In the latest attempt to provoke Russia, less than two weeks after the Russian ambassador in Turkey was assassinated, moments ago the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that the Russian embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus was shelled twice on Wednesday afternoon; the ministry calling it a provocation aimed at derailing peace settlement in the country.
It said a shell hit an inner yard of the embassy complex, while another shell landed near the diplomatic mission. De-mining specialists have been working in the hit area.
The full statement, via TASS, is below:
“At 13:00 and 13:19 [Moscow time] on December 28, the Russian embassy in Syria was shelled by terrorists. One mine, which, fortunately, did not explode, fell in the courtyard of the compound of the Russian diplomatic mission’s administrative buildings,” the ministry said in a comment.
“The second mine fell in the close vicinity to its territory. Combat engineers have been involved to defuse unexploded ordnance,” the comment said.
Moscow added that it considers “this new provocation by extremists opposing the peaceful settlement in Syria as the confirmation of their intention to continue sowing terror and violence, support the atmosphere of fear among residents of the Syrian capital, delivering wicked blows from their hidden shelters under the cover of the ‘human shield,” the ministry said.
The ministry also stated that there is still a real threat to the Russian embassy in Damascus and its personnel from terrorist groups:
“We have to state that there remains a real threat to the embassy in Russia and its employees from the terrorist groups entrenched in Damascus suburbs,” the Foreign Ministry said.
“This reaffirms the urgent need for prompt elimination of all such hotbeds of terrorism.”
While there has been no official reaction to the news yet, according to Bloomberg 10Y and bond futures rose to session highs, remaining inside past week’s ranges, after Reuters headlines of the embassy shelling hit; 10Y yield extended drop to 1.8bp, touching 2.541%.
In less than two hours, the US Treasury is set to sell 5 Year paper (which has traded -2.00% Off the Run in repo this morning), suggesting the massive short overhang on US paper continues.
via http://ift.tt/2i7Hu9N Tyler Durden