Paris authorities have opened an investigation after a Russian cultural centre in the French capital was allegedly attacked by someone throwing a ‘Molotov cocktail’ type incendiary device at the building on Sunday night.
The alleged firebombing took place over the night from Sunday into Monday morning in the 16th arrondissement of Paris at the Russian House of Science and Culture, with a police source claiming that a firebomb struck the gate of the building.
Police say they were alerted to the incident by a security guard who found debris and noticed that billboard had been burnt and slightly melted, 20 Minutes reports.
Russian diplomatic spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has also spoken out on the alleged attack, calling on French authorities to “to ensure the adequate security of our official representations”, while the website of the centre has written on its website that it is now temporarily closed and planned events have been postponed.
The Paris prosecutor’s office, meanwhile, has stated that it will be launching an investigation into the alleged attack.
On Monday, Ireland’s police force arrested a man in Dublin who attempted to ram a truck through the gate of the Russian embassy after the embassy had been the site of daily protest against the war in Ukraine.
“I’ve done my bit lads,” the driver of the vehicle is alleged to have said according to a local newspaper, and added, “I want the ambassador and his colleagues to leave this country, leave this free country.”
In the United States, a restaurant in Washington DC, the Russia House, was attacked and vandalised just days after Russia’s new intensification of its long-standing invasion of Ukraine, with the owner stating that the attack was likely connected to the conflict.
Russia House owner Aaron McGovern also claimed that the establishment had been on the receiving end of harassing and unpleasant phone calls.