Claims Russia Interfering in Catalan, UK Affairs Hysteria: Lavrov


TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has commented on the accusations of alleged Moscow's meddling in the internal affairs of Britain and Spain.

"We have gotten used to the fact that some of our Western partners have nothing to do rather than accusing Russian media of meddling in other states' affairs and proclaiming it foreign agents," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has stated, Sputnik reported.

"Perhaps this is also due to the fact that in the respective capitals, where such accusations made, whether Madrid or London, as a rule, there are a lot of unsolved domestic problems. And, probably, such a hot sensational hysteria is being fueled up in order to divert the attention of their voters from the inability to solve these domestic issues," the minister said.

Following Lavrov's statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmintry Peskov said that "neither the authorities [of Spain], nor NATO, nor the newspapers provided a single, even somewhat worthy argument in favor of the reliability of these allegations."

The minister's statement comes amid a series of accusations of Russia's media in alleged meddling in other states' affairs, with Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis saying that evidence of "Russian networks or hackers" allegedly trying to destabilize the situation in both Spain and the European Union had come to light.

Most recently, Spanish Defense Minister Maria Dolores de Cospedal said that the Madrid, however, did not have any data on possible interference by the Russian authorities in the situation in Catalonia.

The Russian Embassy in Spain has responded to the claims, calling them "fake news."

At the same time, UK Prime Minister Theresa May has also accused Russia of meddling in other states' affairs, spreading "fake stories" in media and aggressive policies "to sow discord in the West," with the Russian Foreign Ministry calling the accusations "irresponsible and groundless."

The statement came after UK opposition lawmaker Ben Bradshaw had called on the government to investigate "widespread concern over foreign, and particularly Russian, interference in Western democracies," in particular, during the Brexit campaign.

Accusations against Russia's alleged influence in EU affairs comes amid the probe into the alleged Russian interference in the US presidential election that has prompted several European countries, including Britain, France and Germany, to also speculate about Russia "meddling" in their election processes, a claim strongly refuted by the authorities as groundless.

Responding to these accusations, Lavrov has previously called the claims ridiculous, emphasizing that there was no proof that Russia was involved in the election processes of the United States, Germany, France, or the United Kingdom.