Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's first deputy representative to the United Nations, spoke with i24NEWS on Tuesday and commented on the UN calls to investigate Moscow's war crimes in Ukraine.
"Not everything that has the names 'international' and 'justice' has anything to do with justice," Polyanskiy said, charging that there is a “double standard” regarding Russia, as Western countries ignored what he called the “crimes committed by the Kyiv regime during the eight years of unjustified war in Donbas.”
When asked about Russia striking civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, leading to millions of civilian families losing their power during the cold winter months, Polyanskiy replied, "Unfortunately, the energy infrastructure is not only used for civilian purposes."
Polyanskiy rejected claims that Iran has supplied his country with drones to be used against Ukraine, calling these reports a "fairytale" used by the West and adding, "We haven't seen any proof."
"We repeatedly denied our use of Iranian drones. I think that our military-industrial complex is capable of producing enough weaponry for us, and we don't need to use anybody else's weaponry," he told i24NEWS.
In August, it was reported that Iran had begun training Russians to use its drones, though it was also noted that Russia is experiencing “numerous failures” and technical glitches with the drones it purchased from Iran.
In September, Ukraine reported the first Russian attacks carried out using Iranian-made drones, targeting the south of the country, including the strategic city of Odessa on the Black Sea.
At the start of October, Iranian-made drones were also reportedly used in an attack in the Ukrainian town of Bila Tserkva, southwest of the capital Kyiv.
Polyanskiy told i24NEWS in Tuesday’s interview, "The proof floated in Western media is, frankly, laughable. One of them is a portrait of (Ukrainian) President Zelenskyy standing on something that is claimed to be an Iranian drone."
Polyanskiy was referring to a video of Zelenskyy in late October during his nightly address, where he stood next to an Iranian-made Shahed kamikaze drone, allegedly downed by Ukraine forces.
"But the users of Internet already mocked him repeatedly for this. Because this is a clear setup," he added.