'Highly likely' again: Lavrov says blaming Russia is trendy as 'Moscow hand' seen in Austria scandal

Pinning the blame on Russia without proper proof has become trendy, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said as a new report debunks allegations that the ‘Russian oligarch’s niece’ stands behind the Austrian government scandal.

Moscow’s top diplomat shared his take on the Austrian government crisis, fuelled by corruption allegations, against the former Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache. The official was forced to resign after German media published a video showing him presumably soliciting a bribe from a woman who “supposedly” was a niece of a Russian oligarch. However a subsequent report from the Austrian paper Kronen claimed that she was actually a Bosnian student paid to set up the then-vice-chancellor.

It is quite revealing that free media in the West which eagerly picked up the version about the woman’s Russian descent… reported very little, if at all, about her Bosnian origins being uncovered.

Lavrov also made clear that the media obsession with Russian meddling has become commonplace. “Heaping the blame on Russians according to a ‘highly likely’ principle which [at the time] was introduced by [UK Prime Minister] Theresa May is very trendy,” Lavrov said, as he urged the media to be objective.

The Austrian government collapsed on Monday as Chancellor Sebastian Kurz was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote. Earlier, five out of thirteen ministers left their positions following Strache’s resignation.

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