HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finland has received a diplomatic note from Russia complaining about vandalism at a Russian consulate on the Aland islands in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden, the Finnish foreign ministry said on Thursday.
“Aland police is clarifying and investigating the incident. The case is regrettable,” it said in an email.
In a separate statement on Wednesday evening, the Russian foreign ministry said a group of people had thrown “an explosive noise device” and other items into the consulate’s territory, causing material damage to the building.
“The perpetrators’ actions posed a direct threat to the life and health of the staff of the Russian mission,” it said.
Aland is an autonomous Finnish region. It has a demilitarised status which dates back to the end of the Crimean war in 1856, and which has become a topic of debate in Finland after neighbouring Russia initiated what it calls “a special military operation” in Ukraine.
(Reporting by Anne Kauranen in Helsinki, additional reporting by Caleb Davis in Gdansk, editing by Terje Solsvik and Anna Ringstrom)
