Ukraine: Russian Embassy under attack

The United States is among nations that condemned the attacke on the Russian Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine. Kiev authorities failed to protect this foreign mission as required by international law.

Some 200 Ukrainian protesters rallying at the Russian embassy in Kiev have overturned several diplomatic cars, piled up tires to block the entry and thrown eggs and paint at the building. Police stood idly by as the anti-Moscow crowd blockaded the site.

The rally, which on Saturday started as a small picket in protest against the Russian government’s alleged involvement in the Ukrainian crisis, has attracted dozens of people and as many journalists.

Protesters have started breaking pavement and hurling rocks at the embassy’s windows, ITAR-TASS reports.

The situation became even more tense as dozens of masked and camouflaged radicals of the Maidan self-defense troops, the Right Sector, and the nationalist Svoboda party joined the protest in the evening. Rocks, smoke grenades, and some explosives were thrown at the embassy from over the fence.
Press-attaché of the Russian diplomatic mission to Ukraine, Oleg Grishin, confirmed to RT that the overturned vehicles belong to embassy staff. Police have attempted to talk to protesters, but refrained from detaining any of them, he said.

“Security is provided by the Ukrainian side. They do not prevent the damage being caused to property of the Russian diplomatic mission and to the facade [of the building],” Grishin told RT over the phone.

The embassy has been effectively blocked by protesters’ cars placed at the entrance, as well as by heaps of tires, Grishin said.
A handful of people with placards reading “Russia go home,” “No vodka!” and slogans insulting Russian President Vladimir Putin initially started picketing near the embassy.

Several protesters hurled eggs, while loud speakers play Ukrainian patriotic songs.

Some of the people appeared aggressive and started barring the embassy’s entrance with tires, witnesses reported.

The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning the attack on the Russian embassy and demanded that Kiev provide security for Russian diplomats.

“Moscow is extremely outraged at the provocative actions of fascist-like thugs in Kiev against the Russian Embassy. Moscow demands the Ukrainian side take all necessary security measures to protect Russian diplomats in Kiev,” the statement said.

No such measures have yet been taken by Kiev, which is a “fragrant violation of Ukraine’s obligations,” the ministry said.

Russia has asked the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to respond to the attack on the Russian embassy in Kiev. A draft resolution on the issue has been introduced to the UNSC.