(Moscow) The Russian Foreign Ministry on Saturday denounced the “scandalous” behavior of a Norwegian consul in Russia on Saturday, after the broadcast on social networks of a video surveillance of the reception of a hotel in which , clearly overwhelmed, she launches: “I hate the Russians”.
Posted at 11:56
In this video broadcast on Saturday by the Mash channel on Telegram, reputed to be close to Russian special services, a woman presented as Elisabeth Ellingsen, Norwegian consul in Murmansk, is clearly overwhelmed by an imposed change of room and a cleaning not done in a hotel of this city in northwestern Russia.
She launches in particular at the reception desk of a hotel: “I hate the Russians. Give me another room, I won’t move from here. […] And how do you decide that a room is clean? You know, I’m used to clean rooms, I’m from Scandinavia, not like a Russian woman who cleans as best she can. It’s not clean. Will I be able to sleep in a bed? »
She points out that her colleague had the same problem, “forced to change rooms at 14e floor for some reason”.
Accompanied by the message “Here is a lesson in European tolerance for the employees of a hotel in Murmansk from the Norwegian consul Elisabeth Ellingsen”, the video had been viewed more than 500,000 times on Saturday afternoon.
“The Russian Foreign Ministry is considering a response to this outrageous act of hatred, nationalism and xenophobia,” Russian foreign affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram.
For its part, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated that it “deeply regrets” this incident.
“The feelings expressed do not reflect Norwegian policy or the Norwegian attitude towards Russia and the Russian people,” he assured AFP, adding that the ministry was dealing with the incident “via the appropriate channels.
According to the website of the Norwegian Embassy in Moscow, the Norwegian Consulate General in Murmansk has been temporarily closed since 1er July due to the “difficult” situation in bilateral relations.
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry did not say whether the incident involving the consul took place before or after the consulate closed.
This incident comes at a time when relations between Russia and the West are going through a period of unprecedented tension due to the Russian offensive in Ukraine, which has provoked a salvo of European and American sanctions against Moscow.