Kremlin brands Burnham's UN anti-Russia speech "utterly short-sighted"

The Kremlin has hit back at Andy Burnham’s debut address to the United Nations General Assembly, accusing the British prime minister of deliberately stoking anti-Russian sentiment and calling his approach “utterly short-sighted”.

Speaking on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Burnham had “unwisely chosen to stir up anti-Russian sentiment” in a speech in which he accused Russia of spreading lies and disinformation. Burnham told the UN on Tuesday that London would set up a new National Centre for Information Defence and singled out Moscow for particular criticism over disinformation, accusing it of attempting to interfere in the 2019 general election with bots, fake websites and forged branding.

“Well, the British Prime Minister said nothing new. That is the first point. The second is that stoking anti-Russian sentiment and fostering an atmosphere of total Russophobia is what Britain is doing,” Peskov said.

He added that Germany, France and other European states were doing the same thing, and said the approach was “utterly short-sighted”.

“From our point of view, this is an utterly short-sighted policy. It in no way brings us any closer to any steps that might, in the long term, lead to a reduction in tensions and de-escalation on the European continent,” he said.