Russia's Permanent Representative to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov said Monday that he was not surprised by media claims that Moscow might have been involved in organization of unrest in France.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th December, 2018) Russia's Permanent Representative to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov said Monday that he was not surprised by media claims that Moscow might have been involved in organization of unrest in France."I am not surprised. Unfortunately, this topic was spread in Paris at the government level ... But so far, they say there is no evidence to confirm [the allegations]. Let's see how it will end," Chizhov told Rossiya 24 tv channel, asked whether he was surprised by such statements spread by a number of European media outlets.
Earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that Russia considered protests triggered by fuel tax hike planned by the French government as an internal affair of the country, and called claims of Russia's alleged involvement slander.
The Times newspaper reported on Sunday that hundreds of allegedly Russia-linked Twitter accounts were found fueling the yellow vest protests by posting pictures of injured protesters and retweeting posts connected to the unrest. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said later the same day that the French Secretariat-General for National Defense and Security (SGDSN) was looking into the reports on Russia's alleged involvement.
France has been facing a wave of mass protests since mid-November, when the so-called yellow vest protesters named after the obligatory attribute of French drivers took to the streets to protest rising fuel prices and a planned hike in tax on diesel and carbon fuels.
