Jarno Virtala (R) and Markus Mattsson (L) outside the Consul General's residence in Turku, Finland, on October 12, 2022. They have just painted the diplomatic parking spot with the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
Jarno Virtala (R) and Markus Mattsson (L) outside the Consul General's residence in Turku, Finland, on October 12, 2022.Supplied by Jarno Virtala
  • Two men painted a parking spot with Ukrainian flags.

  • They said it was the result of a two man referendum.

  • The city decided against painting over the protest.

Two men painted over a parking spot for a Russian diplomat in a city in northern Europe.

The two men decided to paint over the spot with a blue and yellow stripe.

Russia called for votes in occupied parts of Ukraine to justify its claim that they are now its territory. The votes were dismissed as a waste of time.

According to national broadcaster Yle, the spot sits outside of the official residence of the Russian diplomat Pyotr Plihin.

The city decided not to remove the paint.

The idea came from a man who said he was a maintenance worker. After about half an hour, Mattsson stopped and helped the man.

Mattsson wrote on social media that they held a referendum on annexing the parking spot.

He said that they decided to celebrate the result by painting a flag of Ukraine on the spot.

The two people who didn't know each other before that day said they were looking for a peaceful way to express their support for Ukraine and their opposition to the referendums.

The UN's General Assembly condemned Putin's annexation claim on Wednesday and he used them to justify it.

After the paint dried, the diplomat's car came back.

The consul came out from the building and started taking photos of me. He didn't like the colors.

A Russian official standing angrily outside the official residence of the Russian Consul General in Turku, Finland, on October 12, 2022.Supplied by Jarno Virtala

Some of his neighbors were already giving him cold shoulder.

Ari Sinkkonen, who runs a nearby bike shop, told the outlet that he hung a Ukrainian flag in front of his house.

Sinkonnen said they don't say hello one way or the other. No one greets him.

Minna Arve, the mayor of the area, said that the country should close its consulate. Insider didn't get a response from the consulate.

For decades, NATO and Russia had an uneasy relationship, due to the large land border with Russia. After Putin invaded Ukraine, Finns applied to join NATO.

Since the war began, there have been many attacks on the Russian diplomatic outpost. According to Insider, a court in Germany ruled that a wrecked Russian tank could be placed outside the country's Berlin embassy.

The streets of Russian embassies around the world have been renamed to honor Ukraine.

They don't want to encourage more aggressive forms of protest or disturb people living nearby. They wanted people to support Ukrainian causes.

Mattsson said he would be happy to wash off the colors if Ukrainians asked him to.

Last time Mattsson rode past, an elderly couple were laughing and taking pictures, he said.

The goal was to have these Russian officials and other Russian people know that we don't agree with what Russia is doing there. It can be seen from the window of his house.

Business Insider has an article on it.

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