Russian envoy to Poland attacked in Warsaw during wreath-laying ceremony
The ambassador, his wife and a group of diplomats were doused with red paint and were prevented from visiting the memorial
WARSAW, May 9. /TASS/. Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergey Andreyev was attacked on Monday during an attempt to lay flowers at a Soviet military memorial cemetery in Warsaw, a TASS correspondent reported from the scene.
The ambassador, his wife and a group of diplomats were doused with red paint and were prevented from visiting the memorial. The police arrived at the scene in a few minutes, surrounded the diplomats and helped them to get into a car.
The Russian envoy arrived at the cemetery in a diplomatic car with a Russian flag. After Andreyev got out of the vehicle, he was surrounded by an aggressive crowd, which had earlier gathered at the memorial with Ukrainian flags, sheets doused with red paint and anti-Russian slogans. There were no police at the square. The diplomats were able to take several dozen steps, but the crowd did not let them go any further.
Later, the ambassador said he and other Russian diplomats were not seriously injured during the attack. "Possibly, there was some scratch. But neither I nor the team sustained anything serious injuries," he told reporters.
Moscow filed a resolute protest to Warsaw over an attack on Russian Ambassador Sergey Andreyev in Poland and the disrupted wreath-laying ceremony, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.