LONDON (Sputnik) — In a major foreign policy speech at the Lord Mayor's Banquet at Mansion House in London late on Monday, May accused Russia of meddling in other states' affairs, adding that the parliament’s intelligence committee will review the issue of Russia’s alleged interference in the Brexit referendum.
Later on Thursday May and the prime minister of Sweden Stefan Lofven emphasized the importance of maintaining the European Union's unified "firm" position on Russia, a Downing Street spokesperson said.
"The leaders… discussed how important it is for the EU to continue to have a firm and unified position on Russia," the spokesperson said.
"In our opinion, the series of anti-Russian articles in UK media was triggered by the ‘banquet speech’ of Prime Minister May as well as the upcoming parliamentary discussion of the country’s budget. The program speech of the prime minister started another unfounded wave of criticism against Russia, while during the upcoming budget discussion the foreign ministry would like to achieve increase of allocations to the ministry by speculating on the Russian threat," the Russian embassy spokesperson said in response to a question regarding a publication by the Times newspaper, released earlier in the day, claiming that Russia is a threat to European security.
Previously, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has called the allegations of Russia's interference in EU affairs that had arisen in several European states, including Britain, France and Germany, amid the probe into the alleged Russian meddling in the US presidential election "ridiculous." He said that "hysteria is being fueled up in order to divert the attention of … voters away from the inability to solve… domestic issues," stressing that there was no evidence proving the claims.
"Unfortunately, the British press almost always refers to unpublished documents and other closed sources," the Russian Embassy said.
