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Kremlin slams UK for accusing Russia of destabilizing NATO

The British defense secretary said earlier that Russia sought "to expand its sphere of influence, destabilize countries and weaken" NATO

Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov Mikhail Metzel/TASS

Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/. Allegations saying that Moscow is involved in some misinformation campaigns against other countries are groundless, the Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"We are confident that such accusations against Russia are groundless," he said. "We do not understand how such a high-ranking official (British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon) could voice such baseless and unsubstantiated allegations."

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Peskov expressed hope that sooner or later a meaningful approach would prevail in the UK, leading to improving relations with Russia.

The British defense secretary said earlier that Russia sought "to expand its sphere of influence, destabilize countries and weaken" NATO. "Russia is clearly testing NATO and the West," Fallon added. He accused Moscow of targeting the US, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and Montenegro, which is expected to become a full NATO member this year. According to Fallon," NATO must begin to compete on the cyber-battlefield to counter Russian hacking." He also said that "part of our response is for NATO and the West to do more to tackle the false reality promoted through Soviet-style misinformation."

"It is in our interest and Europe’s to keep NATO strong and to deter and dissuade Russia from this course," Fallon stressed.

However, he admitted that the UK needed "to engage with Russia."

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Foreign policy Dmitry Peskov NATO

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