Moscow,
British foreign minister Boris Johnson told his Russian counterpart on Friday there was “abundant evidence” of Moscow meddling in foreign elections, but said any Russian efforts to interfere in last year’s Brexit referendum had fallen flat. On the first visit to Russia by a British Foreign Minister in five years, Johnson said he wanted to normalise UK-Russia relations, which were going through “a very difficult patch”.

“… We can’t pretend that they (the problems) do not exist, and that we share a common perspective on the events in Ukraine, or in the Western Balkans or … on Russian activities in cyberspace,” said Johnson. He also said Britain had a duty to speak up for the LGBT community in Chechnya. Johnson’s visit comes at a time when relations between London and Moscow are strained by differences over Ukraine and Syria as well as by allegations, which Russia flatly denies.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, “Johnson recently made a statement that he had no proof that Moscow had meddled in last year’s British referendum on leaving the European Union.” “Not successfully, not successfully, I think is the word,” Johnson shot back, to which Lavrov replied: “He’s scared that if he doesn’t disagree with me, his reputation will be ruined at home.”