Forwarded from Russian Embassy to the UK
Media is too big
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🎙Russian Ambassador Andrei Kelin's interview to Nick Ferrari for LBC, 4 April, 2024
75th Anniversary of NATO
💬Andrei Kelin:
▪︎In the beginning of '90s we have tried to establish a relationship with NATO that could be a part of the European security architecture, but we were a bit idealistic at that time.
▪︎We established partnership with NATO, European Union and OSCE and we were thinking that this could really work, but the [political] development has gone a different way. Instead of gaining a comprehensive European security architecture we have got five NATO enlargements.
▪︎Now, NATO is preparing to establish a fund which will accumulate $100 bn in order to supply armaments to Ukraine and this confirms our understanding that the Alliance has become absolutely adversarial to Russia.
Watch in full
75th Anniversary of NATO
💬Andrei Kelin:
▪︎In the beginning of '90s we have tried to establish a relationship with NATO that could be a part of the European security architecture, but we were a bit idealistic at that time.
▪︎We established partnership with NATO, European Union and OSCE and we were thinking that this could really work, but the [political] development has gone a different way. Instead of gaining a comprehensive European security architecture we have got five NATO enlargements.
▪︎Now, NATO is preparing to establish a fund which will accumulate $100 bn in order to supply armaments to Ukraine and this confirms our understanding that the Alliance has become absolutely adversarial to Russia.
Watch in full
🇷🇺 The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation:
💬 Investigators have obtained data from the mobile phones of suspects accused of carrying out the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall.
Experts analysed the mobile phones that the terrorists attempted to destroy, and their findings provided significant evidence regarding the preparations for the crime.
As directed by their handler, the terrorists chose Crocus City Hall as their target.
☝️ On the morning of February 24, 2024, the second anniversary of the start of the special military operation, one of the terrorists, acting on instructions from their handler, found screenshots online of the location of Crocus City Hall entrances and access routes, and sent them to the handler. The accused confirmed all this in the affidavit.
Additionally, the terrorist’s phone contained photos of individuals wearing camouflage uniforms with Ukrainian flags, positioned in front of damaged buildings. There was also a Ukrainian postal stamp depicting an obscene gesture.
❗️ This data suggest a possible connection between the terrorist attack and the special military operation.
Law-enforcement officers continue their operational and investigative activities to determine whether Ukrainian special services and international Islamist terrorist organisations were involved in orchestrating and financing the terrorist attack.
💬 Investigators have obtained data from the mobile phones of suspects accused of carrying out the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall.
Experts analysed the mobile phones that the terrorists attempted to destroy, and their findings provided significant evidence regarding the preparations for the crime.
As directed by their handler, the terrorists chose Crocus City Hall as their target.
☝️ On the morning of February 24, 2024, the second anniversary of the start of the special military operation, one of the terrorists, acting on instructions from their handler, found screenshots online of the location of Crocus City Hall entrances and access routes, and sent them to the handler. The accused confirmed all this in the affidavit.
Additionally, the terrorist’s phone contained photos of individuals wearing camouflage uniforms with Ukrainian flags, positioned in front of damaged buildings. There was also a Ukrainian postal stamp depicting an obscene gesture.
❗️ This data suggest a possible connection between the terrorist attack and the special military operation.
Law-enforcement officers continue their operational and investigative activities to determine whether Ukrainian special services and international Islamist terrorist organisations were involved in orchestrating and financing the terrorist attack.
🎙 Briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (Moscow, April 3, 2024)
🔹 The Day of Unity of the Peoples of Russia and Belarus
🔹 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to China
🔹 The Ukrainian crisis
🔹 The Meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs
🔹 NATO and EU cyber centres near Russia’s borders
🔹 First quarter of Russia’s #BRICS chairmanship
🔹 The 80th anniversary of the Red Army’s Crimean strategic offensive operation
🔹 The 80th anniversary of the liberation of Odessa from Nazi occupation
📰 Read in full
📺 Watch in full
***
#Ukraine
The destruction of monuments and the renaming of placenames continue in Ukraine. Everything associated with the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union is being erased. The Ukrainian authorities fear the historical truth and wish to eliminate it altogether.. <...>
I would like to quote what the great Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov wrote in 1923 in an essay about Kiev. “Now the town is completely exhausted after those terrifying, tumultuous years. [But] it will be rebuilt, its streets will simmer again. And may the memory of Petlyura vanish.” The same can be said about the current Kiev junta. That regime and the memory of it will vanish.
