"I categorically refute speculations of this kind. We are acting in the interest of the Libyan settlement, we are supporting the existing effort, including through the United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
; we maintain a dialogue with those who somehow influence the situation. We do not think that there is any grounds for such statements, such fiction, but this is not the first time that US media spread different speculations, wicked rumours, falsehoods targeting us", Ryabkov told Russian journalists during a working visit to Israel.
The official noted that such hoaxes affected the attitude of the US public, thus damaging bilateral relations.
"We have already gotten used to this, and we take it in stride. However,
a person who gets all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package...
I have to acknowledge that recurrent hoaxes of this kind exercise a negative influence on the sentiment of the US domestic public, and the general atmosphere in the United States, unfortunately, does not promote normalisation of our ties, although we strive for it", he added.
The New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
reported earlier this week that 200 Russian "fighters" had allegedly arrived in Libya over the past six weeks as "part of a broad campaign by the Kremlin to reassert its influence across the Middle East and Africa".