UK government's statement 'makes no sense': Russia

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab's statement on Russia's meddling in the UK 2019 general election makes no sense, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

Speaking at a video-conference in Moscow, she said Raab's statement was "so vague and contradictory" that it was "impossible to understand".

"On the one hand, there is no evidence. [...] it refers to possible retaliatory measures. These are mutually exclusive things. It seems that the next round of 'highly likely' tactics is beginning," she said, referring to British statements on poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in 2018.

Earlier today, Raab accused Russia of interfering in the 2019 general election in the UK by illegally obtaining sensitive documents about UK-US free trade talks and leaking them on social media.

In a written statement, Raab told the parliament that based on an "extensive analysis", the government concluded that Russia's meddling was "almost certain".

Responding to Raab, Zakharova said the British government just used a different term to build ungrounded accusations against Moscow.

"Apparently, after analyzing the experience of previous years, the British government concluded that the experience of 'highly likely' no longer makes sense, so they used a different term. Now it sounds like this: almost certain. This is almost certainly a replacement for 'highly likely', but the tactics are the same," she said.

Raab promised that the full version of a widely criticized nine-month-delayed report will be published next week.