US Has Rich Tradition of Interference in Other Countries' Affairs - Kremlin

The severity of confrontation with the United States in the information space will only increase, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said at a meeting of the Federation Council's temporary commission for the protection of state sovereignty and prevention of interference in Russia's internal affairs.

The United States has a rich tradition of interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, including Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.

"It would probably be incorrect to comment on Foreign Ministry statements. The fact that the United States has a rich tradition of interference in internal affairs and in electoral processes in many countries, including our country, is not a secret for anyone, and it has even been recognized by Americans themselves," Peskov said when asked what the Kremlin's attitude to such an attempt was.

Earlier on Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said his ministry was registering attempts by the United States to interfere in election processes in Russia. He also said that the US disrupted consultations with Russia on cybersecurity in Geneva "in an ugly manner," a "far-fetched pretext" almost 1 hour before its start.

According to Ryabkov, "these consultations were to be held in Geneva on February 27-28, but literally an hour before their planned start, when the Russian interdepartmental delegation was already in place, we were officially notified by the State Department of the administration's decision to refuse to hold the meeting."

"Again, with an absolutely contrived, unreasonable reference to certain "destabilizing" actions by Russia in the cyberspace," he added.

"Of course, the central direction of this confrontation, this struggle, is informational. I think that the severity of the fights in the information space will undoubtedly increase, and we will all have to live with this in the coming period, " Ryabkov said at the presentation of the commission's annual report on Monday.

READ MORE: US Wants Cybersecurity Dialogue With Russia if It's Fair — McMaster

"The continuation of US policy to implement its geopolitical tasks in the world under the guise of democratization has caused chaos. Yugoslavia has ceased, Iraq and Libya are coming undone at the seams, we will note the events in Ukraine," Ryabkov said. The same hotheads "in the US are not averse to repeating this with Russia."

Earlier, US National Security Adviser Herbert McMaster said that the US is ready to begin a dialogue with Russia on cybersecurity if Russia is serious about stopping cyber espionage.

The cooperation on cybersecurity between Russia and the United States was actively developing in the period from 2009 to 2013. At that period, the administration of former US President Barack Obama announced a reset of relations with Russia. But, since 2014, the cooperation has been suspended, due to the Ukrainian crisis, with alleged Russian interference in this conflict and Crimea's reunification with Russia.