Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has called the head of the Ukrainian Security Service a “halfwit,” after the latter publicly alleged that Moscow was involved in Tuesday’s terror attacks in the Belgian capital Brussels.
“The head of the Ukrainian Security Service, [Vasily] Gritsak who announced [Moscow’s] involvement in the Brussels terrorist attacks is a halfwit,” Dmitry Medvedev wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday afternoon.
The comment came shortly after Gritsak said he would not be surprised if it turns out that the Brussels attacks were an element of hybrid war waged by Russia. The official made this statement while talking to students from the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in the Ukrainian capital.
According to the latest reports, a series of explosions at Brussels Airport and the city’s Metro killed more than 30 people and left scores injured. Belgian authorities have raised the terror alert in the city to the maximum level. The blasts took place just four days after local law enforcers apprehended Salah Abdeslam – the suspected mastermind of the November terrorist attacks in Paris.
READ MORE: Brussels airport and Metro bombings Live updates
Other Russian officials joined Medvedev in condemning the inappropriate allegations made by the Ukrainian security chief.
The spokesman for Russia’s top federal law enforcement agency – the Investigative Committee – called Gritsak’s statement “insane and stupid” in a Twitter post.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook that Gritsak’s words were inhumane. “A human being cannot have said this. This is beyond human nature. I offer my condolences to the people whose lives depend on decisions of these non-humans,” Zakharova wrote.
A short time later, the diplomat reprinted the news about Medvedev calling Gritsak a halfwit, adding that in her opinion such a description was an understatement.