Russia protests Israeli settler attack on diplomatic vehicle in West Bank

A Russian diplomat’s vehicle was attacked by Israeli settlers near an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank, prompting Moscow to file a formal complaint with Israel.

Russian Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Tuesday that Moscow “considered the attack a grave violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961” and that it “occurred with the connivance of Israeli military personnel.”

A group of settlers attacked the “illegal Israeli settlement of Giv ‘at Asaf” east of Ramallah and about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Jerusalem, according to Zakharova. The vehicle was owned by Russia’s representation to the Palestinian Authority (PA).

“Mechanical damage was sustained by the vehicle.” According to the spokeswoman, verbal threats were made against Russian diplomats as well, adding that Israeli soldiers present “did not even bother to stop the attackers’ aggressive actions.”

The vehicle was attacked while it was traveling with members of Russia’s diplomatic mission to the Palestinian Authority, who are also working for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, according to reports in Russian media.

Zakharova added that the Israeli government has received a demarche letter from the Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv.

Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the UN, made the attack on the diplomatic vehicle during a UN Security Council session on Tuesday that focused on Israeli prisoners in Gaza.

The attack on Russia’s vehicle in the occupied West Bank, according to Polyansky, comes as “Israeli authorities have adopted the policy of cleansing and colonizing” the Palestinian territory.

According to the UN representative of Russia, “it is ordinary Palestinians and even foreigners who are consistently the victims of raids by security forces and settler violence.”

He claimed that the Israeli military “under the lenient eye of the Israeli military” carried out the “attack on an official vehicle of the Russian Mission to the Palestinian Authority.”

A systematic exile of Palestinians, whether from the Gaza Strip or the West Bank, poses new risks and threats to stability and security in the Middle East, he added, and it is likely that this will bring the region to the brink of a major war.

Since October 2023, Israeli settlers and soldiers have launched vicious attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, according to the UN, killing almost 650 Palestinians there between January 1st, 2024, and the beginning of July 2025.