Macedonia’s night of violence that saw protesters storm parliament and attack lawmakers elicited diametrically opposed reactions from world powers Friday, with Russia blaming the West for meddling in the Balkan nation’s internal affairs, and the European Union and United States saying the events were inconsistent with democracy.

The simmering tensions in Macedonia and the opposing views of powerful nations have led to concerns that the former Yugoslav republic, which narrowly escaped civil war in 2001, could become another flash point for increasingly frosty relations between Russia and the West.

Political tension has been building in Macedonia for the past two years, and the country has been under a caretaker government since inconclusive elections in early December. The hostility boiled over Thursday night over disagreements about the election of a new speaker of parliament, leaving more than 100 people injured.

By Friday, the previous night’s chaotic scenes had become a war of words between rival politicians, despite calls for calm from abroad. In the evening, about 2,000 people held a protest outside the E.U. mission headquarters in downtown Skopje, calling for new elections.

Zoran Zaev, head of the opposition Social Democrats, wore a white bandage over a gash on his forehead as he accused his attackers of attempted murder with the parliament invasion. Former prime minister Nikola Gruevski, whose supporters were among the mob that burst into the building Thursday, said he deplored the violence but accused his political rivals of instigating it with an attempted power grab.

“Greed to seize power at any cost is the direct cause which led to this adverse situation, and they bear responsibility for it,” Gruevski said, accusing the Social Democrats of violating the Constitution by electing the new speaker despite the months-old deadlock in forming a new government.

The European Union and United States were swift to condemn the violence and to recognize the new speaker, Talat Xhaferi, a former military officer and defense minister.

The U.S. Embassy in Skopje condemned the violence “in the strongest terms” and said it would work with Xhaferi “to support democracy and to advance the interests of Macedonia.”

Russia, however, had an entirely different take on events.

“The opposition, which lost the parliamentary elections, actually tried to seize power in the country by force, having deliberately elected the chairman of the parliament with a flagrant violation of the established procedures,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It noted the speed at which E.U. and U.S. representatives had recognized Xhaferi’s legitimacy as speaker and pointed out his past as a rebel commander during a 2001 armed uprising by ethnic Albanian rebels seeking greater rights in Macedonia.