Russia’s foreign minister has accused the open-source Bellingcat investigative team of acting as a front for Western intelligence services seeking to manipulate public opinion.
Bellingcat has played a leading role in identifying the alleged names of two men accused of trying to poison ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Britain this year. It has previously published investigations that reportedly link Russia to the downing of flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine and suspected chemical attacks in Syria.
“It’s no secret to anyone, Western journalists write openly that Bellingcat is connected to special services,” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with Euronews on Tuesday.
“They leak information through it to have some effect on public opinion,” he said.
Moscow has continued to deny that it was responsible for the nerve agent attack against the Skirpals earlier this year.
