MOSCOW, October 18. /TASS/. Russia will respond appropriately to the West’s attempts to destabilize the situation in the country, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov said in an interview with TASS.
"On my part, I can assure you that the measures we are taking have a consistent and principled character. <…> As a result of these actions, it becomes more difficult for Western diplomatic missions to meddle in Russia’s political system. Of course, it is naive to think that attempts to exert influence on our democratic processes will stop in the near future. But I would like to stress that we have been giving and will continue to provide an appropriate response to all the efforts to destabilize the situation in Russia," he said.
Thus, he recalled that Swedish, German, and Polish diplomats had been expelled from Russia for participating in protests in January 2021. On September 10, ahead of the elections to the Russian State Duma, or lower parliament house, US Ambassador John Sullivan was summoned to the Russian foreign ministry, which stressed "the categorical inadmissibility of interfering into Russia’s domestic affairs." The US diplomat was informed about undeniable evidence of the violations of the Russian laws by American IT giants during the election campaign.
"The law on foreign agents is being upgraded. It puts an effective barrier to the Western forces’ destructive attempts to influence elections in Russia. Notably, unlike Western analogs, our law does not prohibit the activities of foreign agents in Russia. Its goal is to bind agents to disclose honestly whose interests they represent here and who is sponsoring them. People have the right to know it," Syromolotov stressed.
He noted that the West sees diplomacy "as a tool to influence and ultimately change the political system in other countries in their own interests." "In particular, the United States doesn’t even try to conceal that it seeks to interfere in the domestic affairs of our country. For these ends, a whole network of non-government organizations, thinktanks and other organizations has been set up and is being funded lavishly, including via diplomatic missions. Such organizations are operating under attractive slogans of advocating the freedom of speech, protecting democracy, voters rights, etc.," he explained, adding that such activities are actually geared to undermine people’s trust in civil society institutions, the electoral system "and prepare the change of ‘unwanted regimes,’ including by force."
"Such mechanisms were used more than once in our country. The latest most vivid example is the incidents in January 2021 when the US embassy disclosed ‘protest routes’ on its official accounts in social networks and this way actually directed the demonstrators where to go and how to stage protests and riots," the senior diplomat said.
He also recalled the September 16 report of the European Parliament recommending the European Union to toughen policy towards Russia and impose further sanctions. "As far back as July, the European Parliament’s international committee recommended the European Union to prepare for the non-recognition of Russia’s elections if Brussels deemed them as violating international norms," he added.