Interfax: Foreign Ministry: Russian sub rumors are part of information campaign

(Interfax – October 27, 2015)

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has described a number of Western military officials’ latest remarks as elements of an information campaign being waged against Russia.

“We have encountered a very large-scale, well-orchestrated and strategically structured information campaign aimed at shaping public opinions. The main goal of this campaign is to create an enemy image. The enemy has been found. It is the Russian Federation,” Zakharova told the Rossiya 24 television station.

Zakharova offered her comments on media reports articulating the concerns of U.S. military officials who claim that Russian submarines may damage undersea cables.

The ministry spokesperson also mentioned remarks made by French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who accused Russia’s air force in Syria of bombing non-Islamic State targets. Islamic State, or ISIS, is a terrorist group outlawed in Russia.

France’s defense minister was asked, among others, where exactly, according to Western military officials’ information, ISIS sites are located in Syria, she said.

“But this question of ours has gone unanswered. However, we have been regularly told at press conferences and via the media what we have been doing wrong. These are the elements of the information campaign – claims of submarines that will damage some cables there in case of any threat, that we are allegedly bombing the wrong targets, that we are allegedly eliminating civilians, and so on and so forth,” Zakharova said.

When speaking about this information campaign against Russia, she also noted that “the stakes in this game are very high.”

“A great deal has been put on the line. Generally speaking, what is at stake there is the reputation of the people who for the past few years have been speaking about Russian aggression in different parts of the world, who have been saying that we [Russia] are threatening the whole world, etc.,” Zakharova said.

[featured image is file photo]