BORIS BUST-UP
Russia ‘meddling’ fury
BORIS Johnson has sparked a fresh row with Moscow after blasting the Russian government for meddling in western democracy.
The Foreign Secretary warned that Britain is prepared to fight back against any future cyber attacks.
He said the nation is “prepared and able” to respond to any Russian-backed hacks.
Research found that a “13,500-strong Twitter bot army” swamped the social media site around the time of the Brexit referendum last year.
Academics claimed that the fake accounts strongly backed the Vote Leave campaign.
Mr Johnson was speaking ahead of talks in Moscow with his Russian ® counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Mr Lavrov insisted that there was no evidence of Russian attempts to influence British politics.
He said: “I think you have made all this up in your Western community.
“Unfortunately right now you are hostage to this subject, it is very difficult for you to climb down from the fence you have climbed.”
Mr Lavrov also admitted that tensions between his government and Britain are soaring to levels not seen since the Cold War.
He said: “It is no secret that right now our relations are at a low point.”
But both men admitted that their countries would have to shelve their differences to try to resolve the crisis in war-torn Syria.