Russia: West should concentrate on own problems

MOSCOW

The West should concentrate on its problems instead of preaching democracy to Moscow, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Thursday.

Maria Zakharova responded to statements by Western countries that criticized Russia regarding last week's demonstrations that demanded the release of opposition figure Alexey Navalny.

Zakharova said it is strange to hear the statements copying each other from countries.

“Those countries are using not only batons but also tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets against citizens who protest democratically,” she said at a weekly news conference in Moscow.

She said the West showed its hypocrisy with the statements and cited security forces in France intervention against protesters in Yellow Vest protests or the US Capitol riot on Jan. 6 when police clashed with protesters.

“Our Western allies, who are so worried about democracy in Russia, should concentrate on the settlement of their own problems. They should worry about their own citizens and democracy,” she said.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered on Saturday in Russia to protest Navalny’s detention and demanded his immediate release.

A number of supporters of Navalny were detained when police intervened.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that attempts to organize unauthorized rallies and incite young people to participate is “unacceptable”.

He said that abiding by the law and being against the organization of unauthorized activities is the only appropriate stance, avoiding attempts to incite young people and children to take part in them.

Navalny, 44, who received treatment in Germany after an alleged poisoning, was arrested in Moscow upon his return late Sunday.

Authorities said he violated probation from a suspended sentence on a money-laundering conviction in 2014.

Navalny called the move "politically motivated,"

Less than 25 hours after his return, Moscow’s Khimki Court ruled Navalny would remain in custody in Moscow’s infamous jail, Matrosskaya Tishina, on a 30-day pre-trial detention.

The prominent opposition figure fell sick last August on a flight to Moscow. After an emergency landing in the Siberian city of Omsk, he spent two days in a hospital before being sent to Berlin for treatment.

After tests in several labs, German officials said Navalny was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok, which was also used in an attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the British town of Salisbury in 2018, according to the UK government.

Russian authorities deny any involvement in the case and contend that chemical weapons have been neither developed nor produced by Russia since the last chemical round was destroyed in 2017.

*Writing by Busra Nur Bilgic Cakmak