Russian embassy in Greece rejects meddling allegations
The Russian embassy in Greece on Wednesday rejected allegations of meddling in Greece's domestic affairs, raised by the US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt during an event on disinformation campaigns, describing it as “fake news.”
“Allegations of a supposedly Russian involvement in [Greece's] domestic affairs and manipulation of information are not even worth a comment. They belong to the well-known category of 'highly likely',' which is synonymous with fake news,” the embassy said in a tweet written in Greek.
The Russian embassy described Greek-Russian relations as “honest, open and able to withstand any external pressures and interventions.”
In a previous tweet, the embassy quoted President Vladimir Putin as saying that no “reasonable person” in Greece or Russia would think that Moscow is “planning conspiracies” against Athens.
“It's just nonsense, rubbish,” he reportedly said. It was not clear where Putin made these remarks.
Speaking to TV channel Antenna on the sidelines of the disinformation event in Athens on Monday, Pyatt said that all open societies are vulnerable to those campaigns.
“We’ve seen evidence of this kind of manipulation of information in Greece. We’ve seen Russian efforts in the Church, the efforts to undermine the role of the Ecumenical Patriarch,” he said.
“I cannot tell you that I have seen evidence of efforts in order to meddle in Greece’s upcoming elections, but the purpose of this event tonight is to raise awareness so that Greece’s democratic institutions, Greece’s free press — which are all quite strong — can be alert and able to respond.”
The event was organized by the Atlantic Council, together with the US Embassy to Greece and Greek think tank diaNEOsis.
