The Embassy of Russia in Dhaka has said the country would remain a reliable friend of Bangladesh, despite the Western pressure.
Westerners' attempts “to smear our country in the eyes of the Bangladeshi people will not succeed”, the embassy said in a statement on Sunday reacting to a newspaper article jointly written by 14 Western diplomats in Dhaka during Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“Russia remains and will be a reliable, time-tested friend of the People's Republic of Bangladesh,” the embassy said, adding that it noted the "collective work" of 14 Western diplomats published on the day of Larov's working visit” to Dhaka.
In talks with his counterpart Dr AK Abdul Momen and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the embassy said Lavorv gave “comprehensive comments on the reasons for launching the SMO, the current situation around and in Ukraine, and the conditions for the completion of the special operation (demilitarization, denazification of Ukraine, its non-aligned status, recognition of the new territories and Crimea as part of Russia).”
SMO stands for Special Military Operation which the embassy said Russia conducted on February 24, 2022 “in accordance with Article 51 (Chapter VII) of the UN Charter, with permission of Russia’s Federation Council, and in execution of the treaties of friendship and mutual assistance with the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic, ratified by the Federal Assembly on February 22.”
It said the idea of the article is that “Russia, with no solid evidence, is accused of aggression, invasion and illegal war in Ukraine, which, they say, has led to the disruption of supply chains for Ukrainian grain to world markets and, as a consequence, destroyed the global security architecture,” reads the statement.
“US and EU officials, who are now groundlessly accusing Russia of allegedly committing war crimes, have preferred to turn a blind eye to acts of genocide against the Russian-speaking population and deliberate Nazification in Ukraine.
“Russia's military and political leadership has repeatedly stated that Russian troops do not strike civilian objects, unlike the Kyiv regime, which has repeatedly attacked our country's transportation and social infrastructure,” it adds.
The statement further said the Crimean Bridge was twice under attack, and both the Kyiv regime and the West are well aware that most tourists use this bridge.
“1091 civilians, including children, died and 3533 were injured in 2022 in the Donetsk People’s Republic because of non-stop shelling of the cities by the Ukrainian military. As far as so-called atrocities by Russian soldiers are concerned it is necessary to state that all these accusations are provocative in nature and fabricated,” the embassy said.
“With the start of the SMO, the Kyiv regime began to use terrorist methods regularly everywhere. Using Western weapons, Ukrainian neo-Nazis are shelling residential districts. They are resupplying firing positions and deploying arms depots in schools, hospitals and residential buildings, using civilians as a living shield. They are also shooting refugees and POWs.
“It is strange to hear accusations from the Western diplomats against Russia, which ostensibly uses food as a weapon. We would like to recall that, according to the data published by the European Commission and the statistical office Eurostat (available in the public domain), in 2022 the import of cereals in the EU compared to 2021 in value terms increased by 106% (from €6-12.7 billion euros),” the Russian embassy said.
“However, in the international arena, the Westerners continue to urge the rest of the world to accelerate the energy transition solely through renewable energy sources and abandon fossil fuels,” the statement adds.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Dhaka from September 7-8. It marked the first Bangladesh visit by a Russian foreign minister.
