The Russian Embassy in Colombia was surprised by the statement of the Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano Aponte, who considers our country guilty of cyber attacks and inciting violence during the protests.
On May 17, the politician spoke with a journalist for the Spanish edition of El Mundo. In his interview, there were conflicting conclusions about Russia.
“In particular, a high-ranking Colombian official, answering the question of whether there has been foreign interference in social networks for the purpose of inciting violence, said, we quote that the cyberattacks that were carried out came, in particular, from Russia”, – noted in a statement available on Twitter.
Russian diplomats found another interview with Aponte with the local newspaper Tiempo, in which he indicated that “there is information on social networks about a significant number of attacks and demonstrations originating from Russia”.
The Russian Embassy rejects all accusations and considers the opinion of the Colombian official, not supported by “concrete evidence”, to be absolutely unfounded. His statement could undermine relations between the two states.
Moreover, diplomats regret about the data on the deaths of people during the protests.
Since April, there have been massive protests in Colombia. On May 18, the fourth mobilization of thousands of protesters took place in the country, new marches are scheduled for the end of May. In April, more than 1.9 thousand people were injured in clashes between power structures and protesters, 966 of them were policemen. According to the country’s authorities, 15 citizens were killed, but local human rights organizations counted more than 50 killed.