Foreign ministers in clash over cyber claims as Johnson sets foot in Moscow
Boris Johnson has clashed publicly with his Russian counterpart over Crimea and Moscow’s alleged cyber attacks on the West as the two men met in Moscow.
Sergey Lavrov denied claims the Kremlin had interfered in democratic elections online and accused Mr Johnson of being a “hostage” of untrue Western narratives on the issue.
But in a series of extraordinarily frank exchanges yesterday, Mr Johnson insisted there was “abundant evidence” of Russian interference in polls in the US, Germany, Denmark and France.
When the Russian foreign minister told a press conference in Moscow that Mr Johnson himself had confirmed Russia had not interfered in the UK’S election and Brexit referendum, the Foreign Secretary interrupted to add: “Not successfully.” The clash came after Mr Johnson issued a warning to the Kremlin that Britain was “prepared and able” to respond in kind to cyber attacks.
The pair met for more than an hour of talks on the first visit to Russia by a British foreign secretary for five years.
Both men acknowledged that relations between the two countries were at their worst for many years.
Nevertheless, they accepted their countries had a duty to work together as fellow permanent members of the UN Security Council on issues affecting global security like Syria, Iran and North Korea.
Mr Johnson joked that he had even handed his coat with “everything in my pockets, secret or otherwise” to Mr Lavrov when he arrived at the ministry of foreign affairs building.
When the Foreign Secretary rejected Mr Lavrov’s denial that Russia had attempted to interfere in British polls, the Russian foreign minister retorted: “He is afraid if he doesn’t contradict me his reputation is going to be ruined.”
Mr Johnson said Russian attempts to interfere in Britain’s referendums and elections had not been successful, adding that if they had, “that would have been an entirely different matter”.
Mr Lavrov said the evidence produced so far of Russian attempts at interference amounted to no more than the spending of “a few kopecks” on social media adverts.
He said: “I think you have made all this up in your Western community and unfortunately right now you are hostage to this subject.”
Mr Lavrov said that UK government criticism of politicians who spoke to Russian media outlets like the RT TV channel did not reflect well on the UK.
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