Saudi Arabia and allies boycotting Qatar are trying to topple its regime, warns ambassador

In an article published by Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Fahad al-Attiya said that the campaign against his country aimed to replace the current regime with one controlled by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The ambassador referred to a visit by Qatar's foreign minister to Moscow earlier this month, when he said his country will not negotiate sovereign and internal matters, including those related to "GCC collective security".

"[On] decisions that affect Qatari sovereignty and foreign policy outside the collective security of the GCC, we do not accept any dictates and we will not negotiate about them" or even discuss them, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani told Russia's RT Arabic following a meeting with his Russian counterpart in Moscow.

Two weeks ago, Riyadh and several of its allies including Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, cut ties with Qatar over accusations that Doha supports extremist groups – a claim Qatar vehemently denies.

In addition to diplomatic isolation, other measures taken included closing Qatar's only land border, banning its planes from using their airspace and barring Qatari nationals from transiting through their airports – a move Doha described as an illegal and unjust blockade.

Attiya also said the international community was shocked upon learning of the false statements attributed to Qatar's emir after the country's state news agency was hacked on 24 May.

He said that within minutes of the hacking of QNA, which saw bogus reports attributed to the Qatari ruler on highly sensitive political issues, Sky News Arabia and the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya channel began to provide rolling news coverage of the hacked remarks.

"This was aimed against the state of Qatar and its young leadership," said Attiya.

Defending Qatar against terrorism allegations, Attiya mentioned that only a few months ago, the US administration accused Riyadh of supporting terrorism, considering 15 of the 9/11 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia, while two others held Emirati nationality.

Attiya concluded his article by commending Russia's supportive role in the crisis, which has given the Kremlin a chance to get closer to an important ally of the United States and strengthen its partnership with Turkey and Iran.