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Protesters try to set fire to Russian Embassy in Kiev

Several people threw Molotov cocktails at the main entrance to Russia’s Embassy and were detained after the incident

KIEV, March 10. /TASS/. Several people threw Molotov cocktails at the main entrance to Russia’s Embassy in Kiev overnight on March 10, Ukraine’s Independent News Bureau has reported.

"The hooligans were able to throw over the fence of the Russian Embassy a few bottles with the Molotov cocktail, after which they were detained," the news report said.

At the moment, the Russian Embassy in Kiev has not commented on the incident.

The protesters are picketing the Russian Embassy in Kiev for a third day demanding the release of Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko who is charged with involvement in the murder of Russian journalists.

Meanwhile, about 200 people have gathered on Thursday at a rally outside the Ukrainian Embassy in downtown Moscow. A TASS correspondent reports from the scene that they are chanting "Shame on the Ukrainian Junta." No serious incidents have been registered during the rally.

"The nationalist hysteria near the Russian Embassy in Kiev and Russophobic statements in support of Savchenko are nothing else but an attempt to demonstrate their own exceptionalism. Those who defend the murderer demonstrate in advance the rejection of any court ruling other than the not guilty verdict. They are using primitive, savage ways of self-expression to promote their own interests near the diplomatic mission under the shelter of their overseas mentors," an organizer of the rally told TASS. He recalled that "Savchenko suspected of serious crimes had been honored with several awards since 2014, including by the United States, the European Parliament, she was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine."

"We believe that Savchenko should get the punishment she deserves for the murder, which will be determined by the court. We are confident that those who support this hysteria must think in the first place about human rights in Ukraine, where tens of thousands of people have died," he added.

The rally is held against the background of the attack on the Russian Embassy in Kiev, which occurred in the early hours of March 6. The unidentified persons wearing camouflage and masks damaged cars with Russian diplomatic plates with baseball bats and threw flares and smoke bombs at the Russian Embassy. According to the embassy’s press secretary Oleg Grishin, the radically-minded protesters were well armed and prepared the attack carefully in advance.

The Russian Foreign Ministry presented a note of protest to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, but so far there has been no response from Kiev.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin said he "fully supported peaceful protests" in Savchenko’s support. A similar view has been expressed by Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk.