The Russian Foreign Ministry sounded a defiant note on Wednesday as it responded to criticism of its handling of a row with Estonia by laying the blame at Tallinn's door, according to dpa. "The flame of passions and civil society's reaction in Russia (to Estonia's relocation of a Red Army war memorial) were provoked by the actions of the Estonian side," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said in remarks run by Interfax. Only hours before, the European Commission had stepped into the row with a statement expressing its "deep concern regarding the increasing violence of demonstrations around the Estonian embassy in Moscow" and demanding that EU missions be "protected adequately." "We urge the Russian authorities to fulfil their obligations under the Vienna Convention and allow European Union embassies to function properly," a statement by the 27-member EU executive said. The comments came shortly after demonstrators broke into a Moscow press conference at which Estonia's Ambassador to Russia Marina Kaljurand was scheduled to talk about the ongoing siege of the Estonian embassy building by pro-Kremlin youth groups. The intruders attempted to physically attack the ambassador, but were kept back by security guards using gas. Other demonstrators outside the building attacked her car, snapping the Estonian flag off its bonnet, ministry spokeswoman Ehtel Halliste said. And almost simultaneously, demonstrators at the embassy itself attacked the car carrying Sweden's Ambassador Johan Molander as he was leaving the area. They snapped the car's state flag and damaged a window, but the passengers were not hurt, Swedish sources said. In the wake of the attacks, Estonia's Foreign Ministry decided to pull the families of embassy staff members out of the building. They are now in Tallinn, ministry spokeswoman Mariann Sudakov confirmed. Both Estonia and Sweden issued formal protests to the Russian authorities over the attacks, while the European Commission urged the Russian government to deal with current issues with Estonia by means of dialogue. On Wednesday evening the German ambassador to Moscow presented a diplomatic demarche to the Russian government in the name of the whole EU, setting out the EU's misgivings over the row, the German foreign ministry confirmed.
