Moscow slams West’s reaction to Russian protests as part of long-planned campaign

MOSCOW, March 29. /TASS/. The West’s reaction to recent protests in Russia is part of the information campaign planned long in advance, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a televised interview with the Rossiya’24 channel on Wednesday.

"Unfortunately, colors have been mixed up in the global information space and another zigzag of an information campaign against Russia has surfaced in this absolute information chaos," Zakharova said, "when foreign countries’ diplomatic agencies began condemning Russia - as if making a carbon copy, with the same words but in different languages - that the people had been detained to clarify all the circumstances, who had been participating in illegal activities and who had been threatening public order in the truest sense of this word and what is more, who had been inflicting some injuries on law enforcement officers and other citizens."

The West’s reaction to developments in Russia, including protest rallies, are part of "a huge and pre-planned information campaign developed in the recesses of Euro Atlantic agencies," she said.

The program was launched about two or three years ago, she added.

"The BBC documentary about terrible Russians, Russian football fans, has definitely become a harbinger," the diplomat said.

On March 26, unauthorized rallies were held in a number of Russian cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, with the goal of fighting corruption. According to authorities, more than 600 people, in addition to opposition figure Alexey Navalny, were detained during an unauthorized rally by the opposition in downtown Moscow. The organizers had earlier refused to hold the rally at another site proposed by the authorities. The Council of Europe and US State Department urged Russia to release the detained protesters.