Ukraine Says Moscow May Stand Behind Attack on Russian Embassy in Kiev

Russian special services may stand behind the events at the Russian embassy in Kiev, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said Monday.

"We believe that the result of these events could also be a clever provocation by Russian special services," the adviser to the Ukraine’s Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko said at a briefing in Kiev.

"We do not rule out that the very idea of protesting in front of the Russian embassy was planted by the Russian special services," Gerashchenko added.

Gerashchenko noted that Ukrainian specialists are now examining such a possibility. In particular, they are trying to find out who had sent a message with a call to go to the Russian embassy in Kiev.

On June 14, scores of demonstrators gathered outside the Russian embassy in Kiev. The crowd tore the Russian flag from the embassy building and broke the pavement. Rocks and smoke grenades were thrown at the building. The protesters also hurled a Molotov cocktail at the embassy, causing a minor fire which was extinguished. The police did nothing to stop the crowd, according to local media outlets.

• Ukraine’s Acting Foreign Minister Andrii Deshchytsia also joined the crow at the embassy. He spoke about Russian President Vladimir Putin using offensive language and declared his solidarity with the protesters, saying that "he would have stood there himself," according to the Ukrainian media.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on the following day that Deshchytsia had allowed himself statements that were beyond "decency". Lavrov added that he did not know how Deshchytsia planned to communicate and work with his Russian colleagues following Deshchytsia's comments on June 14.
KIEV, June 16 (RIA Novosti)
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