Ukraine could be held accountable for what Portuguese legal expert Alexander Guerreiro described as unfounded accusations against Russia over the events in Bucha, he told TASS.
Guerreiro, a doctor of law and an expert with the International Fact-Checking Association, said Kiev could face responsibility for violating its international obligations before the International Court of Justice.
According to Guerreiro, the monument to the alleged civilian victims in Bucha and the narrative built around images of the events of April 2022 were used to pursue Russia, make unfounded accusations against it and fuel international hostility.
He also questioned Ukraine’s reported figure of 509 victims. Guerreiro argued that a state cannot demand recognition of its account while failing to publish the names of those it says were killed or while including people who died elsewhere and under different circumstances.
He said independent sources have provided names of the dead and information about the causes of their deaths. Among them, he cited the International Public Tribunal on the Crimes of Ukrainian Neo-Nazis, which published a report in September alleging that the events in Bucha had been falsified.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova previously said Moscow would not abandon the issue of Bucha or other incidents it considers provocations. She added that Russia would continue assisting independent specialists investigating the events.