Office of Russian Cooperation Agency Attacked in Paris

Russians living abroad and Russian representative offices in foreign countries have experienced a worrying rise in discrimination, hate crimes and acts of vandalism in recent days over Moscow's ongoing military operation in Ukraine.

The Paris office of Rossotrudnichestvo, the Russian government agency responsible for foreign aid and cultural exchange, was attacked Sunday night, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has reported.

Security cam footage posted by Zakharova showed a Molotov cocktail being thrown at the building by an unknown assailant, hitting fencing.

No injuries were reported.

"We demand that French authorities ensure proper security for our official institutions. Exactly the same kinds of attacks regularly faced Russian missions on the territory of Ukraine until 2022 - including the Russian Consulate General in Lvov in December 2021," Zakharova wrote.

"One should not pretend that such extremist actions are some kind of 'justified anger' related to the Russian special operation [in Ukraine]. Just the opposite," she added, without elaborating.

The Russian Embassy in Paris sent the French Foreign Ministry a formal note of protest in connection with the incident later Monday.

The Russian military operation in Ukraine has sparked a wave of anger across the US, Europe and other allied countries, ranging from attempts to ban Russian classical literature in an Italian university to suspected hate crimes and online harassment against Russians living abroad to attacks on Russian-themed venues.