Russia: US Mocks Democracy by Cooking up Plot Blaming Caterer for ‘Election Meddling’

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the Slovak newspaper Pravda that insinuating that Russian businessman, Yevgeny Prigozhin, allegedly interfered in the 2016 US election with the assistance of the Internet Research Agency is nothing but a mockery of American democracy.

News ID: 72076

Date: 29 August 2018 - 14:57

TEHRAN (Defapress)- "Can anyone truly believe that a restaurant-owner from Russia could influence an election in such a powerful country as the United States by publishing some posts on social media?" the Russian top diplomat questioned.

"The idea itself makes the entire US political system look ridiculous by presenting democracy there as a house of cards," he added.

The top diplomat noted that the Internet Research Agency, which is controlled by Prigozhin, is facing charges and is challenging them in US courts.

"[Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin already commented on it publicly. This is not about Russia’s involvement," he stated.

"If we look at America, few care about what George Soros is up to," the minister went on, stressing that "try and ask the Department of State, and the answer will be: it’s his personal business, and American authorities have no connection to it. Besides, he isn’t violating any laws".

The Russian foreign minister reiterated that 20 years ago Moscow suggested discussing cyber security issues at UN venues.

"Right now, our country is tirelessly calling on the global community at various venues to adopt a resolution at the upcoming UN General Assembly session that contains rules for states’ responsible behavior in the information space," he concluded, stating that "we presume that this document, in particular, curbs any attempts to encroach on state sovereignty in the digital sphere".

Lavrov also said countries that insist that Russia has been interfering in the domestic affairs of sovereign states are the ones guilty of using this method themselves.

"Right off the bat, I want to say, so that there aren’t any doubts, that we’ve never interfered in other countries’ domestic affairs. That’s not the way we do things," he stated, noting that "by the way, in this regard we differ fundamentally from those countries for whom this practice has pretty much become a favorite tool for promoting their own geopolitical interests".

"It’s enough to recall the outside intervention in the Arab Spring, or inciting the anti-constitutional coup in Ukraine," the top diplomat resumed, saying that "by the way, we’ve been registering ongoing attempts to influence domestic political processes in Russia for many years. So, those who accuse us of these things are guilty of doing that themselves, so to say".

The assertions about Russia’s intervention in the American election that have been carrying on for two years already, have domestic roots, Lavrov said.

"The [US] Democratic administration lost the election and, instead of admitting to it and exiting quietly, it conjured up some imagined Russian hackers as the culprits for their failure and started indoctrinating the public with a non-existent collusion ‘plot’ with Russia, this time against the winner from the Republican party," the Russian foreign minister stated, stressing that "honestly speaking, it is embarrassing how easily this groundless issue turned into the focus of America’s discourse on domestic current affairs".

Lavrov reiterated that Russia has been saying for several years that the US should furnish proof of Russian hackers meddling in the US presidential election.

"However, there is nothing," he said, adding that "we’ve been suggesting for more than a year that the Americans should create a bilateral working group on cyber security to discuss and remove mutual concerns linked, in particular, to the influence on electoral processes in both countries. However, Washington is skirting this professional exchange of communication, so maybe they’re not ready for a substantial conversation".

Lavrov also said the assertions about Russia’s striving to split Europe are absurd.

"The assertions about Russia’s ostensible striving to weaken or to split Europe are absurd," he stated, adding that "we have spoken continually for a buildup of broad and equitable cooperation on the European continent that along the principle of equal and indivisible security".

"President Vladimir Putin’s well-known initiative to set up a common economic and humanitarian space from the Atlantic to the Pacific also aims to attain this objective," Lavrov stressed.

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