Russian propaganda shamelessly claims BRITAIN ‘staged’ genocide in Bucha to blame Putin for ‘war crimes’

RUSSIA has launched a shameless propaganda campaign claiming BRITAIN "staged" horrifying scenes of carnage in Bucha to blame Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes.

Harrowing images from the city close to Kyiv showed the bodies of civilians ruthlessly scattered on the road and in shallow graves - many with bound hands and signs of torture.

But the Kremlin has denied the massacre happened, with a state TV report making twisted claims that it was was "staged" and amounted to "provocation" which was "done by professionals, probably British".

Putin's propaganda machine has repeatedly attempted to cover up Russia's involvement in alleged atrocities - including using cluster bombs to blast Ukrianians.

Moscow has even issued warped claims accusing Ukraine of being under a Nazi regime as it continues to deny any responsibility for civilian attacks.

Now, political scientist Gevorg Mirzayan has relayed depraved claims on state-controlled Channel 1 television Vremya Pokazhet (Time Will Tell) talk show that the latest alleged atrocity in Bucha was staged by the West.

Mirzayan claimed scenes in Bucha - where Putin’s troops have been accused of butchering civilians and burying them in mass graves - were faked and "done by professionals, probably British".

“They're the best in the area of information operations," he said.

Twisted reports claim Ukraine and the West are behind a "Goebbels-style" propaganda campaign launched to accuse Putin and his troops of "genocide".

Vremya Pokazhet and other state media shows made depraved allegations that Britain worked with President Volodymyr Zelensky's advisor Oleksiy Arestovych to plant dead bodies to make it seem as if the Russians were guilty of a massacre.

The warped anti-British claims - for which no evidence was cited - run entirely counter to satellite evidence showing corpses lying in streets and mass graves before the Russians exited Bucha.

Western politicians and experts agree with Zelensky that Bucha is evidence of egregious war crimes by Russia. 

US President Joe Biden has called for Putin to face a war crimes trial and said he would seek more sanctions against the country after the reported atrocities.

And Boris Johnson warned that the sickening images are evidence that Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine.

"I will do everything in my power to starve Putin's war machine," the PM said.

He added: “No denial or disinformation from the Kremlin can hide what we all know to be the truth — Putin is desperate, his invasion is failing, and Ukraine’s resolve has never been stronger.

"We are stepping up our sanctions and military support, as well as bolstering our humanitarian support package to help those in need on the ground.

"The UK has been at the forefront of supporting the International Criminal Court’s investigation into atrocities committed in Ukraine."

Earlier, pro-Putin anchor Vladimir Solovyov also made false claims on state-funded Rossiya 1, alleging it was "primarily the British working there".

“Apparently this whole provocation was planned by the British, announced by Arestovych," he said.

"Saying look at the atrocities of Russian troops, here are civilians shot and killed."

He outrageously claimed "everything is being done" by the West to "accuse Russia of genocide".

This was echoed on the same channel by TV host Olga Skabeyeva on the 60 Minut (60 Minutes) talk show who said that a "flagrantly brutal provocation” had been staged by “Ukrainian Nazis in Bucha”.

"Absolutely the entire allegedly civilised West are right now attempting to create a hybrid, fake version of Srebrenica," she said.

It comes as...

• President Zelensky fights back tears as he surveys city after Russian invasion
• Russia will face 'maximum sanctions' following war crimes, warns Truss
• Inside horror 'torture chambers' set up by Russians to 'murder Ukrainians'
• Anonymous reveals details of 120k Russian soldiers in Ukraine in blow to Putin
• Ukrainian mum shows daughter's shallow grave & shock pics reveal mass burial site

Her rant went on to accuse the Western media of starting “simultaneously and without a break for sleep to replicate reports of fake atrocities of which they immediately accused the Russian army”.

"If you believe Ukrainian propaganda, the streets of the town were at the time scattered with dead bodies. They're lying," she said.

"Everything that has been said and shown [about Bucha] is fake. 

“The methods were developed by Goebbels and since then nothing has changed, but the West's reaction is indicative of its hypocrisy."

She made twisted claims that the civilians were "killed by the Ukrainian armed forces".

“The West is in this way virtually giving approval to Ukraine for extrajudicial killings of those they consider traitors," she said. 

Russia's defence ministry has also made twisted claims that Ukraine had staged fresh civilian deaths in a number of locations in an effort to pin the blame on Moscow.

It made unfounded allegations that the Ukrainian military recorded a fake video that purported to show "peaceful civilians allegedly killed by the Russian armed forces".

The video was made on Monday evening in the settlement of Moshchun some 12 miles northwest of Kyiv and was designed to be distributed through Western media, Moscow claimed.

"Similar events are now being organised by the Ukrainian special services in Sumy, Konotop and other cities," the Russian defence ministry said, referring to cities in northeastern Ukraine.

The ministry did not say how it obtained the information in its statement.