MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. Speculation over a special anti-drug operation conducted by Russia and Argentina is aimed at casting a shadow on the Russian embassy in Buenos Aires, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Monday.

The senior diplomat responded to a question from Russian senators from the Committee on International Affairs in the upper house of Russia’s parliament.

"The increase in fake news stories on various aspects of this case that were circulated over the weekend are aimed at distracting from the main topic and cast a shadow on the work carried out in this quite complex case," the diplomat said.

"But it is a real fact that thanks to coherent interaction by the anti-drug agencies from both countries, this specific [drug] delivery channel was not just stopped but reliably cut off," the diplomat specified.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry earlier reported that the law enforcement agencies from Russia and Argentina had conducted a joint sting operation to bust a delivery channel of a large batch of narcotics (389 kg of cocaine) to the European market. The law enforcement officials from both countries detained citizens of Russia and Argentina on suspicion of being involved in drug trafficking.

According to Russia’s Foreign Ministry, the large batch of drugs detected in one of the buildings of the Russian embassy in Buenos Aires belonged to a technical staff employee who had completed his tour of duty by that time.