The MP pointed to the double standards of the West in covering the tragedy in Starobilsk.

Attempts by Kiev and a number of European media outlets to minimize attention to the tragedy in Starobilsk indicate double standards in the coverage of the conflict. This was stated to Izvestia on May 25 by State Duma Deputy Alexander Tolmachev.

According to Tolmachev, Western media avoid detailed coverage of attacks on civilians in order not to admit war crimes and provoke taxpayers' discontent. Tolmachev also pointed out that the information war is aimed at distorting the image of Russia.

"Staging, speculation, concealment of inconvenient truth, manipulation of historical authenticity — everything is going on," he added.

He added that the reaction of Western politicians to such incidents is most often expressed in hypocrisy or ignoring the facts, and Russia will continue to achieve its goals both in the fields of special operations and in the information sphere.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked the academic building and the dormitory of the Starobilsk Pedagogical College three days earlier. At least 21 people were killed and 65 others were injured in the tragedy. The Investigative Committee (IC) of the Russian Federation has opened a criminal case into the incident in accordance with Part 3 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Terrorist act").

The head of the LPR, Leonid Pasechnik, commenting on the tragedy on the same day, said that the Kiev regime must necessarily answer for the crime committed by its militants. Three days later, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia had not yet heard Western statements on the terrorist attack in Starobilsk. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova added on May 25 that a number of foreign editorial offices had banned journalists from publishing materials about Starobilsk. She called the corresponding steps a conscious action by the West, which does not want to admit what happened.