#NATO
The military and political leadership of NATO and the Western countries continues to build up their capabilities in cyberspace, which Washington and its allies view as one of the theatres of military and information confrontation. <...>
Under the guise of enhancing digital capabilities and security, nations are being drawn into aggressive manoeuvres in the information space. Washington’s self-serving approach to allied nations is evident, as they are used as platforms for hostile actions against Russia. Additionally, offensive cyber operations, often conducted under false pretences, with the involvement of numerous partners, are increasingly characteristic of US foreign policy.
🔹 The Day of Unity of the Peoples of Russia and Belarus
🔹 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to China
🔹 The Ukrainian crisis
🔹 The Meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs
🔹 NATO and EU cyber centres near Russia’s borders
🔹 First quarter of Russia’s #BRICS chairmanship
🔹 The 80th anniversary of the Red Army’s Crimean strategic offensive operation
🔹 The 80th anniversary of the liberation of Odessa from Nazi occupation
📰 Read in full
📺 Watch in full
***
#Ukraine
The destruction of monuments and the renaming of placenames continue in Ukraine. Everything associated with the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union is being erased. The Ukrainian authorities fear the historical truth and wish to eliminate it altogether.. <...>
I would like to quote what the great Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov wrote in 1923 in an essay about Kiev. “Now the town is completely exhausted after those terrifying, tumultuous years. [But] it will be rebuilt, its streets will simmer again. And may the memory of Petlyura vanish.” The same can be said about the current Kiev junta. That regime and the memory of it will vanish.
#NATO
The military and political leadership of NATO and the Western countries continues to build up their capabilities in cyberspace, which Washington and its allies view as one of the theatres of military and information confrontation. <...>
Under the guise of enhancing digital capabilities and security, nations are being drawn into aggressive manoeuvres in the information space. Washington’s self-serving approach to allied nations is evident, as they are used as platforms for hostile actions against Russia. Additionally, offensive cyber operations, often conducted under false pretences, with the involvement of numerous partners, are increasingly characteristic of US foreign policy.
#Opinion by Maria Zakharova
💬 The US tried to mark one year of The Wall Street Journal employee Evan Gershkovich’s detention as best they could.
This is what one of the last March issues of The Wall Street Journal looked like — a partly blank front page with only a black-and-white photo of US citizen Evan Gershkovich, who was detained on espionage charges after being caught red-handed, and a headline on top reading ‘His story should be here.’
Indeed, Evan Gershkovich could have written a story about the terrorist shelling of Russian cities, something the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev has been doing in recent months. Reporters come under fire, too, including American journalists, so wouldn’t this make a great report from a hotspot, which the Americans themselves had created by supplying the militants with weapons and intelligence?
He could have written a long article about all his fellow journalists killed by the Kiev regime: Oles Buzina, Pavel Sheremet, Andrey Stenin, Anatoly Klyan, Igor Kornelyuk, Anton Voloshin and many others.
He could, but he must have had a reason not to do so in all those years that he was working in Russia.
He could, if he was engaged in journalism, not espionage.
By the way, I do not rule out that it was the WSJ’s way of expressing its anger with the US intelligence services, which, contrary to US laws, continue to use journalists as their agents.
It is also indicative that no US newspaper has ever printed a blank editorial in support of the American journalist Gonzalo Lira, who spent eight months in the torture chambers of a Ukrainian prison until he was killed by the Ukrainian security service in January.
Speaking of which, have they opened a criminal case on his murder in the US? I haven’t heard of it.
💬 The US tried to mark one year of The Wall Street Journal employee Evan Gershkovich’s detention as best they could.
This is what one of the last March issues of The Wall Street Journal looked like — a partly blank front page with only a black-and-white photo of US citizen Evan Gershkovich, who was detained on espionage charges after being caught red-handed, and a headline on top reading ‘His story should be here.’
Indeed, Evan Gershkovich could have written a story about the terrorist shelling of Russian cities, something the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev has been doing in recent months. Reporters come under fire, too, including American journalists, so wouldn’t this make a great report from a hotspot, which the Americans themselves had created by supplying the militants with weapons and intelligence?
He could have written a long article about all his fellow journalists killed by the Kiev regime: Oles Buzina, Pavel Sheremet, Andrey Stenin, Anatoly Klyan, Igor Kornelyuk, Anton Voloshin and many others.
He could, but he must have had a reason not to do so in all those years that he was working in Russia.
He could, if he was engaged in journalism, not espionage.
By the way, I do not rule out that it was the WSJ’s way of expressing its anger with the US intelligence services, which, contrary to US laws, continue to use journalists as their agents.
It is also indicative that no US newspaper has ever printed a blank editorial in support of the American journalist Gonzalo Lira, who spent eight months in the torture chambers of a Ukrainian prison until he was killed by the Ukrainian security service in January.
Speaking of which, have they opened a criminal case on his murder in the US? I haven’t heard of it.
