By Rob Picheta, Eve Brennan, Lindsay Isaac, Matthew Chance and Mick Krever, CNN
Ukraine’s foreign minister accused Russia of sending a series of more than a dozen letters containing explosives or animal parts to Ukrainian diplomats around the world.
“This crusade is about sowing fear,” Dmytro Kuleba told CNN’s Matthew Chance in an interview with Kyiv on Friday.
Asked who had the idea for the letters, Kuleba told CNN: “I’m tempted to say, call Russia immediately, because you have to answer the query first, who benefits?
“Perhaps this terrorist reaction is the Russian reaction to the diplomatic horror we have created for Russia on the foreign stage, and this is how they seek to fight as they lose genuine diplomatic battles one after another. “
He said he believed Russia was directly guilty or someone “who sympathizes with the Russian cause and tries to sow fear. “
“The conclusion will be made through the researchers, however, those two versions make the most sense. “
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova sent CNN a one-word comment in reaction to Kuleba’s “psychopath. “
There have been 17 cases of embassies receiving letter bombs, letter bombs or letters containing animal parts, such as cow and pig eyes, Kuleba added.
CNN saw a symbol of one of the letters containing what officials said was a pig eyeball inside a padded envelope.
“It started with an explosion at the Ukrainian embassy in Spain,” Kuleba said. “But what followed that explosion was stranger, and I would even say sickening. “
Kuleba referred to an explosion at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid on Wednesday, wounding a Ukrainian worker who was handling a letter addressed to the country’s ambassador to Spain. Spanish officials said Thursday that a letter bomb was also sent to the country’s president last week and others to the U. S. embassy.
Kyiv’s embassies in Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Croatia, Italy, Austria, as well as consulates general in Naples and Krakow, also received suspicious packages, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko said Friday on Facebook.
The packages were “soaked in a liquid of a characteristic color and had the corresponding smell,” he said. “We are examining the form of this message. “
Ukraine has put all its diplomatic posts under increased security following the proliferation of suspicious mail.
The Ukrainian consulate in Brno, a city in the southeastern Czech Republic, was briefly evacuated on Friday after receiving a suspicious package containing animal tissue, Czech police added in a tweet on Friday.
Kuleba had in the past suggested to foreign governments that they make maximum coverage of Ukrainian diplomatic establishments in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
In addition to the suspicious packages, Nikolenko said the front of the ambassador’s apartment at the Vatican was vandalized and that the Ukrainian embassy in Kazakhstan won a bomb risk report, which was later unconfirmed.
Nikolenko also said that the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States won a letter with a photocopy of an article from Ukraine. Most of the envelopes were sent from Europe, he added.
Czech police tweeted that the consulate in Brno and its immediate surroundings, as well as a kindergarten, were evacuated on Friday. After investigating the package, police said it contained no explosives and added that they had no data indicating other people at or near the scene. Consulate were in danger.
“Initial research suggests that the packaging contained animal tissue. A detailed investigation will now be carried out in the laboratories,” police tweeted.
El-CNN-Wire™
CNN’s Al Goodman and Pau Mosquera contributed to the report.
KTVZ NewsChannel 21 is committed to providing a forum for civil and constructive conversation.
Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. You can view our Community Guidelines by clicking here
If you’d like to share a story idea, submit it here.
Terms of Use|
Privacy Policy |
| Community Principles
KTVZ-TV FCC | Public Registry FCC | Applications
Contact us|
Don’t sell my information