Finland asks Russia to guarantee safety of Moscow embassy

(This Dec. 23 story has been corrected to say Vienna convention, not Geneva convention in the third paragraph)

OSLO (Reuters) – Finland’s Moscow embassy has asked Russia to guarantee the diplomatic mission’s safety following an incident this week in which people wearing masks threw sledgehammers into the embassy yard.

The incident caused no injures or damage to the building, the Finnish foreign ministry said on Friday.

But Finland’s deputy head of mission had “asked Russia to guarantee the security of staff and of the building, in keeping with the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations,” a ministry spokesperson said.

A video posted on the Telegram app appeared to show a group of around 10 people running towards the building and throwing several sledgehammers over the fence.

Reuters could not immediately verify the timing or location of the video.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Stine Jacobsen and John Stonestreet)