You're reading: Diplomatic community condemns protests outside Russian Embassy (VIDEO)

Protests outside the Russian Embassy on Povitroflotsky avenue in Kyiv, that took place on June 14 as a reaction to shooting down the Ukrainian air carrier with 49 people near Luhansk, spurred a new wave of emotional statements. No major violence occurred during the protest action involving some 200 people, many of them masked, however it is seen as an excessive aggression by many.

“Protesters’ indignation was used for attempts to conduct provocative actions that do not respond to conventional norms of diplomatic relations and protection of diplomatic institutions,” said Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry in a statement.

It adds that some of the protesters have been detained, while the Foreign Ministry does as much as it can to guarantee the security of Russian Embassy. Ukraine’s top diplomat, Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia, along with Interior Minister Arsen Avakov arrived to the embassy late at night on June 14 to calm down the situation.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov officially asked Didier Burkhalter, chairman of Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, to help in preventing the provocations near Russia’s Embassy in Kyiv. Moreover, Russian representative to the United Nations Vitaliy Churkin is going to raise the issue at a United Nations Security Council meeting.

“Lavrov is out of his mind. He demands Ukraine to fulfill the security guarantees of the diplomatic mission according to 1961 Vienna Convention. It would be better for him to recall Russia trampling its guarantees to Ukraine under 1994 Budapest memorandum,” replied Taras Berezovets, head of Kyiv-based Berta Communications political consultancy, on his Facebook page.

Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov has not released any public comments on the recent events.

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department official Twitter account spread the following statement: “US condemns attack on Russia’s Embassy in Kyiv, calls on Ukrainian authorities to provide adequate security.”

Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the UN, came up with a condemnation of the protests near the Russian Embassy too. “Urge Ukrainian authorities to meet their Vienna convention obligations to provide security,” she wrote in a post on Twitter.

Another prominent American diplomat – Steven Pifer, who served as country’s ambassador to Ukraine in 1998-2000 – wrote: “Fully understand Ukraine’s anger at Russia, but trashing Russian embassy is not a good idea. (Will) likely lead to trashing of Ukraine’s embassy in Moscow.”

Pifer was right. Around 200 people gathered around Ukrainian Embassy on Leontievskiy Pereulok in Moscow on June 14 to demonstrate their readiness to reply to protests in Kyiv. They were holding the banners saying “Fascism will not be allowed!”, “Bastards, hands off the Russian diplomats”, “We won’t leave ours!”, “No more spilling of Russian blood!”. Local police arrived to control the ongoing protest.

“Hooligans in Kyiv, who organized a riot near the Russian Embassy, helped (Russian President Vladimir) Putin a lot. As well as a lack of action on Ukrainian police’s side,” said Boris Nemtsov, leader of Parnas, Russian political party that actively opposes Putin’s policy.

“Picture of overturned, crashed cars and explosive packages thrown on the territory of embassy – that’s just what Kremlin lacked to justify its aggression towards Ukraine,” he added. “(Ukrainian President Petro) Poroshenko must bring the order and punish those who are guilty in organizing the provocations.”

Storming the Russian Embassy in Kyiv is a sign for those who do not take a radical stance on Ukraine and try to negotiate with the Poroshenko’s government, wrote Kirill Frolov of Institute of CIS Countries, Moscow-based think tank that strongly supports Putin and his political decisions.