MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/. Russia has received no response from the United Kingdom to an inquiry on a leak that indicates that an anti-Russian campaign is being run from London. The Russian embassy will soon make a representation to the British side on that matter, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel on Friday.
"No, we still haven’t received [any response]," she replied to a question on the subject. "But if our British colleagues think that the strategy of remaining mum and stalling on providing a response will help them avoid dialogue on this matter, they are severely mistaken. They won’t avoid it. And our embassy in London will soon make such a representation to the British side. They will have to explain," she vowed.
Zakharova emphasized that London had not disavowed the leaked document as having nothing to do with the UK Foreign Office. "As follows from these documents, they were playing in Russia’s information space, which includes Russian-language media, along such Russophobic, anti-Russian topics," she explained, adding that Moscow would keep on sending reminders to London pressing for a response on this matter.
The Russian diplomat lambasted London saying that the United Kingdom "has crowned itself as a champion of freedom of speech" while accusing Russia of disinformation and propaganda. Furthermore, Zakharova pointed out that London had repeatedly been "caught red-handed" telling lies, for instance, about the Skripal case and the White Helmets in Syria.
Earlier during a briefing, the spokeswoman revealed that documents allegedly belonging to the British Foreign Office and exposing London’s indirect support for the so-called independent mass media had been released in early February. The papers suggest that London, through intermediaries, supports the work of so-called independent media outlets and also formed a secret network of influential bloggers in the Russian-speaking segment of social networks to "create conditions for regime change in Russia" and "undermine Russian influence in Eastern European and Central Asian countries."