A previously unknown group of Russian anarchists called “Friends of Freedom” claimed responsibility for the attack on the Russian embassy in the capital of Belarus, Minsk, the Interfax news agency reported on Thursday.

The assailants threw two fire bombs at the Embassy’s backyard Monday night, damaging a car parked there.

The group published a statement on the Internet saying that this was an act of protest against the detention of activists who defended the Khimki forest near Moscow against highway construction.

The website where the statement was posted has been inaccessible since.

Earlier, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko hinted that Russia was behind the bombing of its own embassy.

The Belarus Foreign Ministry called the incident an act of vandalism aimed to undermine Russia-Belarus relations.