NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th September, 2018) Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday described claims that a Russian citizen recently detained in Norway on suspicion of involvement in spying activities as "propaganda."
"You were brainwashed by propaganda," Lavrov said, answering a question about the detention� posed by a journalist on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Mikhail Bochkarev, a staff employee of the Russian upper house of parliament, was detained at the Gardermoen airport outside the capital, Oslo, on September 21 following his participation in an IT conference in Norway's parliament, arranged by the European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation (ECPRD).
The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned on Monday Norway's Ambassador to Russia Rune Resaland to lodge a strong protest in connection with Bochkarev's detention on false espionage charges.
