Johnson clashes with Lavrov over Crimea and cyber raids

ANDREW WOODCOCK

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, 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.

Speaking after more

Boris Johnson, left, shows the strain in Moscow as his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov denies accusations his country interfered with elections in the West.

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.

The two men said they had established a level of personal trust, with Mr

Johnson joking 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.

Mr Lavrov joked back: “I can say that there was nothing in the pockets of

Boris’s coat,” to which Mr Johnson responded in surprise: “So you have searched it already?”

However, when Mr Johnson rejected Mr Lavrov’s denial Russia had attempted to interfere in British polls, the Mr Lavrov said: “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 “whatever they might be” 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.