Zakharova thrashes Western media for ignoring Starobelsk massacre

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has urged the participants of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) to begin every conversation with Western journalists with the word “Starobelsk.” 

Starobelsk is a town in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic where 21 people, mostly teenage girls, were killed and dozens more injured in a multi-wave Ukrainian drone attack on a college dorm on May 22.

Western politicians turned a blind eye to the atrocity, while the BBC and CNN rejected an invitation by the Russian authorities to visit the site of the attack.

During her Wednesday appearance at a panel on SPIEF, entitled ‘Your Words are Like Bullets: How Information has Transformed into the Most Powerful Weapon of the Modern Era,’ Zakharova expressed outrage over BBC Russia correspondent Steve Rosenberg coming to the forum in St. Peterburg, but not to Starobelsk.

“They pour you coffee here; there are interesting speakers here and no crying mothers, who lost their children under the ruins of Starobelsk. Here, you won’t have to defend your position before the BBC headquarters in London, insisting that this absolutely must be covered,” she said about the choices made by Rosenberg.

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