Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Western media had linked some drone incidents in European Union countries to Russia without evidence.
Speaking at the “Dialogue on Fake News 4.0” forum in Moscow, Lavrov said reports claiming that drones alleged to have attacked certain locations belonged to Russia had been widely circulated. According to Lavrov, some of these reports later showed that the drones did not belong to Russia, belonged to Ukraine or could not be identified as belonging to any particular country.
Lavrov said Western media had used “information cards” against Russia in the process. Arguing that these reports had paved the way for diplomatic and consular retaliation, Lavrov said Germany had also expelled Russian diplomats and closed diplomatic and consular missions as well as cultural centers under the influence of similar claims.
Accusation over the West’s information policy
Lavrov alleged that the West’s information policy involved quickly bringing an allegation he described as “fake news” into the public debate, turning it into a major crisis within a few days and restricting access to alternative information about the incident. He said the focus then shifted to another issue.
The Russian minister also accused Western media and the entertainment industry of preparing audiences to accept anti-Russian stereotypes and allegations. He said some people in Western societies had questioned why their governments had not given sufficient public attention to alleged Ukrainian attacks on civilians in Russian cities.
The Skripal and Navalny cases
Lavrov said the incident he alleged had taken place in Russia’s city of Starobelsk and described it as a “terrorist attack,” arguing that it had not been condemned by Western governments or media.
Referring to the Skripal case, Lavrov said British authorities had left Moscow’s questions about the condition of Sergey Skripal and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, unanswered. Lavrov said it had been announced eight years ago in Salisbury that Sergey Skripal and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, had been poisoned by Russian intelligence, and alleged that the United Kingdom was effectively holding Russian citizens “hostage.”
Lavrov also argued that Russia’s requests for test results and information about the treatment of Aleksey Navalny, who was treated in Germany in 2020, had not been met. He criticized this approach as “complete silence, fueling anti-Russian rhetoric and obstructing honest dialogue.”
Lavrov says the number of sanctions exceeded 30,000
The Russian foreign minister said the information war against Moscow had emerged long before the war in Ukraine began in February 2022. Lavrov linked the process to Russia’s decision, during Vladimir Putin’s presidency in the early 2000s, to pursue an independent policy and move away from “neocolonial” forms of cooperation with the West.
Lavrov said the number of sanctions imposed on Russia had exceeded 30,000, describing the figure as a record compared with other countries in the world.
