Russia's ambassador to Australia says the International Criminal Court (ICC) has "tunnel vision" and has rejected a UN-backed report alleging war crimes by Russian troops in Ukraine.
Speaking to the ABC's 7.30 program hours before the body issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin at the weekend, Alexey Pavlovsky challenged the impartiality of the ICC investigation into war crimes in Ukraine.
The Hague-based court has found Mr Putin and Russia's commissioner for children's rights Maria Lvova-Belova criminally responsible for the unlawful deportation of children from "occupied areas of Ukraine" to the Russian Federation.
Dr Pavlovsky also rejected the findings of a UN-backed report being presented in Geneva on Monday, which alleges Russian troops committed extensive war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
Amongst the report's allegations are the systematic use of torture, rape, the summary execution of civilians and attacks on hospitals and other civilian infrastructure.
"The bodies you are referring to are more than biased; they have tunnel vision," Dr Pavlovsky said.
Asked whether Russia would cooperate with the investigations, the ambassador said: "The public is brainwashed because it hears loud words about evidence, about footage. But they never have the opportunity to fact check what they are presented."
This claim by Dr Pavlovsky ignores publicly available evidence of atrocities committed by Russian forces, including civilians slain on the streets of Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, as Russian troops made their ill-fated advance on the capital in March 2022.
Dr Pavlovsky accused investigators of ignoring alleged war crimes by Ukrainian soldiers, "including torture, Nazi-style sadistic torture of prisoners of war and the execution of prisoners of war".
The report from the UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine documented a "small number of violations" committed by Ukrainian armed forces, including "likely indiscriminate attacks and two incidents that qualify as war crimes".
Despite the Russian government's dismissal of the arrest warrant for Mr Putin and its allegations of war crimes as "null and void", Dr Pavlovsky said Russia was ready to cooperate "with any unbiased and objective investigation".
Ambassador says Australia should 'stop arming Ukraine'
Dr Pavlovsky accused Australia of helping prolong the war by joining a Western coalition to arm Ukraine, contributing armoured vehicles, surveillance systems and training to the Ukrainian military.
Asked if Moscow had ordered him to lobby the Australian government to cease its support, the ambassador told 7.30 the federal government knew Russia's position.
"The formula is straightforward. The more you give arms to Ukraine, the longer this war is protracted," he said.
Dr Pavlovsky warned Australia against supplying Ukraine with munitions, specifically 155mm shells, in association with France.
He claimed the shells could be used against civilian populations in the Russian-occupied areas of Donbas, part of a pattern he claimed of the Ukrainian army targeting civilians.
In a statement to 7.30, a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said: "Australia rejects Russia's attempts to use disinformation to justify its illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine."
"Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is a gross violation of international law, including the Charter of the United Nations. Russia alone is responsible for this illegal and immoral war.
"Peace lies with Russia withdrawing from Ukrainian territory."
In a statement to 7.30, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, said: "The war would end tomorrow if Russia simply withdrew to the borders it has illegally crossed to invade a peaceful and smaller neighbour, and practice ethnocide against its people.
"If it does not do so, the fastest way to end the war, achieve peace and return stability to the world and Australia, is to help Ukraine be victorious in the coming months.
"Ukraine is very grateful for Australia's support of sovereignty, democracy and the rule of law. We fight for the same values against an out-of-control, terroristic Russian regime ruled by an indicted war criminal."
West blamed for using Ukraine as a 'tool'
Since Russia invaded Ukraine last February, Mr Putin has claimed that Moscow was conducting a "special military operation" to "liberate" and "denazify" Ukraine.
The term "special operation" was the subject of a fiery exchange between Dr Pavlovsky and 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson, who repeatedly insisted the invasion be called a "war".
In a speech last month, Mr Putin claimed that Russia was not at war with the people of Ukraine.
Asked why Russia had caused the death of more than 8,000 civilians and injured tens of thousands more, Dr Pavlovsky denied there had been widespread civilian casualties.
"No casualties, no destructions would have been here today if the West hadn't decided to use Ukraine as a tool against Russia," he said.
Dr Pavlovsky asserted that on the eve of the invasion, Russia did not view Ukraine as a sovereign country.
"Because in a sovereign country, the government thinks about the interests of its people … [sovereignty] does not include being guided by the interests of foreign countries," he said.
Russia's refusal to accept that Ukraine's sovereignty was violated by the invasion makes the prospect of a negotiated settlement of the war remote.
Today, China's President Xi Jinping will travel to Moscow for meetings with Mr Putin and potentially with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
China has released a 12-point plan for what Beijing calls the "political settlement" of the war in Ukraine.
It states: "Sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries must be effectively upheld."
Ukraine seeks a return to pre-invasion borders, beginning with Russia's military annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Russia said it refused to relinquish control of seized territory in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
"Any peace [deal] should take into consideration the realities on the ground. And those realities are that those four new regions have joined Russia," Dr Pavlovsky said.
The diplomat denied China was Russia's ally but conceded Beijing's plan had merit:
"China is not an ally. You should have done your homework," he said.
"If we are talking about the peace plan, it's an important document. And anything it includes should be thoroughly studied."
In response, Mr Myroshnychenko said: “When Russia talks about peace, it's an admission that it has already been defeated in its attempt to completely destroy Ukraine, Ukrainians, and Ukrainian democratic statehood.
Any so-called 'peace' that involves Ukrainian citizens being forced to live in Russian-occupied territories — territories gained through illegal force of arms, brutality and documented war crimes — is a death sentence for those citizens and therefore unpalatable."
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story timed the interview after the issue of the ICC arrest warrant. The interview took place just before.
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