The Kremlin does not see a reason for any reaction to the claims of unnamed sources in the United States about the spread of Russian "disinformation" about the coronavirus, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Earlier, two American media outlets published articles accusing the Russian Federation of disinformation about the pandemic-allegedly former GRU employees distributed information through Internet sites, trying to influence the mood of Americans. According to media sources, Russia is trying to influence the course of the US presidential election in November.
"In this case, we do not respond to unnamed officials, especially in the performance of The New York Times. Therefore, we do not see a reason for any reaction," Peskov told reporters.
The head of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, Leonid Slutsky, called the publications fakes and election stuffing.
"Articles in The associated Press and The New York Times accusing Russia of allegedly spreading disinformation about the pandemic in order to discredit the American authorities are another fake and a throw–in before the upcoming election of the 46th President of the United States in November," Slutsky told reporters.
According to him, both parties, including through the media, are playing an "external card". He believes that the Republicans have made China responsible for the failure of the national health system, while the Democrats continue to persist in cultivating myths about Russian interference in the internal political processes of the United States.
"Both of them give wishful thinking to justify their own mistakes and defeats, as well as to remove responsibility for the unfolding crisis in the country. Naturally, all these publications are utter nonsense, " the politician said.
Slutsky stressed that Russia, on the contrary, provided maximum assistance during the fight against the coronavirus to foreign countries, including the United States.
"We are not engaged in "disinformation". Our American partners were much more successful in this, absolutely groundlessly declaring to the whole world about the mythical "Russian threat", - concluded the head of the Duma Committee.
The head of the International Committee of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev called the claims that the Russian Federation allegedly distributes fakes about the coronavirus nonsense.
"So far, none of the conspiracy theories of the AP and NYT has survived expert verification and has not been confirmed in real life. Either the journalists of these publications are practicing the ingenuity of new conspiracy theories in the hope of encouraging their superiors, or this is another throw-in of the American intelligence services," the Senator told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.
Kosachev noted that this is the first time he has heard the relevant names, is not familiar with these sites and, most importantly, does not understand "what Russia as a state has to do with it".
"Another delusion, nothing more," he concluded.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Mikhail Metzel / TASS
Based on materials from RIA Novosti