Russia accuses Western ambassadors of meddling in internal affairs
Al Jazeera
Moscow hit out at envoys claiming they refused to meet with foreign minister, as relations continue to deteriorate.
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has accused Western ambassadors in Moscow of meddling in its internal affairs and questioned their function.
The statement on Tuesday followed complaints from Moscow’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov the previous day that ambassadors from European Union countries had refused to meet him. The rebuke comes with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine having pushed relations with the West to their lowest ebb in decades.
Lavrov said on March 4 that he had invited EU envoys for a conversation ahead of Russia’s March 15-17 presidential election but that they had refused. There was no immediate reaction from Western diplomats.
However, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova revived the subject on Tuesday on Russian state television.
“The question indeed arises among everyone: what are they doing, and why, how do they interpret their conduct on the territory of our country if they do not perform their most important function?” Zakharova declared to anchor Vladimir Solovyov.
