KIEV: Russia accused Ukraine's acting foreign minister on Sunday of "going beyond the limits of decency" by calling President Vladimir Putin a "dickhead" during a violent protest outside its embassy in Kiev.
A senior member of Russian parliament called for Andriy Deshchytsia to resign and Moscow protested to Kiev about Saturday's violence, during which cars were overturned, windows broken and a Russian flag ripped up.
Deshchytsia said he had gone to the rally to try to stop it turning violent but video footage on YouTube also showed him saying: "I am for you protesting. I am ready to be here with you and say 'Russia, get out of Ukraine'."
"Yes, Putin is a dickhead, yes," he went on to say and the protesters responded by chanting the phrase. The violence has increased tensions that were already high following the overthrow of a Moscow-leaning president in Kiev in February.
Russia's annexation of Crimea in March and an uprising by pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine since April.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in a telephone call with his French counterpart, "expressed outrage over the inaction of the Kiev authorities who allowed the rioting outside the Russian embassy," the ministry said in a statement.
Lavrov also said a note had been sent complaining to Kiev about the protests and that he had protested to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The United States and the European Union condemned the violence.
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