Defense Secretary James Mattis said Tuesday that the crisis in Qatar could be a sign of Russia “trying to break any kind of multilateral alliance … that is a stabilizing influence in the world.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) during a hearing Tuesday said she didn’t want to risk Mattis revealing classified information, but asked him to assume that news reports about Russia hacking Qatar’s state news agency and planting a fake news story are true and to comment on Russia’s possible motivations.
“I think a disruption of the international order is something that Russia, in a shortsighted way, thinks works to their benefit,” Mattis responded during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. “I think it does not, but I can’t speak for them. I think what you’re seeing here, though, is the continued prevalence of threats, not just to our own country, not just the Western Europe democracies, but they’re trying to break any kind of multilateral alliance, I think, that is a stabilizing influence in the world.”
Last week, a Saudi Arabia-led group of countries cut off diplomatic relations with Qatar and closed all land, sea and air borders with the country. The countries accused Qatar of supporting terrorism, a charge Doha denies.
Qatar has largely blamed the hack and a fake story involving controversial statements from the country’s leader for the crisis. U.S. officials reportedly believe the hack was carried out by Russia.
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Mattis: Qatar crisis could show Russia "trying to break" world alliances https://t.co/V8F6WXZfYi pic.twitter.com/Wz6rKMbLIM
— The Hill (@thehill) June 13, 2017
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