Consul General in Marseille points to insufficient security for Russian diplomatic missions in France

The French authorities are not responding to the Russian Federation's requests to strengthen the security of Russian diplomatic establishments. This was stated by Russian Consul General in Marseille Stanislav Oransky in a conversation with RIA Novosti on February 24.

"For a very long time Russia has been asking to strengthen security measures for Russian diplomatic establishments in France, because, except for the embassy, there is no stationary post anywhere else: neither in Strasbourg, nor in Marseille, nor in Villefranche-sur-Mer," he said.

In addition, Oransky confirmed information about the arrest of two suspects in the attack on the Marseille consulate. According to him, one of the figures took off his mask during the attack, which allowed him to be later identified from the institution's camera footage. Later, police were already expecting the suspects at a pro-Ukrainian rally, where they were eventually arrested. The nationality of the men has not yet been established, the consul general added.

"We hope that this will not happen again, but it is not excluded, naturally, risks remain, there are a lot of Ukrainians here," Oransky concluded.

An explosion on the territory of the Russian Consulate General in Marseille. What is known

Theexplosion on the territory of the Russian Consulate General in Marseille occurred on February 24. Later, the Russian Embassy in France reported that no one was injured in the Consulate General. The prosecutor's office of Marseille launched an investigation, qualifying the case as vandalism with the use of explosives or incendiary substances. Police officers detained a suspect in the city in the evening.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the explosion on the territory of the diplomatic mission had all the signs of a terrorist attack. She demanded that France, as a country of accreditation, take prompt and exhaustive measures to investigate the attack.

On February 25, the Investigative Committee (IC) of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case on the attack on the consulate in Marseille. Investigators are cooperating with the Russian Foreign Ministry and preparing to send an international request for legal assistance.