Poroshenko administration condemns attacks on Rossotrudnichestvo office in Kyiv
KYIV. Feb 19 (Interfax) -The attacks on the Russian center of science and culture in the Podil area of Kyiv last Sunday were acceptable, Kostyantyn Yelisyeyev, deputy had of the Ukrainian presidential administration, said.
"As a diplomat, I want to note that the acts of vandalism that occurred on Ukrainian territory are unacceptable. We must comport ourselves with dignity, we are a democratic, civilized state," Yeliseev told Radio Liberty on Monday.
This adds nothing positive to Ukraine's global image, he said.
"Ukraine is positioning itself as a civilized state which respects human rights and people's right to peaceful assembly. And what is happening is not quite peaceful. I hope that our law enforcement agencies will draw conclusions, and those who provoked or were directly involved must be punished accordingly," the official said.
It had been reported earlier that about one hundred activists of the volunteer association Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN, banned in Russia) pelted the Kyiv office of the Russian Federal Agency for CIS Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo) with stones and eggs, smashing numerous windows in it. Members of the Ukrainian National Guard and police deployed nearby did not intervene. Police said later that they were working to identify the most active participants in the attack but no one had yet been detained.