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RT, Sputnik Editor-in-Chief Says France Won't Find Proof of Macron Team Claims

© SputnikRT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan
RT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan - Sputnik International
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Sputnik and RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan explained why France won't find any evidence of French President Emmanuel Macron team's allegations concerning the media outlets' alleged interference in the French elections.

"No traces of Russian hackers have been found in France. Which was to be proven [quod erat demonstrandum (q.e.d. in math)]. You [France] won't find anything on Sputnik and RT as well as nothing can be found. Find in your heads," Simonyan told Sputnik.

Earlier in the day, the head of the French National Agency of Information Systems Security (ANSSI) told AP that France has found no traces of Russian hackers in a cyberattack on Macron's campaign.

According to ANSSI Director General Guillaume Poupard, the hacker attack on Macron's campaign "was so generic and simple that it could have been practically anyone."

Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of RT and Rossiya Segodnya - Sputnik International
RT, Sputnik Editor-in-Chief Simonyan Responds to Macron's 'Dangerous' Allegation
Previously, it was claimed that Russian hacking group called APT28 was responsible for the cyberattack on Macron's presidential campaign.

Russian officials, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, has repeatedly said that claims of Russia's alleged attempts to interfere in foreign countries' elections, including those in the US, France and Germany, are groundless.

On Friday, less than 48 hours before the French people went to the polls to select their next president, some nine gigabytes of data consisting of thousands of emails, images and email attachments from accounts belonging to Macron's En Marche! movement were anonymously dumped. The candidate's campaign admitted that it had been hacked, but claimed that fake documents had been mixed in with authentic ones to spread lies and confusion ahead of the vote.

RT channel - Sputnik International
Lavrov: Macron's RT, Sputnik Remarks Reflect 'Inertia' of Anti-Russian Campaign
Moreover, Macron's campaign spokesman Benjamin Griveaux claimed that Sputnik and RT "fully controlled by the Russian government, have been slandering some candidates for several months, namely, Emmanuel Macron, while sparing the others, Marine Le Pen and Francois Fillon, in particular." Sputnik news agency on Wednesday denied allegations made by Griveaux that the agency had launched the campaign to discredit the candidate.

Moreover, another Macron ally, Richard Ferrand, the general secretary of En Marche! party, said that Sputnik and RT outlets "spread fake news", which are later "used, quoted and influence our democratic life." Commenting on Ferrand's claims Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Macron's ally was spreading fake news himself by accusing Sputnik of fabrication.

Zakharova recalled that former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had made similar accusations against Russia when information compromising her party was leaked. Clinton said Russia was behind cyberattacks which obtained the information. Russia rejected the claims, while the country's President Vladimir Putin stating that the Russian hacking scandal "hysteria" was fomented to distract people from domestic problems.

People walk past campaign posters of Marine Le Pen (L), French National Front (FN) political party leader, and Emmanuel Macron (R), head of the political movement En Marche! (Onwards!), two of the eleven candidates who run in the 2017 French presidential election in Paris, France, April 10, 2017 - Sputnik International
French Media Pans Le Pen, Turns Blind Eye to Macron Banning Sputnik, RT
Later, Simonyan said that Sputnik and RT would go to court over accusations made against the outlets by the headquarters of French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron about the spreading of "fake news" regarding his alleged offshore bank accounts after Macron filed a legal complaint, not targeting any specific party, over allegations that he owned an offshore bank account in the Bahamas.

The EM! campaign later issued a statement saying Sputnik and RT had "actively" relayed claims made online and repeated by Macron's right-wing rival Marine Le Pen of Macron having bank accounts in the Bahamas.

Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of RT and Rossiya Segodnya - Sputnik International
'Even Reuters' Notes 'Macron's Team Can't Provide Examples of RT, Sputnik Fakes'
Sputnik also issued a statement refuting accusations by Macron's En Marche! (EM!) party of spreading "fake news" about the candidate's alleged offshore bank accounts. Sputnik has published two stories on the offshore allegations. The first covered Macron's rebuttal of the allegations, while the second reported on the complaint filed by his party. The EM! campaign did not respond to an inquiry by Sputnik about the reasons for making the accusations.

Recently, Macron himself accused Sputnik and RT of being propaganda media and refused to call the media outlets' reporters journalists during a press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Paris. Russian officials said they disagree with Macron, adding that his remark was part of the anti-Russian campaign in the West.

 

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