Translated material
With a machete on the ambassador
Kenya urged to ensure the safety of Russian diplomats
The Russian Foreign Ministry demanded that the Kenyan authorities ensure the security of the Russian Embassy in this country and its employees. A statement about this was made yesterday after last Sunday’s attack on Valery Egoshkin, the Russian Ambassador and concurrently its permanent representative to international organizations in Nairobi, and the embassy attaché Pavel Strelkov. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs insists on investigating what happened, searching for and punishing the criminals.A note of similar content was presented to the Kenyan Foreign Ministry and the Russian Embassy. Mr. Yegoshkin’s deputy at the permanent mission, Nikolai Ratsiborinsky, explained that this was not a note of protest, since the attack on diplomats was “criminal, not politically motivated.” The diplomat added that the embassy is in constant contact with Kenyan law enforcement agencies, which it has asked “more than once” to strengthen security. However, “no measures have been taken yet,” and those responsible for the latest crime “have not yet been caught.”
The diplomat on duty at the Russian Embassy in Nairobi told Vremya Novostei that 62-year-old Egoshkin and 26-year-old Strelkov are in the capital's best Aga Khan hospital under the supervision of local doctors and the embassy doctor. After emergency operations, the condition of the victims is assessed as “stable, satisfactory, their lives are not in danger.” The ambassador was stabbed in the back, lumbar region and right forearm, and the attache had damaged tendons in his right hand. According to Vremya Novostey’s interlocutor, “after an energetic representation from the embassy, high ranks of the Kenyan police took control of the case.” In addition, their pride is wounded by the fact that “the recently insolent crime has reached the diplomats.”
The incident occurred on Sunday evening near the town of Thika, 50 km northeast of the capital, on the Nairobi-Nanyuki highway. The diplomats were returning to the embassy from a fact-finding trip when a child appeared on the roadway fifty meters from the car. Vremya Novostey was unable to find out who was driving at that time. The car suddenly slowed down and then stopped completely. When the ambassador got out of the car, two people appeared behind him as if out of the ground. One of them hit Yegoshkin several times with a machete, the other wounded Strelkov, who rushed to rescue the ambassador, with a knife. The criminals fled, stealing valuables, wallets and documents. The victims reached Nairobi with the help of traffic police.
Deputy Director of the Department of Information and Press of the Russian Foreign Ministry Andrei Krivtsov told Vremya Novostei that in 30 years of service he does not remember such a crime against the head of our diplomatic mission. The head of the international committee of the State Duma, Konstantin Kosachev, called the incident an emergency, noting that “there is no reason yet to consider it planned, much less anti-Russian.” In July, a Danish diplomat got into the same trouble in Kenya. Deputy head of the international committee of the Federation Council Vasily Likhachev, calling on Russian security forces to ensure the safety of diplomats, expressed hope for an “adequate reaction” from the Kenyan authorities. Moreover, in Nairobi, in addition to embassies, there are representative offices of the UN, the UN children's fund UNICEF, the UN industrial development organization UNIDO and other international organizations, work with which is a serious part of Mr. Egoshkin's official responsibilities.
Valery Egoshkin received his current assignment in Kenya last July. Before that, he headed the Russian embassies in Algeria and Yugoslavia, was ambassador-at-large, and speaks English, Arabic, German and French. In addition to his political work, Mr. Egoshkin helps to establish connections between the Kenyan business elite (which includes many graduates of Soviet and Russian universities) with Russian investors interested in cooperation in the field of mining and foreign tourism.