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20 Aug 2014

Russians pull down Ukrainian flag from Stalin landmark

Four protesters are arrested after a Ukrainian flag appears on a famous Russian landmark in Moscow and a golden Soviet star is painted blue.

The operation at the 176-metre Kotelnicheskaya Embankment building was widely reported on television and caused a stir in the Russian capital, where public opinion has turned strongly against Ukraine over the conflict in the country’s east.

Workers pulled down the flag after three hours and started restoring the star’s original colour, Russian news agencies reported.

The building, which sits on the bank of the Moscow River, is one of the Stalinist high-rises sometimes referred to as the “seven sisters” that dot the Moscow skyline and are recognisable by their tall spires built in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

‘Yellow and blue flag’

In reporting the stunt, Russian news agency ITAR-TASS wrote: “A group of vandals painted blue a star on top of one of Moscow skyscrapers and hung a yellow and blue flag on the skyscraper. Moscow police have detained four suspects and brought them to a nearby police station.

“The suspect – two young men and two women, claim that they jumped from the skyscraper on parachutes. They denied painting the star blue or hanging any flags on the building. The suspects face a criminal prosecution on charges of vandalism.”

Escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine are on the verge of spilling over into open conflict. Ukraine has accused Moscow of pushing more military equipment over the border.

Moscow continues to deny sending military equipment or personnel into Ukrainian territory, but large convoys have been seen massing on the Russian side of the border.

Russia convoy

Meanwhile a convoy of 280 Russian trucks carrying water, food and medicine on Wednesday was waiting to cross into Ukrainian territory.

Following talks between Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine on Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said “all questions” relating to Russia sending the humanitarian convoy to Ukraine had been addressed, but said no progress had been made in Berlin talks toward a ceasefire.

The convoy has been parked for days in Russia near the border amid objections from Kiev, which believes the convoy could be a Trojan Horse for Russia to get weapons to the rebels – a notion that Moscow has dismissed as absurd.

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