Russian Foreign Minister Says Trump Dossier Author is a ‘Fugitive Charlatan’

On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a news conference centered in large part on criticizing the United States’ intelligence agencies after Russia’s counterparts had come under criticism in light of the hacking and alleged blackmail scandals in recent weeks. Not only did he call out the Americans, though, but he also made a point of singling out Christopher Steele, the author of the no controversial memos on Donald Trump and Russia. Dubbing Steele a “fugitive charlatan” according to both Sputnik and Reuters, he called the allegations into question while taking various shots at western intelligence.

“To be frank, I’m not going to prove to you why all of this is not true,” he said in the translation published by Sputnik and embedded above. “I believe that in Germany, just as in many other countries, there is this principle that is ‘innocent until proven guilty.’ You are the ones to prove that we are to blame. We saw some very far-fetched attempts at blaming as, at proving [the allegations in Steele’s memos]. Right now, the British are saying they have nothing to do with that. Their colleagues from the U.S. are also saying the same. They tried too spoil it for the new administration, some defector from MI-6.” At this point, the quality of the translation dips, but the gist is that he says Steele’s memos were full of lies, and he didn’t want to dwell on that controversy.

In addition, as noted by the Washington Post, Lavrov had unkind words towards the United States, especially for trying to recruit Russian to serve as double agents. “In April last year, there was an unprecedented [recruiting] attempt on the level of the second [highest-ranking] person in our embassy,” he said. “The American intelligence agencies made an attempt at recruitment, literally stuck $10,000 in his car while he wasn’t there with a proposal of cooperation.”

According to Lavrov, the money was turned over to the state and “is now working for the betterment of the Russian government.”

[Photo: Sputnik YouTube screen grab]