Why can't Russia show adequate response to the West?

Why is Russia unable to respond adequately to provocations from Western special services? We asked this question in an interview with political scientist, founder and president of the Association of specialists for media warfare, Andrey Manoilo.

"Let's talk about the much talked-about topic of Russia's intervention in elections and referendums of foreign countries. When Scotland tried to exit the UK, they said that Russia was involved in the referendum too. Is Russia omnipresent as Western officials claim or is it a habit to hold Russia accountable for everything?"

"When the Americans or the Brits want to find something related to interference in their elections, they find something. One can interpret bare facts differently. Politics is the art of interpretation.

"I think that if there had been a goal set to intervene, we would have provided the desired result - it is not a hard nut to crack. Some people, not necessarily on behalf of the state, may have taken some  initiative. Many hackers are of Russian origin, but they reside in the West. Still, there is no evidence to prove anything.

"In the USA, Special Prosecutor Mueller investigated this topic for two years. He had headed the  FBI for many years in the past, struggling against international terrorism. This is very hard work. If there had been something there, Mueller would have found it."

"The Americans interfere everywhere, including on the territory of the former USSR, in the Baltic states, for example."

"In Russia too. They interfered in the Russian elections in 1996, when we elected Yeltsin, who was in a coma. We voted for his body."

"I heard that it was Zyuganov, who won, but he refused from his victory.

"He was scared of responsibility. The Americans were working openly, as it was Yeltsin and his team who invited them. They intervened in the past and continue to intervene today. In Europe, the stories of US interference in the Baltic elections and the story of Russia's alleged interference in the elections in the West are two separate stories that never go together. The basic norm of the presumption of innocence is denied; the Americans are very fond of making ungrounded accusations."

"Do we need to respond at all? How do you assess our responses that Russia has made? In the Czech Republic, a monument to Marshall Konev was demolished, who literally saved Prague from destructions in WWII. Yet, we still call all those people "partners.""

"This is a matter of professionalism. Czech intelligence services know how to act, the Americans know it behind their back too, but Russia does not know what to say in response. It goes without saying that this is an inadequate and harmful position. Our opponents understand that we can be trampled on with impunity, and no one will be held accountable for that. The officials who will have to go forward into their last battle will hide in their shells and stay there waiting for the storm to pass.

"They say that Czech intelligence services allegedly recruited someone ... The Czech Republic is a small country, what kind of "intelligence" is there? The same goes for Latvia. What is going on? They may have absolutely insignificant services."

"They probably have American or British advisers."

"They have no school, they have no experience, like the British or the Americans have. They do not teach this work at express courses. Yet, Russia does not show response even to such services.