The Moscow restaurant bombing over the weekend was an attempt to “intimidate Italians working in Russia,” according to Russia’s embassy in Italy.The bombing took place at the Balzi Rossi restaurant in central Moscow on Saturday evening, when Colonel General Alexander Chaiko, the commander-in-chief of Russia’s Aerospace Forces, was reportedly celebrating his birthday with friends and family.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.The blast killed five and injured close to two dozen, reportedly including the general’s daughter. The restaurant is operated by Carmine Alfieri, a chef from southern Italy’s Naples.The Russian Embassy in Italy blamed Kyiv for the attack and extrapolated it as a means to intimidate Italians working in Moscow and the European nation as a whole, because the attack took place at a high-end Italian restaurant, according to independent Russian outlet Astra on Monday.“It’s clear that by planning a terrorist attack on one of Moscow’s finest Italian restaurants, the Kyiv terrorists wanted to intimidate Italians working in Russia, to show them that they, too, were under attack and could become the next victim of these scoundrels at any moment,” it said.The embassy claimed the damage was minimized thanks to “the vigilance and selfless dedication to his professional duty of a Russian security service employee.”The Astra Telegram channel reported that the restaurant was hosting a birthday celebration for a Russian general at the time of the explosion, noting a large presence of military-plated vehicles parked outside the venue.