Investigative Committee charges six suspects in attacks on Russian embassy in Kyiv in 2014 and 2016 in absentia
MOSCOW. Feb 6 (Interfax) - The Russian Investigative Committee has charged in absentia suspects in the attacks on the Russian embassy in Kyiv in 2014 and 2016, Russian Investigative Committee official Svetlana Petrenko said.
"Charges have been filed in absentia against Volodymyr Nazarenko, an activist of the association Svoboda, Volodymyr Romantsov and former Verkhovna Rada deputy Mykola Rudkovsky, who hold ultra-radical views," Petrenko told Interfax on Monday.
The said persons have been charged in absentia with "attacking an establishment that enjoys international protection."
The same charges have been filed in absentia against Irma Krat, former leader of the Maidan Women's Hundred, and two former Aidar battalion fighters, Serhiy Novikov and Oleksandr Vysota.
According to the Investigative Committee, Nazarenko, Tomantsov and Rudkovsky, "acting in a group with other people, were involved in the damage of the property of the Russian embassy, including the throwing of makeshift devices at the front portion of the building" on June 14, 2014.
"Additionally, Nazarenko was directly involved in the tearing of the flagstaff of the Russian state flag and its desecration. Nazarenko was also charged with this crime. The damage done to the embassy exceeded 14 million rubles," the agency official said.
The investigation into the second attack on the embassy, which took place in 2016, determined that Krat, Novikov, Vysota and other activists of he Ukrainian ultra-radical structures Automaidan, Euromaidan and Union of Anti-Terrorist Operation Veterans planned their illegal actions at the Russian embassy in advance, looking to aggravate the international relations between Russia and Ukraine."
"In the morning of March 10, 2016, they came to the Russian embassy and threw into the building four bottles with an explosive liquid (so-called Molotov cocktails). This created open seats of fire in the yard and on the foundation of the Russian diplomatic mission. The Ukrainian citizens videoed everything and then posted the videos on the Internet," Petrenko said.
Information confirming the involvement of the said persons in illegal actions was received during joint investigative and operative events involving Federal Security Service and Interior Ministry officials, she said.