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https://www.facebook.com/itvnews/videos/10155469919667672/
RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER Sergei Lavrov and British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson clashed today over Russia’s alleged interference in the Brexit vote even as they sought to thaw ties after years of antagonism.
During the first official visit by a foreign minister from London in five years, the outspoken Johnson tried to open lines of communication and the two diplomats made attempts to show their two countries were willing to overcome years of differences.
But the two appeared to clash over allegations that Russia had sought to influence the Brexit vote last year, with Lavrov urging Johnson to come up with hard evidence proving Russia’s alleged interference.
Lavrov said he welcomed Johnson’s November comment in which the British minister said he saw no evidence, “not a sausage”, that Russia had interfered in British elections.
“Not successfully,” Johnson interrupted.
Lavrov then accused his British counterpart of contradicting him to avoid “criticism back home” and to safeguard “his reputation”.
“It’s your reputation I’m worried about, Sergei,” Johnson hit back jokingly in a tense exchange through interpreters.
Lavrov said recent accusations of Moscow’s meddling in Western political systems have been invented by the West and that Moscow had yet to see any “concrete evidence” to back them up.
I think you’ve made it all up in your Western company and unfortunately you are hostages to this subject.
It’s very difficult to climb down from the fence.
Following the 2016 referendum on Brexit, in which Johnson campaigned to leave the EU, Britain has joined the growing number of Western countries accusing Russia of interfering in their political systems.
Accusations that the Kremlin is meddling in Western domestic affairs have heightened fears over the influence of Russian hackers, trolls and state-controlled media.
While the first accusations against Moscow came following a 2016 hack attack on the US Democratic Party’s servers, they rapidly multiplied after Trump’s election.
In a major foreign policy speech last month, British Prime Minister Theresa May accused Russia of “weaponising information” and “threatening the international world order on which we all depend”.
A new report published by researchers from Oxford University this month found that Russian “trolls and bots” active ahead of the Brexit vote “contributed relatively little to the overall Brexit conversation”.
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The UK is going to thrive outside of the EU with its new trading partners Guatemala, Honduras, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Togo.
High time Ireland left too. Micronesia loves a bit of KerryGold on its toast, and Togo can’t get enough of our delicious sausages.
The price of kerrygold butter is daft in this country relative to supermarket own brand competitors.
@Markonline: but quality? The other brands don’t last as long imho
@alphanautica:
You live in a very strange kind of world if you think they’re the only potential trading partners for an EU-free UK.
UK leading the way without the EU, lol
It’s like a train wreck almost every day with them.
@Barry Somers: Is it not noteworthy that we were so keen to accompany the UK into the EU – and now laugh at their decision to exit! Bearing in mind that we’re ‘trapped in’ because of the €200+ billion National Debt we’ve accumulated.
@Thomas Blackcat: We are trapped in nothing. The vast majority of the Irish people want to remain as part of the EU.
@Mick Jordan: the UK and Ireland are two different countries that don’t get the same benefits from the EU . Ireland gets more out of the EU then they put in to it , the UK does not . The EU treats the UK like cash machine . 10 countries out of 27 fund the EU . How is that fair .
@Thomas Blackcat: that doesn’t trap us in. But it will have detrimental impacts on FDI and jobs. Yes we could devalue punt nua but we still would need to borrow in euro or dollars. IMHO the increases in social welfare under Bertie underpin put problems. The cost of living just rises as the safety net of social is raised. The banks added to our situation most more than half that 200 billion was to keep the lights on – we haven’t borrowed most of the Anglo money yet! The interest on debt is rising fast and time for the people to pay. If we get economic slowdown in the next few years – it will be a disaster
@Tommy Whelan: One could say the same about the US. A majority of the States are supported by a minority through federal funding. Or even here, the West of of Ireland is financially supported by the East. That is part of being in a Club. The members that can afford to aid the poorer members.
@Mick Jordan: it’s a economic union . It’s not a country yet .
@Tommy Whelan: And the clue is in your answer “It is an Economic Union”. Ergo an Economic Club.
@Mick Jordan: that s great to hear . Ireland and the other eight countries in the EU won’t have a problem paying Britain’s share to fund the other seventeen countries that pay nothing .
@Tommy Whelan: We will pay our share as proportional to our GDP as necessary.
Imagine having Boris Johnson as your Foreign Affairs Minister. Sending him to places like Russia to represent your countries interests. Lavrov could chew him up and spit him out in a heartbeat. The current UK government is the most inept administration I have ever seen.
@Tweety McTweeter: he is a national embarrassment- but good that Mrs May has him linked to the Brexit work. Unlike Farage who will soon be looking for another foreign national to marry !
@Tweety McTweeter: But good for the posh rich that is the top 1%?
Russian Bots had as much effect on British referendum as the BBC World Service Russian language broadcasts had on Russian elections….
@neilo: No just probably understands things a bit better, according to twitter Russian aids during Brexit amounted to about .76p worth of aids – Russian bots don’t exist a figment of UK media’s imagination.
@Austin Rock: Ads!!
@neilo: No, he’s just using common sense.
Well maybe Boris should listen to BBC radio. They did a great programme a while back on how the US alt-right was interfering in European elections. He should also take some history lessons. In 1953, MI6 and the CIA successfully launched a coup to overthrow the democratically elected president of Iran. And that’s just one example that slightly outdoes the presence on a few Kremlin bots on social media in terms of meddling in other countries’ elections.
@Anne Marie Devlin: read confessions of economic hitman – there are very few countries the US has not interfered with
Go on Boris you mad thing.
@Declan Byrne:
Will Boris be served Beef Stroganoff or a plate of polonium dressed sausages at tonight’s banquet with Putin?
@Rory J Leonard: Depends whether the food came from Belarus or not . Give the Kremlin a buzz and ask.
Boris did not complain of Russian interference through a weaponise disciplinary media on Brexit.
Russia wanted Britain to have Brexit. Russia was only thinking of Britain’s best interests. Ahem.
Ireland are prisoners we have a government that operates as a committee for the powers that be
@FlopFlipU: Still posting irrelevant, baseless rubbish I see. Do you have any opinions on Boris, the Russians or interference in democratic elections by any chance?
Politics sinking down the gutter. Not great.
I listened to the moron on sky news today.
An absolute tool of a man,he really is.
And there were many on here in recent weeks claiming that this story was balderdash. Well it would appear that the British Government and the British security services believe it to be true.
Damocles will even mute you for merely mentioning Russians. ..They seem a bit quiet now.
boris,hes englands mini trump,silly hair and dont take kindly to strangers
Britain shot themselves themselves in the foot. Now they’re on a roller coaster to shoot themselves in the head and cause endless collateral damage to everyone else. Johnson and all his band of clowns.
have your say