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Russia urges Ukraine to investigate attack on consulate, demands better security

The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed hope that the Ukrainian authorities will take the necessary steps to fulfill their international legal obligations, identify and prosecute the culprits and provide guarantees that such incidents will not recur

MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday summoned Ukraine’s charge d'affaires in Moscow and expressed firm protest to him over a terrorist attack against the Russian consulate in Lvov, the ministry said.

"The charge d'affaires of Ukraine in the Russian Federation was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry," the ministry said in a statement. "A resolute protest was expressed to him and requirements were set forth for the Ukrainian side to fulfill its international obligations to ensure security and create appropriate conditions for the normal functioning of Russian diplomatic and consular missions."

The ministry said it hopes that the Ukrainian authorities will take the necessary steps to fulfill their international legal obligations, identify and prosecute the culprits and provide guarantees that such incidents will not recur.

"We also expect an apology for Kiev's failure to fulfill its obligations to ensure the proper security of the Russian consular establishment," the statement said.

In the wake of the incident, the consulate sent a diplomatic note to the regional office of Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry and appealed to the head of the national police in Lvov to demand that urgent measures be taken to fortify the security of the consulate and its employees, as well as to search for and punish the culprits, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"A similar note from the Russian Embassy in Kiev has been sent to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry," the ministry said.

The statement said that "this dangerous incident on the part of the Ukrainian authorities" is a direct violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons, Including Diplomatic Agents, and the Consular Convention between the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

"This egregious and unacceptable act is a result of stoking anti-Russian hysteria in Ukraine and inciting hatred and enmity toward the Russian Federation," the ministry said, adding that no one was hurt.

An unidentified person hurled a bottle bomb into the fence of the Russian consulate compound early morning on Friday, the Lvov police said. Investigators are looking into the case.

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