Russia urges the participants of the illegal strike on Syria to stop manipulating public opinion and interfering with the work of international organizations. That is how the Russian MFA has commented on the statement by their French colleagues that Moscow and Damascus are trying to stop the OPCW mission from going to Douma. The OPCW experts themselves haven't had such complaints. As we've said before, they're already in Douma. How did the UK journalists try to trap Sergey Lavrov? Why was a big part of the Russian Foreign Minister's interview cut from the BBC's broadcast?
Vesti's op-ed expert, Pavel Zarubin reports on the issue.
Hard Talk was mainly hard for the BBC. It was so hard for them that almost one-third of a half-hour interview wasn't aired, even though they were important parts. For instance, this dialogue was concealed from the viewers by the BBC.
- When you, the Russian Foreign Minister, wake up in the morning and read tweets that the US President and Commander-in-Chief is basically threatening you, saying 'Get ready, Russia, our great, new, smart missiles are on their way,' what do you make of that?
Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister: "I think, 'the US President had tweeted something.'"
- And what is your response to his tweets?
- Well, as they say, the proof is in the pudding. We decided to see how these 'new, smart, great missiles' would perform during a strike. According to our estimates, two-thirds of those missiles never made it to their targets because they were successfully intercepted.
However, the Western media talk about an allegedly brilliant operation instead. But, some leaks make one think whether it really went so smoothly. The Times wrote that Syria was also supposed to be attacked by a British submarine. However, instead, it had to change its location constantly.
The Times: "A British attack submarine has been locked in a cat-and-mouse chase with Russian submarines and warships. According to them, the hunt was led by ships developed in Project Paltus. The ships are stationed at Russia’s naval base at Tartus. The British submarine did not participate in the strike".
The UK calls their actions towards the independent country "legitimate." Sergey Lavrov reminded them what such "legitimate" operations had done to Iraq and Libya in the past. But, this part was also cut. However, the usual media story-spinning is in full swing.
- You said you had hard evidence that some Russophobic country, a.k.a. the UK, had worked with the White Helmets to stage the incident.
Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister: "Wait a moment, why do you think I meant the UK? Don't put words in my mouth. I said, a country that's eager to be the first in the Russophobic campaign.' Please, try to quote me correctly; doing so otherwise is not very professional".
Lavrov's composure had definitely driven the journalist mad. He kept interrupting, without listening, trying to prove he's right about Syria and the Skripals' poisoning.
- Over 100 Russian diplomats were expelled from 20 Western countries because everyone believes Russia is guilty.
Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister: If you want to finish the issue of the substance, let me add the following. On Saturday, we provided a document with lab results from the radiologic and chemical-biologic analysis center in Spiez, Switzerland. This is one of the labs you have previously mentioned. They really did find high concentration levels of A-234. They also said...
- So, do you trust the OPCW or not? It's a simple question, and it looks like you don't trust them.
- You know, for a Brit, you have very bad manners.
Even the higher ranking Brits have been allowing themselves to do bad things lately.
- This summer, Russia will host the FIFA World Cup. UK Foreign Secretary Johnson has already compared it to how Hitler hosted the Olympics in Berlin in 1936.
-In 1938, after the Olympics, there was a soccer match between the UK and Germany. You can find pictures from this match online. You'll see German and British soccer players do the Nazi salute together.
Of course, neither this part nor this picture was shown on the BBC. They tried to get some kind of reaction out of Lavrov. They obviously wanted to trigger him by bringing up the sanctions.
- The Russian Stock Market has really dropped, Russia has been cornered.
- Thank you for your sympathy, but, don't worry, we'll be fine.
Also, US politicians can't seem to get along again. So, will there be new anti-Russian sanctions or not? American TV channels openly laugh about the fact that Trump's employees state things that haven't even been approved by the President yet.
A journalist: "He obviously backed out; he didn't impose new economic sanctions. The US envoy to the UN, Nikki Haley has stated that they will be announced on Monday. According to the Washington Post, the President was furious about this statement".
Nikki Haley, US Ambassador to the UN: "Sanctions against Russia will be approved soon, the Secretary of the Treasury will announce them on Monday, if he hasn't already".
A journalist: "It's Monday, and no such statement has been made. Obviously, these measures have been canceled".
Dmitry Peskov, the Russian President's Press Secretary: "The Kremlin doesn't get surprised anymore. In the 20th century, 174 sanctions were imposed, almost 110 of them were by the US. This is a routine practice for US foreign policy. We don't agree with it and consider it unlawful."
- Do you ever feel like the Cold War has started again?
Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister: ”I think it's even worse now than it was during the Cold War because at least back then we had communication channels. There was no such hysteric Russophobia. Today, we can witness a genocide via sanctions".
Lavrov called out false statements made by Western politicians, who claimed that the sanctions were imposed exclusively against the heads of big companies. He believes that this is a way to punish the Russian people for the presidential election results.
Pavel Zarubin and Maksim Schepilov, Vesti.
