MOSCOW. March 17 (Interfax) - Ukrainian Charge d' Affaires ad interim to Russia Vasyl Pokotylo was summoned on Wednesday to the Russian Foreign Ministry, which lodged protest over a recent provocative act against Russian diplomats in Kyiv, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"On March 17, Ukrainian Charge d' Affaires ad interim to the Russian Federation Vasyl Pokotylo was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry, which expressed its resolute protest to him over a provocative act staged against diplomats of the Russian embassy to Ukraine in Kyiv on March 16," the Foreign Ministry said on its website.
Banners with photos of Russian diplomats and insulting comments were put up near the Russian embassy and the residences of its employees in Kyiv, the ministry said.
"Four official cars which belong to the Russian diplomatic mission, which were parked in parking areas in the city, were also damaged," it said.
"The Ukrainian diplomat was told that the Russian side views this provocation as another grave violation by Ukraine of the provisions of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which obliges the receiving state to protect diplomatic premises against any disturbance of the peace and infringement of dignity and to provide guarantees of security, inviolability, and respect for diplomatic agents," the ministry said.
Russia has demanded that Ukraine take urgent measures to "thoroughly investigate what happened, to hold those guilty to account, to prevent similar incidents in the future, and to ensure conditions for the personal safety and inviolability of Russian diplomats in Ukraine."
The Russian embassy in Kyiv, in turn, has sent a note of protest to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry over the incident, the ministry said.