The Russian consulate building in New York City has been vandalized, with streaks of bright red paint seen sprayed onto its facade. The incident is an apparent protest against President Vladimir Putin signing treaties that pave the way for the inclusion of four former Ukrainian regions into the Russian Federation.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova denounced the attack in a Telegram post on Friday, sharing CCTV footage of the defaced diplomatic compound while accusing the US and its NATO allies of fueling the conflict in Eastern Europe.
“Our Consulate General in New York. Look – this is how the Kiev regime and NATO, led by the United States, have been pouring blood over Donetsk and Lugansk all these years. The only thing they can do,” she said, referring to the capitals of the two breakaway provinces that first claimed independence from Ukraine back in 2014 and eventually held referendums to join Russia over the past week.
The New York City Police Department responded to a vandalism call around 1:30am on Friday morning, according to a statement obtained by CBS. No arrests have yet been made in connection to the defacing, which marred one side of the building with scribbles of red spray paint.
The presumed act of protest came as Russia accepted the results of referendums held in both the Donetsk and Lugansk republics, as well as the former Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Zaporozhye. All four territories voted overwhelmingly to join the Russian Federation, according to local election officials and observers.
On Thursday, another Russian diplomatic building in Sofia, Bulgaria, was vandalized, with a local politician seen splashing red paint on a sign in front of Russia’s embassy. The political candidate, Ivan Kalchev, claimed he wanted to “honor the memory of the victims of the Ukraine war,” adding that he intended to pay respects to “all those innocent Russians who will be used as cannon fodder.”