Russia’s Zaharova makes fun of Orpo – 2024-04-22 18:31:05

Ursula von der Leyen and Petteri Orpo returned from the orientation tour of the eastern border to Lappeenranta airport. Henri Kärkkäinen

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marija Zaharova commented on EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to Finland on Friday.

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (kok) and von der Leyen met last Friday in Lappeenranta. During the visit, they reviewed the situation on the eastern border and the recovery of Eastern Finland.

The duo arrived at the press conference after their tour of the eastern border by helicopter.

At the press conference, the chairman of the EU Commission praised Finland’s preparedness and talked about the instrumentalized immigration orchestrated by Russia.

In a press release published on the website of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zaharova claims that the accusations against Russia are unfounded.

According to Zaharova, the claims about the hybrid operation against Finland, which creates a migrant crisis on Finland’s borders, are provocations.

– With a spectacular helicopter flight in the border area between Finland and Russia, it was probably supposed to create the impression that the European Union would closely monitor Finland’s efforts to protect the EU’s external border.

However, according to Zaharova, it is “difficult to say what he (von der Leyen) and the Prime Minister of Finland managed to see when they looked out of the helicopter’s hatch at several square kilometers of spring forest”.

– At least not hordes of migrants rushing to Finland, there weren’t those there.

– Western countries are persistently developing the tried-and-tested highly likely principle and raising the fears directed at our country to a new level by inventing non-existent things and multiplying disinformation against Russia.

Highly likely i.e. “very likely” are classic flying phrases of Russian propaganda.

Former British Prime Minister Theresa May used the saying in 2018 about Russia’s involvement in the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal with the Novichok nerve agent.

Russia picked up the saying and uses it as part of a tactic to deny all international accusations against it as either fanciful or Russophobic.