The Russian Ambassador to Sri Lanka dismissed calls for an international inquiry into allegations of war crimes.
Vladimir Mikhaylov was speaking at a conference marking 55 years of diplomatic relations between Russia and Sri Lanka, where he expressed Russia’s view that larger, more powerful nations cannot dictate to smaller countries how to govern or what type of leader should be in power.
He argued that the legitimately elected governments should be allowed to solve internal matters themselves.
"We always advocate that democratically elected government of Sri Lanka has a right to lead the people of Sri lanka. They know better how to deal with domestic problems and nobody should dictate terms to them" he said.
Mikhaylov rejected criticism of apparent Russian apathy on human rights violations.
"We do care about human rights, if they are violated on a massive scale", he stressed.
However, according to Mikhaylov, no massive human rights violations ever took place in Sri Lanka.
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