Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gave a harsh response when asked for his opinion on U.S. Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump, the TASS news agency reported.
Questioned about
Trump's recent scandal over sexist comments, Lavrov told CNN
“there are so many pussies around your presidential campaign on
both sides that I prefer not to comment.”
Lavrov prefaced the
statement by pointing out that English is not his native language,
and that he was not sure if his words would be considered “decent.”
On the topic of
whether or not the Russian government is trying to interfere in the
U.S. election, the foreign minister said he had seen “not a
single fact, not a single proof” of any attempt by Moscow to influence the
electoral process.
“It's flattering,
of course, to get this kind of attention, for a ‘regional power’ as
President Obama called us some time ago,” the foreign minister
said.
Russia has been
repeatedly accused of launching cyber-attacks on U.S. targets with
the aim of influencing the election in November. Among these was the
hacking of email accounts belonging to the Democratic National
Committee.
This is not the first time Lavrov has made headlines for profane language. In 2008. he reportedly told the British foreign secretary “Who are you to fucking lecture me?” when confronted in a phone call about Russia's invasion of Georgia.
In August last year, Lavrov was caught muttering "fucking morons" (in Russian) during a meeting with Saudi Arabian officials on the dangers of ISIS. He was apparently unaware that his microphone would pick up the remark.
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