MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th May, 2020) The Russian ambassador to the United Kingdom Andrei Kelin has spoken with the editor-in-chief of the Financial Times Roula Khalaf over a controversial article published by the newspaper that claimed that Russia was manipulating its COVID-19 statistics, the ambassador told Sputnik on Thursday.
On Monday, the Financial Times published an article claiming that Russia's COVID-19 death toll could be 70 percent higher than the government's figures. Russian lawmakers have hit back at the newspaper's claims, saying that Moscow has never manipulated the figures. World Health Organization spokeswoman in Russia Melita Vujnovic has said there is no evidence that Moscow is knowingly understating mortality statistics.
�"This morning we sent a letter to the Financial Times editor-in-chief Roula Khalaf and I just talked with her as to how we can resolve the situation. I explained that in Moscow, FT, and the work it produces, is highly appreciated. However, we were extremely surprised and upset by the material they have published regarding the coronavirus disease situation in Russia. They have claimed that the government's efforts to combat the disease are all wrong and the statistics were manipulated, but official figures were not cited and their own guesses and fabrications were made," Kelin stated.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has already said that Moscow will demand that the newspaper retracts the article and the claims made in it. Kelin confirmed that the Russian Embassy in London has done the same.
According to the ambassador, the latest Financial Times article is indicative of a trend in the UK press to criticize Russia.
"Only negative examples are taken and everything positive is hushed up ... Just yesterday I sent a similar letter to The Times, which for some reason, called into the question some of our most prominent businessmen, Alexei Mordashov, Oleg Deripaska, Vladimir Potanin, who have taken efforts to protect their firms' workers. Many businessmen in Europe and around the world do this. However, there were some discussions about the growing role of oligarchs in Moscow and their attempts to usurp power. It is completely mystifying," Kelin said.
Both The Times and Financial Times have said that they will have discussions among their leadership to resolve the issue, Kelin commented.
According to figures released by the government, 252,245 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Russia since the start of the outbreak, resulting in the deaths of 2,305 people and a mortality rate of less than one percent. Russian officials have stated that the low mortality rate is due to the high level of testing, which is allowing for officials to identify those in the early stages of the disease and provide medical assistance while their symptoms are still mild.
