The cartoons of the crashed Russian Airbus A321 airliner, published by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, are a sign of cowardice, according to Russian lawmaker Alexei Pushkov.
"Charlie Hebdo – sarcasm and irony without borders? No, it’s hypocrisy without borders: spitting on the graves of others is cowardice, not heroic" Pushkov posted in French on Twitter.
Charli Hebdo - sarcasme et ironie sans bornes? Non,hipocrisie sans bornes: cracher sur les tombes des autres est une lachete, pas un exploit— Алексей Пушков (@Alexey_Pushkov) 8 ноября 2015
On October 31, the Russian Kogalymavia airliner, carrying 224 people, crashed in the Sinai Peninsula en route from Sharm El-Sheikh to St. Petersburg. Everyone on board died in what has become the biggest tragedy in Russian and Soviet civil aviation history.
Several days after the catastrophe, Charlie Hebdo published two cartoons poking fun at the crash.
One of the pictures shows an Islamic State (IS) jihadist militant with plane debris falling around him. The caption reads "IS: Russian Aviation intensifies its bombing campaign."
In the second drawing, a skull in sunglasses, lying on the ground amid body parts and the plane’s debris, speaks about the dangers of flying with the Russian airline. The caption says: "The dangers of a Russian budget airline. I should have taken Air Cocaine."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the cartoons an “abomination” which have nothing to do with democracy or self-expression.
