Russian ambassador attacked and drenched with red paint by Polish protesters

Footage shared widely online shows paint being hurled at Mr Andreev

Russia’s ambassador to Poland has been drenched with red paint thrown by protesters in front of the Soviet Soldiers’ Cemetery in Warsaw.

Protestors attacked Sergey Andreev as he arrived to honour Red Army troops who died during the Second World War.

Footage shared widely online shows paint being hurled from behind Mr Andreev before a protester beside him struck him in the face with the liquid. The ambassador is seen wiping away paint from his face but does not respond to demonstrators.

The activists also successfully barred the envoy and other members of a Russian delegation from laying flowers.

The activists, some of who were dressed in white sheets splattered with fake blood symbolising the victims of Russia’s war in Ukraine, carried Ukrainian flags and chanted “fascist”.

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Other officials who made up Mr Andreev’s entourage were also seen to have been hit by the paint.

Police arrived at the scene to help the ambassador and other members of his delegation get away.

It comes after Russian president Vladimir Putin gave a speech marking the 77th anniversary of the triumph of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany in 1945 in which he said Russia’s military action in Ukraine is a timely and necessary response to Western policies.

Addressing the troops fighting in the Donbas region, which Moscow has pledged to “liberate” from Kyiv, Mr Putin said: “Defending the Motherland when its fate is being decided has always been sacred.

Poland, which borders Ukraine and is a member of Nato and the European Union, is a fierce opponent of Moscow’s invasion of the European Union.

It has criticised Russia for “genocidal” and “imperialist” actions in Ukraine.

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Russia, for its part, has accused Poland of being “the most evil and vulgar” critic of Moscow’s actions.

The two countries share a long and bloody history with military conflicts between the two countries dating back as far as the tenth century.