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Ukrainian extremists desecrate symbols of condolences for Tu-154 tragedy

The extremists threw the flowers and candles brought by locals to pay tribute to the victims of the Tu-154 tragedy into a garbage bin
Flowers in memory of the victims of a Russian Tu-154 plane crash outside the Russian Consulate General in Odessa Arkhip Vereshchagin/TASS
Flowers in memory of the victims of a Russian Tu-154 plane crash outside the Russian Consulate General in Odessa
© Arkhip Vereshchagin/TASS

KIEV, December 28. /TASS/. A gang of Right Sector (outlawed in Russia) extremists desecrated public symbols of condolences outside the building of Russia’s Consulate General in Odessa, Ukraine, by throwing the flowers and candles brought by locals to pay tribute to the victims of the Tu-154 tragedy into a garbage bin, a Consulate General employee told TASS on Wednesday.

"Yesterday, a group of youths from the Right Sector came to Russia’s Consulate General, collected the flowers and icon lamps brought by people in memory of those who lost their lives in the Tu-154 crash and threw everything into a garbage bin with the connivance of the Consulate General’s guards," the consulate representative said.

According to the source, the extremists also tore down posters with public condolences from the fence, replacing them instead with their own containing hate-filled remarks, such as "Tu-154 is heavier than air" and "Russians, there is no hawthorn here."

The source noted that they felt they would go unpunished, while Ukraine’s National Police did not react to their actions properly. "Neither Ukraine’s National Police nor National Guard took any serious steps to prevent this act of vandalism," he said.

A Tu-154 plane from Russia’s Defense Ministry crashed in the early morning hours of December 25 shortly after taking off from the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

There were 92 people on board the aircraft, including eight crew members and 84 passengers that lost their lives in the plane disaster. Among those on the fatal flight was the Executive Director of the Spravedlivaya Pomoshch (Fair Aid) charity fund, Elizaveta Glinka, better known to the Russian public as Dr. Liza, as well as military servicemen and nine reporters from Russia's Channel One, Zvezda and NTV networks.

The plane was also carrying more than 60 members of the world-renowned Alexandrov Ensemble, an official choir of the Russian Armed Forces. The ensemble was on its way to celebrate New Year’s Eve with Russia’s Aerospace Forces at the Hmeymim air base in Syria. None of the passengers on the flight survived.