"We have also taken note of this publication which has appeared in the run-up to the 3 May local elections … Given the circumstances, we can’t avoid the impression that Russian issues are being used by the present Government for domestic political purposes only… Many people in the UK doubt the wisdom of such policy, and the Government has to use media campaigns in an attempt to discredit Russia and gain support," the statement read.
The statement refers to the report of The Sunday Times newspaper, claiming that some "Russian bots" on Twitter allegedly attempted to influence the outcomes of the UK general election held on June 8, promoting Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
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"The publication [in Sunday Times] itself defies any logic. The authors want us to believe that some 6500 bots of murky origin and with an extremely low number of followers (to be compared with the total of 17 mln Twitter users in the UK) have swayed millions of voters. This is an absurd idea," the spokesman added.
Skripals' Case
The embassy has further touched upon the Skripal case, saying that the day after the upcoming elections would mark two months since the Salisbury poisoning incident, stressing that Moscow still had no access to its former intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
"This is a gross violation of international law by the UK," the statement added.
The issue has become a hard blow to the Russian-UK relations and occurred last month, when London accused Moscow of involvement in the attempted murder of former Russian intelligence agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a nerve agent in the UK city of Salisbury.
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Reacting to these accusations, Moscow has demanded an independent investigation into the incident and refuted all of these claims.However, London promptly suspended bilateral contacts with Russia, expelling 23 Russian diplomats, with Moscow responding reciprocally by expelling the same number of UK diplomats.
