Two French nationals who work at France‘s main state research ageny have admitted responsibility for Monday’s arson attack at the Russian consulate in Marseille, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Three plastic bottles were lobbed into the consulate’s gardens and two exploded on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Monday.
The bottles contained a cocktail of nitrogen and other chemical substances.
No one was injured and no damage was reported.
The two suspects are employed by the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the public prosecutor’s office told AFP late Tuesday. One is an engineer and the other a chemist.
The CNRS conducts research in fields including biology, mathematics, and chemistry. The organisation employs researchers from the former Soviet Union, among other nationalities.
Moscow called the incident a “terrorist attack”, while the French government condemned “any infringement of the security of diplomatic compounds”.
Regional newspaper La Provence reported that the two men, in their forties and fifties, were identified during a pro-Ukraine protest in front of the Marseille town hall on Monday.
The Russian embassy in Paris said it had asked French authorities before the incident to tighten security around Russian diplomatic missions in France “in view of possible provocations”.
“Nevertheless, such attacks occurred,” the embassy said in a statement posted on its Telegram account this week.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which looks into major crimes, said on Tuesday it had launched an inquiry into the incident. “An international request for legal assistance is being prepared,” Russian investigators said in a statement.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
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