MOSCOW, June 15, /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian foreign ministry has sent a note to the Ukrainian foreign ministry urging to punish those involved in the “orgy” around the Russian embassy and to redress the damage done, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists on Sunday.
“As for the orgy staged by roughnecks with neo-Nazi and other obscene slogans against the Russian embassy, an official note has been sent to the Ukrainian foreign ministry urging to find and punish those responsible for it and to compensate for the serious damages,” he said.
“We shall spare no effort to have our Ukrainian colleagues produce a clear reaction,” he stressed.
The Russian Embassy to Ukraine came under a violent attack on Saturday, June 14, with embassy cars overturned, the Russian flag torn down and the premises pelted with eggs, smoke barrels and firecrackers. Ukrainian police did nothing to stop the attack.
Earlier, Russia’ Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov said that the attack on the embassy in Kiev had been meticulously planned.
“We could observe two groups, which did not take part in the most active actions around the embassy but were absolutely ready for a storm,” he said in an interview with the NTV television channel. “These were young men aged from 25 to 30, well-equipped with baseball bats, prybars, axes. Should they manage to break into the embassy I think casualties would have been inevitable.”
Ukraine’s acting Foreign Minister Andrei Deshchitsa, who either tried to calm down the crowd in from of the Russian embassy in Kiev or simply took part in that orgy, said Lavrov.
“It grated upon me to learn that parliament-appointed acting Foreign Minister Andrei Deshchitsa joined the so-called protesters in from of the embassy and either tried to calm down the crowd or simply took part in the orgy, allowing himself to make pronouncements that are beyond the bounds of proprieties,” he told journalists.
“I understand that he has good teachers, since those who actively support the current Ukrainian authorities in Washington are not shunning to use strong words, but, a diplomat, and Deshchitsa is a diplomat, should be more careful with words,” Lavrov stressed. “I do not know how he is going to speak and work with us.
It looks like the attack on the Russian embassy in Kiev was aiming to seize the building and shed blood, Russian Foreign Minister said.
“Our diplomats say they had a feeling that the attackers sought to seize the embassy. There are grounds to think that they sought to shed blood,” Lavrov told Russian journalists.
Lavrov said the Azov battalion created and sponsored by Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky had been allocated the leading role in the attack on the Russian embassy in Kiev on Saturday.
“The leading role in the attack on the Russian embassy was played by fighters from the Azov battalion formed and sponsored by Kolomoisky who has been appointed by the current Kiev authorities governor of Dnepropetrovsk,” Lavrov said, adding that he believed the attack was a “disgusting” action.
“This gives a good reason for our Western partners, who offer all-round support to any steps taken by the Ukrainian authorities, to stop and think how these authorities use their powers inherited from Maidan (Kiev’s central Independence Square, a venue of mass protests - ITAR-TASS),” he said.
Moscow is disappointed with the position of its Western partners on the situation around the Russian embassy in Kiev, said Lavrov.
“Western partners assured me and our diplomats that they condemn Ukrainians but when he initiated a relevant draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council, it was the Western partners who refused to support it,” Lavrov told Russian journalists. “They tried to make this draft dependent on their proposals to discuss the incident with a plant that had been shot down in Ukraine’s southeast, on other issue that have no relation to the key problem - the inviolability of diplomatic missions must not depend on any other thing.”
“We are very much disappointed with such position of our Western colleagues. I think it is not complementary to the reputation of European and the United States’ diplomatic school,” he added.