LONDON, April 17. /TASS/. Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Andrey Kelin has slammed the British Foreign Office’s reaction to the sentence given to columnist Vladimir Kara-Murza (recognized as foreign agent in Russia) as a blatant intrusion into Russia’s domestic affairs.

"As for the demarches staged this morning in Moscow under the leadership of the British diplomatic mission and the UK Foreign Office’s demarche, we see them as blatant interference into Russia’s domestic affairs, in the court’s verdict, and as an attempt to exert influence on the judicial process," he said on Monday in a commentary for TASS after visiting the Foreign Office.

After the court sentenced Kara-Murza, who is a British citizen and has a permanent residence permit in the United States, US and British Ambassadors to Russia, Lynne Tracy and Deborah Bronnert, called for his immediate release. A Canadian embassy spokesman also condemned the verdict and demanded the man be released.