Russia hits back at Theresa May for accusing Putin of election meddling with personal attack on ‘weak and ineffective’ PM and even mock she ‘can’t hold a wine glass properly’
Presenter on state television attacked her dress during banquet where she gave speech attacking Kremlin for influencing other countries
RUSSIA has hit back at Theresa May for accusing Vladmir Putin’s regime of meddling in other countries’ elections with a deeply personal attack on the Prime Minister.
Decrying her as “weak and ineffective”, a presenter on state television in Moscow even mocked her suggesting she “can't hold a wine glass properly”.
It comes after Mrs May launched an attack on Mr Putin saying his country uses fake news to "undermine the West".
She warned of a Kremlin bid to "weaponise information" and made an "unconditional" pledge to maintain European security post Brexit.
The PM spoke of Russia's "sustained campaign of cyber espionage and disruption", including "meddling in elections" and hacking foreign ministries and parliaments.
She said Moscow was planting fake news and "photo-shopped images" in an attempt to "sow discord in the West and undermine our institutions".
In a show of strength Mrs May continued: "We know what you are doing. And you will not succeed.
"Because you underestimate the resilience of our democracies, the enduring attraction of free and open societies, and the commitment of Western nations to the alliances that bind us.
"The UK will do what is necessary to protect ourselves, and work with our allies to do likewise."
A day later the country's foreign ministry hit back at her in a mocking tweet, saying to the PM: “We know what YOU are doing as well."
They shared a photograph of her from the event where she delivered the speech drinking a glass of wine, adding: "Dear Theresa, we hope, one day you will try Crimean #Massandra red wine".
Massandra is a well-known winery in Crimea - seized by Russia from Ukraine three years ago - which Vladimir Putin visited with Silvio Berlusconi in 2015.
And continuing the wine-based jibes Dmitry Kiselev, presenter of the current affairs show Vesti Nedeli, showed a blown-up picture of her drinking on his programme.
He said: “She didn’t pick up her glass by the stem, as is common practice in respectable society.”
Mr Kiselev also mocked the silk gown Mrs May wore to the Lord Mayor’s Banquet, saying it reminded him of reminded him of the topless Ukrainian feminist activists Femen.
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And he added: “She generously spiced up her most aggressive anti-Russian speech with the whiteness of her tired flesh.”
He also said she was “five minutes before resignation because of unresolved problems on her island and with the EU”.
Mr Kiselev, the subject of an EU travel ban for his support of the Russian annexation of Crimea, denied Mrs May’s allegations about Mr Putin and urged her to focus on Brexit instead.