Kremlin calls British fight with dirty money from Russia 'Russophobia'
NTV reports that Russian Presidential Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said at a press briefing that the Kremlin believes the UK Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee’s recently released report on the risks associated with "dirty money" from Russia is "Russophobic mania.”
"We are witnessing rather unprecedented Russophobic mania in the UK, which manifests itself in many ways, including [this report]," he said.
According to Peskov, the calls to fight "dirty money" from Russia are the result of a “provocation” arranged by the UK. The "provocation", he believes, is the poisoning of former GRU intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
Peskov said that over the past decade, large business from Russia has peacefully grown and developed abroad.
"This is competitive business, which has interests in various parts of the world [and] is quite successfully handling affairs. However, we have begun in recent years to document a manifestation of unfriendly competition, unfair and illegal, which violates all the rules and regulations of the World Trade Organization," said Vladimir Putin's spokesman.
He believes that the fight against "dirty money" from Russia is unfriendly and unfair competition.
The UK House of Commons published a report earlier this month, titled Moscow’s Gold: Russian Corruption in the UK. The report finds that the use of the UK as a "base for the corrupt assets of Kremlin-related individuals" is dangerous for the country's national security.