‘Guarantee security’: Finland tells Russia after incident at embassy in Moscow
Finland on Friday (December 23) asked Russia to guarantee the security of the Finnish embassy in Moscow following an incident where a group of masked people threw sledgehammers into the embassy’s yard.
Finland’s deputy head of the mission asked the Russian government to guarantee the security of staff and of the building, in keeping with the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations, news agency Reuters reported citing a Finnish foreign ministry spokesperson.
The video of the incident, which has been doing rounds on social media, showed the group throwing sledgehammers and running away from the embassy premises.
No one was injured and there were no damages to the building, the Finnish foreign ministry said on Friday.
It is not yet known when did the incident took place. However, a report by YLE news on Saturday said the incident happened on Tuesday and sledgehammers were thrown in an apparent revenge attack.
Unidentified persons threw sledgehammer at the embassy of Finland in Moscow.
I wonder whether there are a lot of foreigners now in Russia and do they feel safe? pic.twitter.com/IWFnSb6M3a
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) December 20, 2022
Anton Gerashchenko, the adviser to Ukraine’s internal affairs minister, shared the incident video on Twitter and questioned whether there were a lot of foreigners in Russia and did they feel safe.
“Unidentified persons threw a sledgehammer at the Embassy of Finland in Moscow. I wonder whether there are a lot of foreigners now in Russia and do they feel safe?” Gerashchenko tweeted on Wednesday.
Soon after the war began in Ukraine, Finland and Sweden broke decades of military non-alignment and decided to apply for NATO membership in response to Russia’s offensive.
The move requires unanimous approval of the alliance’s current 30 members. Turkey and Hungary remain the only member states to have failed to ratify the applications of the two Nordic countries.
On Wednesday, Russia said that it would beef up its military presence in the country’s northwestern parts in response to Finland and Sweden’s bids to join NATO.
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