Kosachyov accuses West of hypocrisy on situation in Iraq's Mosul
MOSCOW. June 29 (Interfax) - The apparent liberation of Mosul from terrorists could be called good news, but it is difficult to get away from the idea that this city has become a symbol of propaganda hypocrisy of the western coalition, Konstantin Kosachyov, the head of the Federation Council committee on international affairs, said.
"The information that Iraq's Mosul is probably finally liberated from ISIL [terrorist organization banned in Russia] militants could, of course, be called wonderful news because every strike on our common and apparent enemy weakens him and objectively reduces his resources, including morale and will," Kosachyov told Interfax on Thursday.
He said he hopes that this news will be confirmed.
"There is one circumstance that makes it impossible to take positive news without a certain taste: Mosul has turned into a kind of a symbol of propaganda hypocrisy," he said.
It is enough to remember "what commotion was raised around the operation of the Syrian troops to liberate Aleppo, and, on that background, the silence about the similar actions on Mosul, which, however, led to a real humanitarian catastrophe," he said.
"The facts of mass deaths of Iraqi civilians in the bombings and attacks by the United States and its western allies in the anti-ISIL coalition, which became public, are shocking. The attackers are very reluctant to admit these facts and they recognize them late, as, in particular, it happened when over 100 civilians were killed simultaneously in the Mosul district al-Jadida on March 17 as a result of the bombing by the U.S. aviation on residential quarters," the senator said.
Photos and videos of the torture and killings of civilians by the Iraqi military have recently fallen into the hands of journalists, he said.
Kosachyov said Russia has repeatedly voiced concerns about the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Mosul, but they were never heard.