On October 2, at a regular press conference in Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova strongly opposed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's claim that Ukraine had returned 1,600 children from Russia.
According to Ms. Zakharova, the number given by Mr. Zelensky is completely fabricated and has a political propaganda nature, and affirmed that Russia has never handed over such a number of children to Ukraine. She called it an un sentenced lie and said Russia had a legal mechanism to ensure solidarity between children and families dispersed by the conflict, but Ukraine had taken advantage of this humanitarian theme to put international pressure on Russia.
In the same speech, Ms. Zakharova also sent many other strong messages. She said Russia has no intention of extending the New Strategic arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which has expired, to the US and said the West is taking advantage of arms control to put political pressure.
She warned the European Union (EU) plan to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine as a blatant robbery, which could prompt Moscow to take tough retaliatory measures.
Regarding the issue of Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson emphasized that the conflict cannot be resolved by force, but can only end if Ukraine recognizes current territorial reality and returns to a state of neutrality.
She also accused Ukrainian television of cutting together and using artificial intelligence technology to make the UN headquarters look larger when President Zelensky spoke, considering this a typical example of IT war.
