On North Korea, both Russia and the UK want to find ways of de-escalating the crisis prompted by Pyongyang's ballistic missile programme. And on Iran, both go sides want to do what they can to protect the deal they helped negotiate to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions. So Friday's meeting may have allowed both sides to rehearse their differences - and the veteran Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, gave as good as he got from the comparative novice foreign secretary, Boris Johnson. But it also allowed them to online shopping sites list crack a few jokes and build a relationship that they could need in the years to come. This was not a reset or a return to business as usual but the opening of a channel of communication that in recent years has been as frozen as the Moscow winter. Ahead of the meeting in Moscow, the UK government said Mr Johnson would warn Russia to stop cyber-attacks which threaten Britain's national security or face retaliation of a similar kind from the UK. But Mr Lavrov accused Mr Johnson of being a "hostage" of untrue Western narratives on the issue, insisting Russia had online shopping not meddled in elections in other countries. Mr Johnson said there was "abundant evidence" of Russian interference in polls in the US, Germany, Denmark and France. Image caption Boris Johnson stands in front of Saint Basil's cathedral in Red square in Moscow Image caption And takes part in a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Mr Lavrov hit back by telling Mr Johnson he himself had said Russia had not interfered in Britain's general election and Brexit referendum. Mr Johnson interrupted his Russian counterpart to add: "Not successfully." Mr Lavrov said the evidence produced so far of Russian attempts at interference amounted to no more than the spending of "a few kopecks" on social media adverts.
No comments:
Post a Comment