MOSCOW, February 8. /TASS/. Powerful foreign forces and finances are behind the activities of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny in Russia, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview with TASS.
"We used to be told that this is exclusively a domestic story and no foreign forces are masterminding it, but now we can see that this is not true, it is yet another lie. And the forces and finances behind it are powerful, which is proven by the video footage that was recently disseminated, showing one of the members of these cells affiliated with Navalny meeting with an alleged British diplomat - it was a British intelligence agent - to discuss financing of their activities in Russia," she said.
At the same time, Zakharova continued, the conversation was about astronomical sums of money which had to be invested to rock the boat in Russia under the scheme of all Navalny’s structures. "What’s most bewildering, abominable and impossible from the point of view of Western mentality is that they were speaking about direct aggression against Russian banks. Can you imagine what it means to spread defamatory materials about Russian banks? To the benefit of British banks and the British financial system? And allocation of relevant amounts of money was discussed," she pointed out.
The diplomat underlined that the plot was uncovered due to the support of these activities by American Internet giants and platforms. She then added that these US Internet monopolies are highly involved in supporting illegal actions in Russia. She recalled that it had been repeatedly said before. "We just got the evidence now, the whole world received evidence that [they are] interfering in our affairs from abroad in a whole range of spheres," she stressed.