"Call for Genocide"?
Foreign Ministry orders Russian diplomats after Twitter scandal
Created: 08/20/2022, 22:12
By: Lukas Einkammerer
A Russian diplomat in Austria caused a stir with a statement on Twitter.
The state government sharply criticized his statement.
Vienna – The Ukraine war has been raging for six months.
Six months in which many nations around the world have expressed their sympathy and support to Ukraine.
While a parade of destroyed Russian military equipment is being prepared in Kyiv in honor of Independence Day, statements made by a Russian diplomat online against Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people are causing a stir.
Russian diplomat causes a stir on Twitter: "No mercy for the Ukrainian people"
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's permanent representative to the international organizations in Vienna, published a comment on the short message platform Twitter that appeared to be hostile to Ukraine.
Under a tweet by the Ukrainian head of state, in which the latter thanked US President Joe Biden for the pledge of military aid, the politician wrote: "No mercy for the Ukrainian people".
"Call for Genocide"?
Russian diplomat denies allegations
Although the comment has since been deleted and is only recorded on screenshots, Ulyanov was sharply criticized shortly after it was published online.
The President of the Ukrainian Parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk described the statement as "calls for genocide" and demanded that the Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen expel the diplomat from Austria immediately.
Ulyanov himself firmly denied the allegations, calling them "dirty tricks" and "absolutely unacceptable".
His comment had been misinterpreted and was not an attack on the Ukrainian people but a "critical observation" of the fact that Ukraine was opposed to Russian diplomacy.
Russian diplomat summoned: Austria reacts to alleged hate comment
Despite Mikhail Ulyanov's supposed explanation, the Austrian government is now reacting with clear steps.
As a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told
bild.de
, they wanted to take action against the statements and meet with the diplomat on Sunday.
"We are outraged by the inhuman statements made by the Russian Permanent Representative and by his attempts to relativize what cannot be relativized," it said.
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Meanwhile, US media are reporting that the FSB secret service is said to have lied to the Russian government at the beginning of the Ukraine invasion.
(le)
