MOSCOW, May 22 (RIA Novosti) – The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has not yet reacted to Moscow's call for the Kiev authorities to ensure an impartial investigation into the Odessa tragedy of May 2, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Thursday.
“There is no open and transparent investigation in February riots on the Maidan, as well as in the bloody events that occurred in Odessa May 2,” Lukashevich said.
Lukashevich added that Moscow had turned to the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe with a request to hold an international investigation into the tragedy in Odessa, adding that unfortunately the OSCE had not yet responded to the request.
Earlier this month, Ukraine’s southern city of Odessa saw the bloodiest episode of violence since the start of the crisis in the country in February. A fire at the Trade Unions House that followed clashes between pro-federalization activists on one side and fans of the Odessa and Kharkiv football teams on the other claimed the lives of 48 people, with most of the victims dying of smoke inhalation or after jumping out of windows.
At the same time, media rumors suggest that many of the dead were poisoned by an unknown toxic chemical.
Moscow has demanded an investigation be opened into the reports that people died not of smoke inhalation, but of a poisonous chemical substance, with many of them dying only after they managed to flee the burning building.
Russia also seeks an unbiased investigation into reports suggesting around 1,000 gunmen together with foreign mercenaries had arrived in Odessa on the eve of the tragedy.
