The United States needs to refrain from interfering in the domestic affairs of other countries, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the YouTube channel Soloviev LIVE, TASS reported.
“First, don’t interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries. Second, every state has the right to pursue its own domestic and foreign policies. And third, if you do interfere, then what goes around comes around,” she said, commenting on US Department of State Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus’ statement about Washington’s concern with reports of possible irregularities in Russia’s constitutional vote.
Ortagus earlier told TASS that the United States was “troubled by reports of Russian government efforts to manipulate the result of the recent votes on constitutional amendments, including reports of voter coercion, pressure on opponents of the amendments, and restrictions of independent observers of the vote.”
According to her, Washington is “especially concerned with a provision in the amendments that would potentially allow President Putin to remain in power until 2036.”
The Russian diplomat pointed out that the Americans needed to sort out its domestic issues. “It’s high time for them all to brace themselves… and overcome the deepest domestic divisions,” Zakharova noted. “Let them live the way they like, only within their borders, in their own country,” she went on to say.
“But when they start lecturing others – and they do lecture, given their rhetoric of the past ten to fifteen years – then I think that they should focus on their own domestic problems,” the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman concluded.