The Russian Embassy in Ukraine has demanded that certain people responsible for incidents involving Russian diplomats in Lviv on May 9 be brought to justice.
"I draw your attention to the [Russian] Foreign Ministry’s statement on this issue, in which we express hope that those standing behind these outrageous acts will be brought to justice and the situation will not be restricted by discussions, debates and the creation of working groups because it could lead to new similar events in the future. Concrete people responsible for these things ought to be punished," the embassy’s counselor Vsevolod Loskutov said at a roundtable in Kyiv on Thursday.
It is the first attack on the Russian consul that he has witnessed during his work in Ukraine, Loskutov said.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has formed a working group to investigate the incidents in Lviv on May 9.
On May 9, groups of Ukrainian nationalists snatched a wreath from Russian Consul General Oleg Astakhov, which he was going to lay at a military cemetery atop the Hill of Glory in Lviv, and trampled it down.
They also attacked veterans and members of NGOs who were present on the Hill of Glory and tried to disrupt the celebration of Victory Day, which prompted police to use truncheons to stop them.
