A meeting of the supporters of Alexei Navalny (he is the founder of the FBK, included by the Ministry of Justice in the register of organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent) with representatives of NATO countries was held with the aim of “smarter to conduct subversive work” in Russia, wrote in Facebook MFA official representative Maria Zakharova.
She recalled that on February 4, the head of Navalny’s regional headquarters network, Leonid Volkov, announced the cancellation of all protest rallies in Russia until spring, and on February 9, announced a new action. “What happened between February 4 and 9 and forced the ‘opposition’ to radically change tactics? Everything is banal and simple – on February 8, 2021, an online meeting with Volkov and [FBK Executive Director] Vladimir Ashurkov took place at the Permanent Delegation of Poland to the EU in Brussels. which was attended by the EU countries, the USA, Britain. And in fact it is a meeting of NATO countries, “- explained Zakharova.
In her opinion, representatives of Western countries “instructed their agents of influence on how they are” more cunning “to carry out subversive work.” The diplomat added that the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance have invested too much money “in this story” to delay until spring.
“They clearly understand: in the spring the information campaign pumped up by Westerners will be blown away. They cannot juggle the topic of” chemical weapons “anymore without presenting facts – they have been pinned to the wall. Therefore, they go for broke,” the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman concluded. p>
On the eve of February 8, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the German special services may be involved in the preparation of Navalny’s film. The head of the diplomatic service recalled that in the film, the oppositionist visits the building of the former Soviet intelligence station in Dresden and shows materials related to Vladimir Putin’s service in the GDR. “It is clear that it is impossible to get into this building, and even more so to gain access to certain archives, without cooperation with the official authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany, most likely with their special services,” Lavrov said.
Earlier, on February 5, Moscow announced the expulsion of three foreign diplomats for participating in unauthorized rallies in support of Navalny. Diplomats from Poland, Sweden and Germany were summoned to the ministry and protested to them over their participation in unauthorized rallies on 23 January.