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Russian forces in Ukraine, it is clear that only country in the world that needs real denazification is the Russian Federation." Meanwhile, Latvian President Egils Levits along with his counterparts of Poland, Estonia and Lithuania are heading to Ukraine's capital Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Chancery of the President of Latvia in a tweet shared a picture of Baltic leaders and the President of Poland as they arrived in Kyiv. 

Bucha genocide

Ever since Russian troops started pulling out from Bucha and other key towns and villages of Ukraine, Ukrainian authorities have revealed tragedies inflicted by the former in the regions. The Ukrainian Defence Ministry on Sunday, April 3, stated that they found 410 bodies of slain Ukrainians in Bucha, Irpin and other towns and villages during the first two days. The Defense Ministry added that the exact number of victims of Russian armed forces "will be much higher." Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also shared the images of horrors caused by retreating Russian armed forces in Bucha city. Since then, the international community has been strongly censuring Russia for alleged killings of civilians and demanded an investigation. 

Meanwhile, Russia has denied involvement in the killings in Bucha. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has claimed that the reports about genocide in Bucha are "fake" and "staged." While speaking exclusively to Republic Media Network's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the situation in Bucha "very tragic." Responding to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's remark, the Ukrainian President said, "I can tell you and your people I am not ready to have any answer to Minister Lavrov saying that the situation in Bucha was fake. Look at the rhetorics of the person who is considered as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, which is a great and important status. Throwing up fakes. It's not the steps of his level. The politics of the Russian Federation is to consider that we don't have any dependence and we don't have any sovereignty. They think that Ukraine is fake." 

Image: AP/Twitter/@ARLIETAS