Kremlin Calls for 2014 Odessa Massacre Perpetrators to Be Punished

MOSCOW (Sputnik) People responsible for the May 2, 2014 tragedy in Odessa, when hundreds were deliberately trapped inside a burning Trade Unions House, should be punished as such crimes have no statute of limitations, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

On May 2, 2014, Ukrainian nationalists locked protesters opposed to Ukraine's integration with the European Union in Odessa Trade Unions House and set the building on fire. Almost 50 people died and some 250 were injured in clashes with the radicals, according to the United Nations.

"We remember all those who tragically died then. And we are convinced that those who are behind this crime must be punished. Such crimes have no statute of limitations," Peskov told reporters.

The fact that no one has been held responsible for that crime is a "shameful" and "unacceptable" part of Ukrainian history, Peskov added.

In November 2013, a series of protests, dubbed Euromaidan or simply Maidan, broke out in Ukraine due to the authorities' decision to halt policy aimed at integration with the European Union. The unrest quickly took on a sharply anti-presidential and anti-government character. During clashes between Ukraine's security forces and demonstrators, more than 100 people died. The protests eventually turned into a coup and resulted in the ousting of then-President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014. It also resulted in the estrangement of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region and the subsequent offensive against it by new authorities in Kiev.

The clashes in Odessa became one of the deadliest events during the Maidan and anti-Maidan demonstrations in Ukraine. Moscow has on many occasions criticized Kiev's negligence in the investigation of the deadly tragedy and urged the international community and human rights groups to probe the causes of the massacre.