Moscow police have detained activists accused of attaching the Ukrainian national flag to a Stalin-era skyscraper in the Russian capital to mark the anniversary of Ukraine's Euromaidan protests, news reports said.
A video of the event shows that the activists flew both a Ukrainian flag and a Russian flag with the European Union circle of stars added. The flags were flown from scaffolding on opposing towers.
At least three people were detained, news portal OVD Info reported Monday, adding that a total of five people had been involved in affixing the Ukrainian national flag on the scaffolding high up on the landmark skyscraper on Kotelnicheskaya Naberezhnaya in Moscow.
The flag went up on Sunday, to mark the anniversary of the start of Ukraine's Euromaidan protests that began in late November 2013, and lasted for months, culminating in the ouster of the country's Moscow-backed former President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014.
In August 2014, activists pulled a similar stunt when they painted the spire of the same Moscow skyscraper in Ukraine's blue and yellow national colors, also adorning the building with a Ukrainian flag.
Ukrainian climber Pavel Ushivets, also known as “Mustang Wanted,” claimed full responsibility for the stunt. But a Moscow city court found a Russian climber, Vladimir Podrezov, guilty of assisting Ushivets in his “vandalism” and handed down a prison sentence of two years and three months.
Four other defendants in the case were acquitted.
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