“I hate Russians!”: Moscow condemns angry Norwegian diplomat’s words

In this video, which was broadcast by the Mesh channel on Telegram on Saturday, a woman known as Elizabeth Ellingsen, known to be close to Russian special services, is seen in the Norwegian ambassador in Murmansk, in a room that was stuffed with change and not cleaned. A hotel in this city in northwestern Russia.

From the reception desk of a hotel she remarks: “I hate Russians. Give me another room, I won’t move from here. (…) How do you decide that a room is clean? You know, I’m from Scandinavia, a Russian girl. It’s not like he’s cleaning as best he can. It’s not clean. Can I sleep in the bed?”

He points out that his colleague had the same problem, “For some reason he was forced to change rooms on the 14th floor.”

The video had been viewed 500,000 times by Saturday afternoon and was also posted on Twitter, with the message “Here’s a lesson in European tolerance from Norwegian ambassador Elisabeth Ellingsen to hotel staff in Murmansk.”

“The Russian Foreign Ministry is considering a response to this outrageous act of hatred, nationalism and racism,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram.

For its part, Norway’s foreign ministry said it was “deeply saddened” by the incident.

“The sentiments expressed do not reflect Norwegian policy or the Norwegian attitude towards Russia and the Russian people,” he told AFP, adding that the ministry was dealing with the incident “through appropriate channels”.

According to the website of the Norwegian embassy in Moscow, the Norwegian consulate in Murmansk has been temporarily closed since July 1 due to the “difficult” situation in bilateral relations.

The Norwegian Foreign Ministry did not say whether the incident involving the embassy occurred before or after the embassy was closed.

The incident comes at a time when relations between Russia and the West are experiencing an unprecedented strain due to a Russian offensive in Ukraine that has prompted European and US sanctions against Moscow.