Russia Denounces Nazi Attacks on Its Facilities in Kiev, Demands Action

FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

Russia Denounces Nazi Attacks on Its Facilities in Kiev, Demands Action

Feb. 21, 2018 (EIRNS)—In a strongly-worded Feb. 19 statement, Russia’s Foreign Ministry denounced the Feb. 17-18 neo-Nazi attacks on the Kiev offices of the Russian Center for Science and Culture, the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, and on the branch offices of two Russian banks, Sberbank and Alfa-Bank. These attacks included defacing the buildings, smashing windows and burning the Russian flag. The Foreign Ministry called in Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Moscow to lodge a formal protest, sent a formal protest to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry and issued a release on the attacks for the media.

What is happening in Kiev is one of the “extremely dangerous trends unfolding in Ukraine today which threaten international stability and security,” the Moscow Foreign Ministry warned. Worse, it continued, Ukraine’s “foreign patrons” respond inadequately, or not at all, which is a cause for great concern. “It’s a shame that Europe and the United States have clearly not learned the tragic lessons of the past century.” It also stated that the attack on the Russian Center for Science and Culture took place while women and children were rehearsing a play inside the building.

This, the Foreign Ministry said, is

“another example of aggressive neo-Nazi nationalism picking up momentum in Ukraine. It obviously enjoys the protection and support of that country’s official government.”

Nor is it a coincidence, it continued, that the attack occurred immediately after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s “offensive speech” at the Munich Security Conference, “which abounded with anti-Russian attacks and contained a direct call for ‘combatting the Russian flag’ worldwide.” Moreover, Ukraine’s vote at the UN General Assembly against the resolution on combatting the glorification of Nazism and neo-Nazism “only goes to show who the current Kiev regime is siding with,” the Ministry’s statement asserts.

TASS reported that members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission witnessed the Kiev attacks and reported them to OSCE headquarters. Pyotr Tolstoy, head of the State Duma delegation to the winter session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly told TASS,

“we expect the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to respond to this situation, since it is intended to protect people’s rights, freedoms and security.”