Attackers on motorbike throw explosive at Russian consulate in Athens

Explosion 'probably' caused by hand grenade

Forensic experts search the area outside the Russian consulate in Athens, Friday 22 March 2019. Police say a bomb disposal squad has been sent to the Russian consulate in Athens after cameras showed a suspicious object believed to be a hand grenade being thrown over the perimeter fence overnight. ((AP Photo/Thanassis Stavakis))

Attackers on a motorcycle threw an explosive device, possibly a hand grenade, at the Russian consulate in Athens early on Friday, police said.

“It was probably a hand grenade. No one was injured,” a police official told Reuters, adding that it was not a powerful explosion.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack on the consulate in the Athens suburb of Chalandri, where police cordoned off the area.

In 2016, a security guard was wounded in a similar incident at the French embassy in central Athens.

Small-scale attacks on businesses, police, politicians and embassies are frequent in Greece, with its long history of political violence.

Reuters