Labour's suspended candidate for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East has claimed he's been "hung out to dry" following historic "pro-Russian" social media posts.
Scottish Labour suspended Andy Brown as a result of the posts, including one which he appeared to downplay allegations of antisemitism against the party.
Just weeks after the Salisbury poisonings in 2018, Mr Brown shared an article from Russian state media which claimed the "toxin" was "never produced in Russia, but was serviced in the US, UK and other NATO states".
Another post suggested Jewish voters were aggrieved by Jeremy Corbyn's support for Palestine.
However, Mr Brown denied sharing any of the material.
"I didn’t share those. Where they’ve been shared from or how has someone accessed my account and shared them, it may have been corrupted at some point – but honestly, I did not share those," he told BBC News.
He added that nobody from the party had contacted him prior to his suspension.
"Nobody has checked this, it is quite shocking that I’ve been treated this way. I’ve been hung out to dry basically."
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the party does not tolerate people who do not reflect its values.
She said: "We’re not going to stand by people who are sharing pro-Russian sentiment – that is not Labour values and that’s why he was quickly suspended from the Labour Party."
Mr Brown will still appear on the ballot as Labour's candidate for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East, where it's expected to be a two-way battle between Seamus Logan of the SNP and the Conservative's Douglas Ross.