(Source: http://www.interfax.ru/moscow/392811)

The capital police opened a criminal case of vandalism “upon the desecration of a high-rise building on Kotel’nicheskaya embankment”. Yesterday morning a group of young people painted the golden star on the steeple of the skyscraper in blue and hung a yellow-blue flag of Ukraine there.

Dismantling of the banner and repainting of the star involved climbers. According to the results of the incident four men with climbing gear were detained after 48 hours.

A Ukrainian flag on a 26-storey building on Kotel’nicheskaya embankment appeared this morning. A group of several young people managed to get to the roof of a 176-meter skyscraper, to hang a yellow and blue flag of the size 3 x 6 m, as well as to paint the upper part of the golden star crowning the spire of the building in blue color.

It should be noted that the residential house on Kotel’nicheskaya embankment was built in 1938-1952 years and is considered one of the seven so-called Stalin’s skyscrapers (along with with, for example, the buildings of the Foreign Ministry and the Moscow State University). As a source in law enforcement agencies of the capital told to “Interfax”, a group of young people with climbing equipment which can be involved in the incident was brought to the department of internal affairs “Tagansky”.

“They entered the building through the internal staircase leading to the top floor, and then fastened the flag on the steeple of the high-rise building with the help of special equipment” - the source of the agency claimed. Dismantling of the banner and repainting of the star involved a group of climbers. As a result, the Ukrainian flag have been hanging on the building on Kotel’nicheskaya embankment for about three hours.

The star was repainted in golden color after two more hours. According to the results of the incident investigation the internal affairs department of Russia Tagansky Rayon of Moscow has opened a criminal case under the part 2 of the article 214 of the Criminal Code of the RF (“Vandalism”). The capital police explained that the reason for the case opening was “application of paint on the steeple of the building”.

The press service of the Main Directorate of MIA of Russia in Moscow said that two young men and two women were detained upon the incident, “the detained persons were repeatedly brought to administrative responsibility for various offenses”. According to the source of ITAR-TASS in law enforcement agencies, the persons detained after 48 hours were: 33-year-old Aleksandr Pogrebov, 26-year-old Aleksei Shirokozhukhov, as well as 26-year-old Evgeniia Korotkova and 27-year-old Anna Lepeshkina. According to the part 2 of article 214 of the Criminal Code they may be imprisoned for up to three years.