Johnson’s trip to Moscow sparks slagging match over interference in Brexit vote
BORIS Johnson’s visit to Moscow descended into a slagging match as the Russians accused him of “making up” allegations of Brexit meddling in an ugly public disagreement.
British Foreign Secretary Johnson’s trip to Moscow, the first undertaken by a UK foreign secretary in five years, was aimed at breaking the deadlock between the two nations.
But he and his counterpart traded blows over allegations of Russian hacking in British elections as Mr Johnson became the first to officially call the nation out on its actions.
The extraordinary exchanges, which played out in front of journalists and diplomats, saw the two men accuse each other of being dishonest as Mr Lavrov claimed there had been no attempts to derail the British democratic process via cyber hacking.
Interrupting, Mr Johnson rejected the claim, stating instead that none of the attempts had been successful and pointedly referring to widespread Russian interference in elections around the world.
It came as Mr Johnson refused pointedly to answer when asked if he trusted his counterpart Sergei Lavrov or not, despite the Russian minister saying that he did.
Later, as the two men wrapped up the press conference after a two-hour bi-lateral meeting which was at times fraught, the British foreign secretary joked that he had handed his coat and hat over to Mr Lavrov in a show of trust and affection.
“There was nothing in the pockets”, Mr Lavrov said, prompting Mr Johnson to reply in surprise: “You’ve checked. How do you know!”.
The meeting in Moscow was an attempt to break the deadlock between the two countries in order to start work on important international issues like North Korea and Syria.
But tensions were exposed over cyber security, following claims made by Mr Johnson ahead of the visit that the UK is ready and able to respond to Russian aggression at any moment.
Speaking ahead of the meeting Mr Lavrov remarked on the press coverage of the poor relations between the countries.
He said: “You prefer to talk about the reasons publicly.
“Whereas we would prefer to talk about our reasons for mutual concern not through the microphone but directly.”
The row was reignited during a later press conference when Mr Lavrov claimed Mr Johnson had deliberately contradicted him in a bid to protect his reputation with the British media, prompting the UK foreign secretary to hit back: “It’s your reputation I’m worried about Sergei”.
He added: “Russian attempts to interfere in our referendums and elections have not been successful.”
Had they been successful, he said, “that would have been an entirely different matter”.
Mr Lavrov responded that “the absence of action can never result in anything” and asked to see “concrete facts” about their alleged unsuccessful attempts. (© Daily Telegraph, London)