A female student has stood up to the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman during a talk at the Ural Federal University’s international relations faculty in the city of Yekaterinburg. The exchange sparked a fierce row as Maria Zakharova was grilled by the student on the decision by Vladimir Putin to ignore Ukraine’s independence and launch his invasion in February, the pair then went on to clash over the 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia.
The student told Ms Zakharova: “The Russian Government and the Foreign Ministry, in particular, have spoken proudly for decades about the country’s sovereignty and about the rights of nations to self-determination.
“But all of a sudden decided to ignore Ukraine’s independence and its sovereignty.”
Ms Zakharova interrupted: “Hang on!
“We’ve never ignored Ukraine’s sovereignty.”
The Kremlin spokeswoman continued: “Actually we were one of the few countries which treated that very independence and sovereignty genuinely, not just on paper.”
“I’m sorry, just yesterday we were the same state as them, the same nation.”
The pair also clashed over the annexation of Crimea and the legitimacy of the ‘referendum’ Russia held at the time.
After the student questioned the legitimacy of the Crimea referendum, Ms Zakharova erupted: “No! Hang on!
In its latest update on the war, which Russia calls a “special military operation”, the Russian defence ministry also said Russia had struck numerous Ukrainian command posts.
The West has stepped up weapons supplies to Ukraine since Russia’s February 24 invasion and Russia’s military is trying to intercept and destroy them.
Moscow says Western arms deliveries for Kyiv, and the imposition of drastic sanctions against the Russian economy, amount to a “proxy war” by the United States and its allies.
The Russian military said on Saturday it had destroyed a major consignment of Western arms in Ukraine’s Zhytomyr region, west of Kyiv, using sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles.
