Edited by FOTHER-MUCKER at 9-5-2022 08:37 AM
PUBLISHED: 12:09, 9 May 2022 | UPDATED: 16:28, 9 May 2022
Russia's ambassador to Poland was doused in red paint and pelted with objects as he tried to lay a wreath at a memorial to Soviet soldiers in Warsaw today.
Sergei Andreev was confronted by protesters as he tried to mark Victory Day - Nazi Germany's surrender in 1945 - at the Soviet Military ceremony in the Polish capital.
He was blocked from entering the cemetery by a crowd that waved Ukrainian flags in his face and chanted 'fascist' before people began throwing things at him.
Andreev and his security detail were hit multiple times with projectiles before one demonstrator threw a bag of red paint into his face.
Poland’s Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau subsequently branded the incident 'deplorable', although Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said the anger behind the protest was 'understandable'.
Kaminski added that the ambassador had been warned not to attend the cemetery ahead of the attack. Russian ambassador Sergei Andreev doused with red paint
Sergei Andreev, Russia's ambassador to Poland, was doused in red paint by pro-Ukraine demonstrators as he tried to lay wreaths at the main memorial to Soviet soldiers who died in the Second World War in Warsaw, Poland
 Andreev arrived at the memorial with his security detail to lay a wreath on Victory Day - which marks the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945 - when they were pelted with paint (pictured, a bodyguard is doused in paint)
Andreev's embassy had warned just two days ago that the wreath-laying would not go ahead due to safety concerns and did not make it clear why the decision was changed - though the incident was immediately picked up by pro-Kremlin media
Andreev wipes red paint out of his eyes after being covered in it by pro-Ukraine protesters surrounding the Soviet war memorial in Warsaw, Poland, during Victory Day commemorations
Andreev and his entourage (pictured behind) were doused while trying to reach the memorial as part of a wreath-laying event on Victory Day, marking the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945
Andreev is escorted by Polish police after trying and failing to reach the Soviet war memorial in Warsaw (pictured to the top right of the frame) to lay his wreath
Andreev said afterwards that he was uninjured in the attack, but it was picked up by the Kremlin who described it as a 'bloody' attack by 'fans of neo-Nazism'
Russian ambassador to Poland doused by red paint by crowd
The delegation where prevented from reaching the war memorial at the centre of the cemetery or laying the wreaths they had brought with them.
Instead, police had to be called to escort them away. Andreev said later that he had not been injured during the fracas.
But the incident highlights tensions that have been building between Russia and other former Soviet states since the invasion of Ukraine.
Poland - which has a long and bloody history with Soviet Russia - has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since the early days of the war and has been on the receiving end of threats by Kremlin propagandists as a result.
Despite the threats, the Polish government has continued to supply weapons to Ukraine including sending more than 200 T-72 tanks to bolster its armed forces.
Russian state media was quick to seize on the incident in Warsaw as evidence of what it claims is growing anti-Russian sentiment in the West, motivated by what the Kremlin insists is Nazism.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Moscow's foreign ministry, posted about the incident on her Telegram channel - saying that 'fans of neo-Nazism have once again bared their faces, and it is bloody.'
'The demolition of monuments to the heroes of the Second World War, the desecration of graves, and now the disruption of the flower-laying ceremony on a holy day for every decent person prove the already obvious - the West has set a course for the reincarnation of fascism,' she messaged to followers.
Pro-Ukraine protesters had gathered in front of the war memorial - which is located along the highway leading to Warsaw's main airport - on Monday to demonstrate against Russia's war
Poland has been among Ukraine's staunchest defenders since the war broke out - taking in millions of refugees and sending heavy weapons back the other way, with public shows of support for Kyiv commonplace (pictured above)
Pro-Ukraine protesters stand at the base of a monument to Soviet soldiers killed during the Second World War in Warsaw
Poland has been a staunch defender of Ukraine since Putin ordered his troops to attack - taking in millions of refugees while sending heavy weapons back
Activists painted in red symbolising the death caused by Russia's war in Ukraine - and bearing the names of places that have been attacked - gathered in front of the memorial
A planned Immortal Regiment march - when families of soldiers killed during the Second World War walk through the streets holding photos of their dead loved ones - was also cancelled.
Authorities in Warsaw had warned such events could be illegal, because they were designed to show support for Putin's war in Ukraine. Polish law prohibits 'public calls for aggressive war' and the displaying of symbols linked to 'fascist or totalitarian states'.
The Russian foreign ministry described the allegation as 'absurd and unfounded'. Ambassadors said at the time that they no longer planned to hold the march or wreath-laying ceremony because Poland was unlikely to ensure its safety.
It is unclear exactly why the ministry attempted to go ahead with the wreath-laying regardless, though images of the ambassador being attacked play nicely into the Kremlin's narrative of Russia being surrounded by enemies.
Protesters also marched in Warsaw to protest the war, bringing a tank on a tractor and parking it in front of the Russian Embassy on Sunday evening.
Since the war began on February 24, images of Ukrainian tractors hauling off Russian tanks have been symbols of Ukrainian resistance. The Soviet cemetery is set amid a vast park on the route linking downtown to the international airport.
It is the final resting place of more than 20,000 Red Army soldiers who perished fighting while helping to defeat Nazi Germany.
While Poland has removed some monuments to the Red Army in the years after it threw off Moscow-backed communist rule, it has allowed the cemetery to remain undisturbed. 
The wreath-laying was designed to mark Victory Day when the Nazis surrendered at the end of the Second World War, and was marked in Moscow by a parade (pictured)
A Russian intercontinental ballistic missile - designed to carry nukes - drives through the Red Square as part of the Victory Day parade
Putin used a speech to say the West had been planning to invade Russian territory and that going to war in Ukraine was the only option.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10797131/Ukraine-war-Russian-ambassador-doused-red-paint-Poland.htm
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Post time 9-5-2022 11:56 PM
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