The Russian Embassy in Sweden has condemned what it calls a “deliberate act of vandalism” after a drone dropped a bag of paint onto the premises of its trade mission in Stockholm on Tuesday. The embassy criticized Swedish authorities for failing to prevent what it described as a long string of targeted attacks.

According to the statement issued by the embassy, the unmanned aerial vehicle approached the building overnight and released a bag filled with paint at the entrance, causing damage to the property.

The embassy emphasized that, under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Sweden is obligated to ensure the protection and inviolability of all diplomatic premises, including trade missions. The Russian mission argued that this responsibility has been consistently neglected.

“This incident is just the latest in a troubling pattern,” the statement read, citing more than a dozen similar acts of vandalism over the past year that have put embassy staff at risk and caused property damage.

In a previous attack last month, a drone dropped a glass container of paint onto the Russian Embassy’s main building. Despite repeated complaints and requests for increased security, embassy officials say police have done little to prevent further incidents.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said there have been at least 15 attacks on Russian diplomatic properties in Sweden since May last year, and called on Swedish authorities to control what she referred to as “radical elements.”

Russia’s diplomatic facilities across Europe have increasingly become targets of protest and vandalism following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.

In one such case earlier this year, two activists in France were handed eight months of house arrest after hurling devices filled with liquid nitrogen at the Russian consulate in Marseille. Moscow denounced the sentence as overly lenient, labeling the act an attempted terrorist attack.