Moscow orders probe into alleged assault against pro-Russia motorcade
Russia’s chief investigator on Monday ordered an official examination of what he said were allegations that Russian nationals were targeted during a pro-Russia motorcade in Athens, Russian state news agency TASS reports.
Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Russian Investigative Committee, ordered that a probe be opened into the circumstances of the alleged assault against demonstrators protesting in solidarity with Russia and the capital’s Russian-speaking population on Sunday, the report says.
According to the report, demonstrators, including an underage child, were attacked by a group of people holding Ukrainian flags. The attackers also damaged some of the cars taking part in the motorcade, it said.
According to local media reports, the demonstrators, many of them waving Greek and Russian flags and honking their horns, drove by Syntagma Square, in front of the Greek Parliament, which was at the time hosting a pro-Ukraine rally.
Some of the vehicles were reportedly spotted emblazoned with the letter “Z,” which is seen as symbolizing support for Russia’s war in Ukraine. The logo was first spotted on the side of Russian tanks and military vehicles amassing on the border with Ukraine.
Sunday’s protest took place as Ukraine accused Russian forces of carrying out a “massacre” in the town of Bucha, northwest of the capital Kyiv. Western governments reacted to images of dead bodies there with calls for new sanctions against Moscow.
