Putin angry over Poland muggings [View All]

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Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow
Tuesday August 2, 2005
The Guardian

Vladimir Putin reacted angrily yesterday to news that three teenage sons of Russian diplomats serving in Warsaw had been beaten and robbed of their mobile phones in a park in the Polish capital.
President Putin called it an "unfriendly act that cannot be characterised as anything other than a crime".

Polish police were questioning the victims, three boys and a friend from Kazakhstan aged between 13 and 14, in the hope they would identify their attackers from a line-up of nine suspects.

The Russian foreign ministry seized upon the attack, which happened on Sunday night, as a sign of growing hostility towards Russia, summoning the Polish ambassador to Moscow.
"Russia is expecting an official apology," said Boris Malakhov, a spokesman from foreign ministry.

"What happened is outrageous and cannot be considered as an accident. There are obvious links with anti-Russian sentiments that have been encouraged in Poland, including unfriendly statements by Polish politicians."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1540662,00.html