LONDON, May 14. /TASS/. The Russian embassy in Britain has addressed The Financial Times with a request for refuting its own article claiming the real number of deaths caused by the novel coronavirus-related disease (COVID-19) in Russia is allegedly well above the official statistics, Ambassador Andrei Kelin told TASS.
"Firstly, we sent a message to the FT Editor-in-Chief Roula Khalaf. Secondly, I’ve just had a word with her in person to say the materials they published must be refuted, because they do not reflect the reality and the events happening in Russia and, what is most important, they do not reflect the efforts the government and all other branches of power exert to fight against the coronavirus," Kelin said.
"It looks like she reacted with understanding. We will have more discussions. Some steps will be taken. There was an explanation of the methodology The Financial Times uses, but this does not change the situation. In general, I am very upset and surprised by the coverage our efforts to fight against the coronavirus receive here," Kelin said.
On May 12, The Financial Times claimed that the real death toll from the novel coronavirus-related disease allegedly exceeds the official statistics by 70%. In its calculations the British daily compared Moscow’s and St. Petersburg’s death rates in April 2020 and the past five year’s average.