RUSSIALINK: Interfax: “UK takes West’s anti-Russian campaign to new level with Skripal case – Zakharova”

Artist Rendition of Barrel with Poison Symbol on It, Oozing Green Material

[Interfax reports that Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, appearing on Russian television, has accused Britain of using the Skripal case to give a new boost to the anti-Russian campaign:]

MOSCOW. March 31 (Interfax) – The United Kingdom has used the Skripal case to give a new boost to the anti-Russian campaign in the West; the absence of information and non-disclosure of details suggest British intelligence services might be involved in this, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in an interview with the Russian Channel 5 television channel.

“Today the story is obvious: another stage in this anti-Russian campaign has been given a boost by Britain (…), when it (…) inflated this story around the Skripals case. We still have no information on this case. The only official part (…), the only official data we have received from Britain came yesterday, regarding the improved condition of Yulia Skripal. So, it is hard to say that Britain and its officials were directly involved in this story, but there are suspicions about it. This is what the foreign minister’s statement focused on: that the concealing of information and non-sharing of details regarding the incident lead one to think that British intelligence services in particular might be actually involved in this. So the whole situation is handcrafted,” Zakharova said.

“This is not simply a case of ‘it just happened.’ This does not come from misunderstanding – this comes from the deliberate desire to take the whole story – declaring Russia the enemy of the global people – to a new level,” Zakharova said in an interview, a fragment of which was posted on the channel’s website on Saturday.

The current situation is paradoxical in that the West, which always acted as an apologist for rejecting the Soviet Union, particularly the 1930s, the time of repressions and charges without trial or investigation, is now behaving in the same way, the spokeswoman said.

“What is happening now is the worst that happened precisely during those 1930s…. only on a global scale,” Zakharova said.

“Look, what we were told by Western democrats and representatives of the so-called liberal Western thought, boiled down to there having to be any evidence for any accusation, and even if that evidence may seem obvious, there has to be an investigation, there has to be transparency in pursuing the case, there has to be full abidance by due process – lawyers, prosecutors, investigators, and of course, a trial is essential,” Zakharova said.

There are three main points which are at least insufficient for accusing Russia over the Skripal case, she said.

The first is the lack of information; all there is are some “data leaks” which eventually form, thanks to mass media, not an official picture but one of “precisely fake news,” Zakharova said.

There is also “colossal propaganda” against Russia.

“There is a colossal propagandist effort to use own and global mass media, the public and political heavyweights, to put such ideological pressure on Russia and on all the rest, literally in every sense of the word ‘pressure’, with a view to forcing Russia to admit guilt which is not based on anything at all. But the most fantastical thing is that the head of the British Foreign Office is not even hiding this plan!” Zakharova said.

Comment