A driver has rammed the gates of the Russian Embassy in Bucharest, Romania, before reportedly killing himself by setting his body on fire.
The man died shortly after crashing his car into the gates in the Romanian capital early on Wednesday, local police said in a statement
Video footage taken before firefighters arrived at the scene showed a vehicle in flames, still wedged at the gate.
In recent weeks, several Russian embassies across Europe have been targeted by protesters demonstrating their fury over the invasion of Ukraine.
Police said they were investigating and did not release the identity of the driver.
It was unclear whether the crash was an accident or deliberate, but local reports quote “sources close to the investigation that has said the driver hit the fence of the building intentionally and set himself on fire when asked to leave the vehicle.”
A video on social media showed the aftermath of the crash with the silver car ablaze while two men, thought to be police or security guards can be seen running to help.
A statement from police in Bucharest read: “This morning, around 06.00, an event was reported, in which a car was involved, which left the road and hit the fence of a diplomatic mission.
“The driver died and the intervention of fellow firefighters was needed to extinguish the fire manifested in the car”
Early last month a lorry barged through the gates of the Russian Embassy in Dublin in a separate protest against Vladimir Putin’s military action in Ukraine.
No injuries were recorded, and one man was arrested by Gardai.
Romania said on Tuesday it would expel 10 Russian diplomats who are not acting in accordance with international rules, joining other European countries to have done so in recent days.
Nearly 624,860 Ukrainians have fled to Romania since Russia invaded their country on February 24, and around 80,000 are still in
Romania.
