Protesters attack Russian consulate in Ukraine with eggs and paintballs
Russia’s Foreign Ministry is demanding that those who participated in a protest outside the Russian consulate in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv be found and punished.
Earlier, Russian officials reported that 100 people threw eggs and fired paintballs at the Russian consulate in Kharkiv. Apparently, Protesters also blocked the entrance to the consulate’s territory, trapping employees, as well as UN and OSCE representatives, inside the building for roughly two hours.
According to an official statement on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website, “right in front of Ukrainian law enforcement officers, a group of vandals attacked the consulate,” desecrating the Russian coat of arms, and damaging the consular building. Moscow is calling the act "a shameful provocation" and demanding compensation.
The Ukrainian side once again crudely violated its international obligations under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations from 1963.
- At the time of the attack, the Russian consulate in Kharkiv was holding a banquet in honor of Russia Day, a Federal holiday celebrated in Russia on June 12. Representatives of the UN, the OSCE, veteran organizations, and NGOs were attending the celebration. One of the guests told Interfax that they were locked in for a period of two hours and could leave only after local police intervened and escorted guests away from the building.
- The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said the protest took place without any serious legal violations. According to the Ukrainian police, the demonstration drew about 50 people, some of whom threw bottles containing a green liquid at the consular building, without injuring anyone. Police also said none of the guests or consular staff had any trouble leaving the building.
- Julia Plugina, one of the protesters, told the news agency RIA Novosti, “We wanted to show that, during a war, supporting an occupation force is morally inappropriate; it’s against norms and against any kind of humane reasoning, no matter what your attitude towards Russians may be. I understand that there are normal and respectable people among them [inside the consulate in Kharkiv], but it’s simply unacceptable to come to the Russian embassy with flowers during a war.”