PRESS RELEASES AND NEWS
16.04.2018
Embassy Press Officer’s reply to a question on allegations in the UK concerning “Russian cyberthreats”Q: How would you comment on statements of the British officials and allegations in the media drawing attention of the public to “growing cyberthreats from Russia”?
A: In recent days, we have again witnessed numerous warnings that the UK must prepare for an inevitable cyber attack from Russia “in retaliation” for airstrikes in Syria and the Salisbury incident. These reports follow a dangerous pattern of British rhetoric.
In February, the United Kingdom blamed the Russian Government for NotPetya cyber attacks of June 2017, calling them “a continued disregard for Ukrainian sovereignty” and stating that “the Kremlin has positioned Russia in direct opposition to the West”.
More recently, Home Secretary Amber Rudd, speaking on 11 April in Manchester, claimed that “over the past six months, the National Cyber Security Centre has responded to 49 incidents associated with Russian cyber groups”, and that “Russian actors have systematically targeted the UK amongst others, expanding the number of sectors targeted, in addition to the energy, telecoms and media”.
We consider these accusations and speculations as striking examples of a reckless, provocative and unfounded policy against Russia. We are disappointed by the fact that such serious claims have been made publicly, without any proof being presented and without any attempt by the United Kingdom to clarify the situation with the Russian side in the first place.
It would be useful to point out that Russia has made several proposals to the United Kingdom on different levels to establish bilateral mechanisms of cooperation in the sphere of information security. In December 2017, during Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s visit to Moscow, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov proposed to launch a serious dialogue on this matter. Unfortunately, all our proposals have been ignored by the British side.
We have also noted that the British Government did not deny the numerous statements by MPs, experts and media regarding a possible “deployment” of “offensive cyber capabilities” by the United Kingdom against Russia. Prime Minister Theresa May did not directly reject such possibility during her statement in the House of Commons on 14 March. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has also failed to deny that in official correspondence, despite our direct requests.
Given that in recent days the British media, instigated by official statements, has again started to exploit the issue of “cyberthreats from Russia”, impression grows that the British public is being prepared for a massive cyber attack by the UK against Russia, that will purport to be of a retaliatory nature, but would in fact constitute unprovoked use of force.
Russia is not planning to conduct any cyber attacks against the United Kingdom. We expect the British Government to declare the same.
LATEST EVENTS
We have taken note of an event that was held in Kiev on August 23 and was entitled a “Crimea Platform Summit.” The stated aim of this political project, developed with active involvement of government experts from the United States, the UK and the European Union and funded by the United States Agency for International Development, is “the de-occupation of Crimea and its reintegration with Ukraine.” The participants involved are just right for this goal – mainly being NATO countries and some international organisations sharing a common delusion that the Crimean Peninsula should be part of the current Ukrainian state and that it can be torn away from the Russian Federation by increasing political and economic pressure on Russia.
We took notice of the new personal sanctions imposed by the UK on the Russian nationals for what is claimed to be ‘their direct responsibility for the poisoning of Alexey Navalny’. It is indicative indeed that sanctions are being rubber-stamped in a process which is completely detached from actual facts and looks like a formality, a way to ‘mark anniversaries’.
August 20 marks one year since the emergency hospitalisation of Russian blogger Alexey Navalny in Omsk - an incident which, through the purposeful efforts of a group of Western states, was raised to the level of an international event, which led to the bringing of unsubstantiated charges against Russia for allegedly using a “chemical warfare agent” on its territory. At the same time, the actions taken by the FRG authorities and their allies over the past 12 months clearly show that that a pre-planned provocation was carried out against our country to discredit the Russian Federation in the eyes of the international community and to damage its national interests.
The United Kingdom positions itself as the benchmark in promotion and protection of human rights while neglecting principles of sovereign equality of States and non-interference in their internal affairs. Teaching others how to behave and repeating trite age-old clichés, London tries to disguise its own problems, including comfortable existence of organizations with neoNazi ideologies, increase in racist acts, discrimination of ethnic minorities in many areas of public life, abuse of powers and use of torture by law enforcement officials. This list is far from exhaustive. Besides, crimes of British soldiers against civilians during military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq remain unpunished.
Question: You had a meeting with freight carriers today. What is the status of the Dubki-Rambinas checkpoint, when will it become operational and, in general, what problems did the carriers share with you? How can you help them?
Sergey Lavrov: I discussed the state of affairs with the Governor and the President of the Association of International Road Carriers {ASMAP). Many issues under review were highly specific and purely technical. As we reiterated today, they are being considered by a special government commission chaired by First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov. The next meeting will be held in September. Today's meeting, which made it possible to sum up all our concerns, was quite timely. In a joint effort with our colleagues from the Kaliningrad Region Government and ASMAP, we will summarise these suggestions for further consideration by this commission.
The official London, as represented by Minister for European Neighbourhood and the Americas Wendy Morton and the UK’s diplomatic mission in Moscow, have chosen to link the non-renewal of the Russian visa and accreditation for BBC Moscow correspondent Sarah Rainsford with “the deteriorating situation with media freedom in Russia,” cynically turning the whole situation on its head. We have to state that these assertions are false.
On the eve of the twentieth anniversary of the Treaty of Good Neighbourliness and Friendly Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China, signed on 16 July 2001, the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China, hereinafter referred to as the Parties, in order to continue the dynamic development of comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction in a new era, in accordance with the spirit and letter of the Treaty, declare as follows:
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the 9th Moscow Conference on International Security in Moscow.
Due to considerable number of requests of foreign nationals living far away from London the Visa Application Centre in Manchester will reopen on 23 June.
President Putin's news conference following Russia-US talks in Geneva.
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