The Bucha Massacre and what it indicates about pro-Russian propagandists in the West

@ElentirENG ES 3·31·2024 · 20:28 0

On March 31, 2022, on this day two years ago, Russian troops withdrew from the town of Bucha, outside Kiev.

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The monument that remembers the victims of the massacre perpetrated by the Russians in Bucha

The massacre perpetrated by the Russians in Bucha

The next day, after the arrival of Ukrainian troops in Bucha, the bodies of hundreds of local residents were found. Many of the bodies were found lying in the streets and others were discovered. Others were found in a basement that was used by the Russians as a torture chamber. In addition, the Russians forced other neighbors to bury the murdered in mass graves. Many of the civilians killed in Bucha were tortured and their bodies were found with their hands tied behind their backs.

The investigation of that massacre took several months and included the participation of international investigators and observers. A report with the victim count was issued at the end of August 2022. The investigation indicated that 458 bodies were found, of which 419 had marks of having been shot, tortured or beaten to death. Due to their condition, 50 bodies could not be identified, since the Russians They burned some of the bodies. Of the bodies found, 366 were men and 86 women. Five bodies were too deteriorated and their sex could not even be identified. Nine bodies were those of minors under 18 years of age. In addition to these murders, Russian soldiers raped women and girls between 14 and 24 years old.

Bucha had about 39,000 inhabitants at the beginning of the Russian invasion. Most of its neighbors fled before the arrival of the invaders. Of the 4,000 residents who stayed, 1 in 10 died during the month that the Russian occupation lasted. Today, there is abundant evidence and testimonies from survivors about the Russian authorship of that massacre, and even It is known which Russian units were the perpetrators.

The disinformation operation of the Kremlin and its propagandists

As it has done with other Russian crimes in this war, the Kremlin denied the massacre and unleashed a crude disinformation campaign that still continues. Following their line of denying any atrocity committed by the Russians, in the West pro-Russian propagandists adopted three different lines:

• Some stated that an investigation was necessary and that it was not clear what happened, in an attempt to cover up the matter and cause it to be forgotten.
• Others denied the massacre outright, going so far as to affirm that the photos of corpses in the streets of Bucha were staged.
• Many pro-Russian propagandists accused the Ukrainians of the massacre, claiming that it had been committed by the troops who liberated the city, despite abundant evidence indicating Russian responsibility.

To this day, none of those propagandists have rectified. None of them have acknowledged that they were wrong, that their opinion was incorrect and that the Russians committed that massacre, as demonstrated by the evidence and testimonies of survivors. Two years later, many maintain the same positions as they did then. The evidence and testimonies about this massacre have not changed their minds at any time. None of them have changed their minds about this invasion or about Russia as a result of this massacre.

A clear case of cover-up of a crime

This shows us that the position of these propagandists is immune to facts and reality. They don't care that Russia commits crimes and that those crimes are amply proven. It is worth asking, therefore, whether they consider these crimes justified. In any case, their attitude corresponds to a figure of Criminal Law: concealment, which is the action of those who help the perpetrators of a crime to hide the facts, to evade the action of the Justice or to obtain a benefit from the crime committed.

A denialism like that done by nazis and communists

The attitude of these propagandists is very reminiscent of the attitude of Holocaust deniers, who still today continue to deny the genocide committed by the Nazis in the Second World War despite the abundant amount of evidence that exists about it. the same. Furthermore, its attitude is also very reminiscent of that of the USSR on the Katyn massacre, perpetrated by the Soviets in 1940 and in which 22,000 prisoners were murdered Polish war. The Soviets attributed that massacre to the Germans. The Soviet government did not recognize the truth about Katyn until 1991, a few months before the disappearance of the USSR, and even today the Putin regime continues to hinder the investigation of those events.

The Bucha massacre not only portrays the Kremlin, but also its propagandists. We are facing a war in which Russia is committing serious war crimes and crimes against humanity, which in the case of massacres like Bucha could now be elevated to the category of crimes of genocide. Meanwhile, some continue to pretend that Russia is the third Rome and that it is a moral beacon in the face of a decadent West, and they do this while denying, hiding or falsifying the reality of crimes like those of Bucha.

What these propagandists do is a campaign of deception very similar to those that some have launched to justify Nazism and communism, denying their crimes and demonizing Western democracies. I sincerely hope that one day they will be held accountable in court for this.

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Main photo: The New European.