BoJo clashes with Kremlin
Sparks fly during British foreign secretary’s visit to Russia, amid hopes from both sides for a better relationship.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov have clashed over alleged Russian meddling in the Brexit referendum as they met in Moscow.
Speaking after their talks yesterday, Johnson lauded the countries’ long relationship but said Britain ‘‘could not ignore’’ a list of disagreements with Russia over Ukraine, Syria, North Korea, the western Balkans and ‘‘Russian activities in cyberspace’’.
Later, Johnson tweeted a photograph of himself laying flowers at a makeshift memorial on the spot where Boris Nemtsov, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead near the Kremlin in 2015. ‘‘Justice must be served,’’ he wrote. The gesture fitted his promise not to shy from disagreements with Moscow despite hopes for a better relationship.
Johnson insisted after the talks that there was ‘‘abundant evidence’’ of Russian interference in elections in the United States, Germany, Denmark and France.
Lavrov denied that Moscow had interfered in democratic elections, and said Johnson had earlier admitted that there was no evidence Moscow had meddled in the Brexit referendum.
But Johnson broke in to say: ‘‘Not successfully.’’ Lavrov shot back: ‘‘He’s afraid that if he doesn’t object, that his reputation will be spoiled in the media.’’
Johnson then said with a smile: ‘‘Sergei, it’s your reputation that I’m worried about. I think it’s very important that we recognise that Russian attempts to interfere in our elections, whether they may or may not have been successful ... [are] an important consideration.’’
Lavrov retorted: ‘‘An absence of action can never end in a result. I would still like to receive some facts.’’
He said he thought Johnson had ‘‘made it all up in your Western company. It’s very difficult to climb down from the fence’’.
The meeting came as an alleged Russian spy, who worked as an interpreter for the Ukrainian prime minister when he met British Prime Minister Theresa May in London in July, was accused of treason and remanded in custody by a court in Kiev. Stanislav Yezhov denied the charges.
Johnson also raised the issue of persecution of gay men in the Chechnya region, where many have allegedly been detained and tortured by local authorities. ‘‘We speak up for the LGBT community in Chechnya, as people would expect from us,’’ he said, causing Lavrov’s press secretary to shake her head in exasperation.
Despite the sharp exchanges, Johnson appeared keen to project a positive mood. He retreated from comments made in an interview last weekend in which he likened Russia to ancient Sparta – ‘‘closed, nasty, militaristic and antidemocratic’’.
‘‘I wouldn’t want Russian colleagues here to think those words were applied to Russia today, they were applied to the Soviet Union of my childhood,’’ he
It’s very important that we recognise that Russian attempts to interfere in our elections, whether they may or may not have been successful ... [are] an important consideration. Boris Johnson
said. ‘‘We have a very different and new Russia today, and the tragedy is that our relations are not on a good footing.’’
The breakdown in ties was ‘‘a regrettable state of affairs but it should not preclude an intensification of our contacts’’, he added.
In opening remarks, as Johnson and Lavrov met at a foreign ministry mansion in Moscow, Johnson said he was glad that trade between Britain and Russia was on the increase.
He said a display of his trust in Lavrov was that he had handed his coat and the contents of his pockets to his counterpart when he arrived at the foreign ministry. He then clarified that the United Kingdom’s attitude to the Kremlin was, ‘‘trust but verify’’.
Lavrov said he trusted Johnson and was prepared to do so, ‘‘without qualification’’. He joked that nothing suspicious had emerged from Johnson’s pockets.
Earlier, Lavrov said Moscow wanted improved relations with London, but he upbraided Britain for airing problems in public rather than via private channels.
Johnson said there was growing security co-operation between the countries in the runup to next year’s football World Cup. He said he was a ‘‘committed Russophile’’, and noted that he was ‘‘the first foreign secretary in the history of my office’’ to be called Boris, ‘‘and probably the last for some time’’.
Johnson also met a group of civil society activists. Tanya Lokshina, director of the Moscow office of Human Rights Watch, said it was ‘‘an important sign of support’’.
She added: ‘‘At the same time, he did not seem to have a good grasp of the human rights situation in Russia, and could clearly benefit from learning more and following the situation more closely, especially as Russia’s deeply problematic foreign policy is inalienable from its rights crisis.’’
Later, in a talk to students at Moscow’s Plekhanov University, Johnson said he had first visited Russia at 16 and learned to love Soviet icecream. His great-greatgrandfather was from the capital, he said.
He advanced the thesis that democratic and open societies tended to be prosperous ones, quoting philosopher John Stuart Mill: ‘‘Genius can only breathe in an atmosphere of freedom.’’
Johnson recalled visiting Moscow in the 1990s and meeting idealistic journalists and politicians, including Nemtsov.
‘‘My feelings today are tinged with deep sadness, because the ice floes did crack in the 1990s, but the truth is that we’ve now been carried far apart on our respective bergs by the turbulent currents of history,’’ he said. profound domestic