A Greek expatriate from Mariupol told the Greek TV channel Open that Ukrainian soldiers threatened them and then soldiers in Russian tanks tried to calm them down in an interview clip the Russian embassy re-posted on its official Twitter account.

The young woman, who arrived in Greece from war-torn Ukraine, said the Ukrainian soldiers were trying to prevent them from leaving Mariupol, while after exiting the besieged city Russian soldiers in tanks would try to calm them down.

It is the second time the Russian Embassy reposted a news excerpt from Open TV while urging Greeks to get their news from the specific channel, a move that prompted a strong reaction by the channel’s Washington-based correspondent, Michalis Ignatiou who dubbed the intervention by the Russian Embassy “a despicable, unprecedented provocation”.

📺 Νεαρή κοπέλα της Μαριούπολης που έφτασε στην Ελλάδα: Μας σταμάτησαν Ουκρανοί στρατιώτες και μας απειλούσαν. Μετά οι στρατιώτες στα ρωσικά τανκς προσπαθούσαν να μας ηρεμήσουν.

©️ OPEN News pic.twitter.com/p4kaDGte4H

— Rus Embassy, Greece (@RFEmbassyGr) March 18, 2022

The Russian diplomatic mission in Athens, in a post on Twitter, featured the young expatriate from Mariupol, who, speaking on an Open morning show, stated, among other things, that Ukrainian soldiers had stopped them and threatened them, while Russian tanks tried to calm them down.

“Young girl from Mariupol who arrived in Greece: We were stopped by Ukrainian soldiers and threatened. Then the soldiers in the Russian tanks tried to calm us down,” the post by the Russian Embassy reads.