“Bloody packages” containing animal eyes sent to Ukrainian diplomatic missions all came from Germany, Ukraine’s foreign minister has revealed.
There have been 31 “suspicious or threatening” items sent to embassies in 15 countries, including Italy, Austria, Kazakhstan and the United States, reported the BBC.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba initially pointed the finger of blame at Moscow. Asked by CNN last week who he thought was responsible, Kuleba replied that he felt “tempted” to “name Russia” because “first of all you have to answer the question, who benefits?”
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However, German news website DW has reported that Kyiv now believes the “grizzly” packages were sent from Germany. Kuleba said the sender address for each of the envelopes was a Tesla car dealership in Sindelfingen in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg.
“Usually, the shipment was made from post offices that were not equipped with video surveillance systems,” Kuleba said. “Criminals took measures not to leave traces of their DNA on the packages”, which “indicates the professional level of implementation”.
He added that the campaign is “aimed at sowing fear and terrorising Ukrainian diplomats” but the precise message of the packages remains unclear. “We are studying the meaning of this message,” said Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Oleg Nikolenko.
The flurry of packages comes after other intimidating incidents. A security guard at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid was injured while opening a parcel addressed to the ambassador, noted ABC News, and Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican said that the entrance to his Rome residence was vandalised with animal faeces.
“I don’t remember any instance in history that so many embassies and consulates of one country have been subjected to such mass attacks in such a short period of time,” said Kuleba.
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