Radical nationalism had been raised to a
level of national politics in Ukraine, Lukashevich said.
VIENNA,
February 17. /TASS/. Russia demands from Ukraine that an official statement
condemning the attack by radical activists on the Russian Center for Science
and Culture in Kiev should follow, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the
OSCE Alexander Lukashevich said on Saturday, following nationalists’ assault on
the Russian Center for Science and Culture in the Ukrainian capital.
"We
insist Ukraine’s government should officially condemn radicals’ actions.
Connivance to rampant nationalism has gone way overboard," Lukashevich
said in a commentary received by TASS.
"The
next week the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is kicking off. We are hoping that
the lawmakers will have their say on the issue. Moreover, their fellow worker -
Andrey Lozovoi, a Verkhovna Rada deputy of the Radical Party - led the
riot."
The Russian
diplomat underlined that radical nationalism had been raised to a level of
national politics.
"In
conditions of acute domestic antagonism, political turbulence and social
discontent, the Kiev authorities are actively propagating an image of an
adversary personified as Russia," Lukashevich said.
"Offences
against Russian property and Russian citizens in Ukraine are encouraged. At the
legislative level, the authorities encourage persecution of the Canonical
Orthodox Church, the Russian language and culture. The freedom of expression is
clamped down on. Attacks on the media, journalists and bloggers is,
unfortunately, a matter of fact."
"Until
radical nationalist are rampaging in Ukraine, there will be no peace in that
country. We insist that manifestations of xenophobia, nationalism and extremism
in Ukraine be considered in detail at OSCE," the Russian envoy said.
Earlier on
Saturday, about 30 members of the S14 (Sich) nationalist group attacked the
Russian Center for Science and Culture in Kiev. The center’s spokesperson told
TASS that the Right Sector group (banned in Russia) joined the Sich
nationalists in the attack. The nationalists posted information about their
action on Facebook. The video footage shows how they are splashing black and
red paint on the walls and writing insulting slogans and words. They also torn
down and desecrated the Russian flag.
The attack
on the Russian center was not the first. In August 2016, nationalists hurled
smoke grenades into the building and spray-painted graffiti with their symbols
on its walls. In July 2017, about 30 members of Svoboda movement headed by a
member of the Kiev Council Igor Miroshnichenko stormed the center's building
and occupied the second floor to disrupt the presentation of a book on Russian
history.
Source: ITAR-TASS 18-02-2018
