Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergei Andreev was doused with red paint while trying to lay a wreath at the cemetery of Soviet soldiers in Warsaw.
Andreev was accompanied by police out of the cemetery, later saying he was not injured.
The demonstrators then prevented him from laying flowers and a memorial wreath for the Russian Embassy cameras. Andreyev and his delegation quickly returned to the car.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denounced the attack, saying on her messaging app channel that “we won’t be scared” while the “people of Europe should be scared to see their reflection in a mirror.”
But Poland’s current interior minister noted that Poland’s government had advised the Russian ambassador against laying flowers at the cemetery.
“The gathering of opponents of Russian aggression against Ukraine, where the crime of genocide takes place every day, was legal,” Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski added. “The emotions of Ukrainian women taking part in the demonstration, whose husbands are fighting bravely in defense of their homeland, are understandable.”
Russia on Monday celebrated Victory Day over Nazi Germany. The Mausoleum Cemetery in Warsaw was established a few years after the end of World War II and has the character of a large park. Buried there are the remains of more than 20,000 soldiers who died in 1944 and 1945.
Poland has taken in more than 3.2 million refugees from its eastern neighbor since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24.