🎙 Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s comment regarding the disconnection of one of the Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant’s external power lines
💬 In the morning of April 4, Europe’s largest nuclear power facility, the Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), lost one of its critical sources of electricity needed to cool the reactors, as well as for other important nuclear safety functions.
Importantly, this is not the first time this has happened. The Kiev regime remains the sole threat to the facility’s security, relentlessly attempting new provocations. As recently as March 12, the Armed Forces of Ukraine used UAVs to try and destroy the ZNPP diesel fuel depot, which is critical for its backup power supply. Kiev’s sponsors reacted with non-committal statements about the ZNPP facing “constant nuclear safety risks” amid a military conflict. At the same time, everyone clearly understands what this means at the UN, the IAEA, and in world capitals, including those that continue to supervise the Zelensky regime directly.
We warn Kiev and its Western handlers against any attempts to attack or destabilise the nuclear power plant. We urge the IAEA and its leaders to actively involve the experts present at the scene to publicly record all attacks by the Ukrainian side and clearly state from whence a threat is coming to the facility’s safe operation.
💬 In the morning of April 4, Europe’s largest nuclear power facility, the Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), lost one of its critical sources of electricity needed to cool the reactors, as well as for other important nuclear safety functions.
Importantly, this is not the first time this has happened. The Kiev regime remains the sole threat to the facility’s security, relentlessly attempting new provocations. As recently as March 12, the Armed Forces of Ukraine used UAVs to try and destroy the ZNPP diesel fuel depot, which is critical for its backup power supply. Kiev’s sponsors reacted with non-committal statements about the ZNPP facing “constant nuclear safety risks” amid a military conflict. At the same time, everyone clearly understands what this means at the UN, the IAEA, and in world capitals, including those that continue to supervise the Zelensky regime directly.
We warn Kiev and its Western handlers against any attempts to attack or destabilise the nuclear power plant. We urge the IAEA and its leaders to actively involve the experts present at the scene to publicly record all attacks by the Ukrainian side and clearly state from whence a threat is coming to the facility’s safe operation.
❗️ Foreign Ministry statement in connection with the high-level Armenia-US-EU format meeting
💬 We consider the high-level Armenia-US-EU format meeting held in Brussels on April 5, 2024 as yet another attempt by the collective West to embroil the South Caucasus into geopolitical confrontation. Irresponsible and destructive interference of extra-regional forces in the affairs of the South Caucasus, and the desire to drive a wedge between the countries of the region and their neighbours can have devastating consequences for stability, security and economic development in the region, and provoke the emergence of new dividing lines, as well as uncontrolled growth of tensions.
Clearly, the West wants to turn Armenia into a tool for implementing its extremely dangerous designs in the South Caucasus. We know that Washington and Brussels –under the guise of ephemeral promises – are pushing for Armenia to withdraw from the CSTO and the EAEU and the Russian military base and border guards to pull out from that region. We urge the Yerevan leadership not to let the West deceive it and to lead the country down a false path, which is fraught with the security vacuum, grave economic problems and population outflow.
The amount of grant support announced by Brussels cannot compare with the multi-billion dollar benefits Armenia continues to receive from its interaction with Moscow and within the EAEU and the CIS. These factors have ensured a multiple increase in trade (fourfold since 2018) in recent years and, as a consequence, a record economic growth and improved well-being of the population.
☝️ We reiterate our commitment to comprehensively deepen and expand relations with Armenia based on the principles that are laid out in the foundational bilateral documents and agreements signed within common integration associations. We are convinced that the progressive development of the Russian-Armenian alliance will contribute to the realisation of the fundamental interests of the peoples of Russia and Armenia and strengthening of the regional security and stability.
The West also does not abandon its attempts to destroy the fundamental basis of Armenian-Azerbaijani normalisation which relies on a set of trilateral statements by the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan made in 2020-2022, which envisage measures to unblock transport links and economic ties, to delimit the border, to draft a peace treaty, and to consolidate mutual trust through contacts of public leaders and experts. Under the pressure from Washington and Brussels, Yerevan suspended the implementation of these agreements, on many of which, particularly the issue of lifting the mutual transport blockade, the parties were close to adopting mutually acceptable solutions. Moscow remains ready to facilitate the long-awaited peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia in every possible way.
Regional and bilateral issues in the South Caucasus should be addressed in accordance with the principle of regional responsibility as agreed during the second meeting of the 3+3 Consultative Platform on October 23, 2023 in Tehran, where Armenia was a participant. We call on external players to respect these agreements, and the authorities in Yerevan to take into account the concerns of neighbouring states when pursuing their foreign policy.
💬 We consider the high-level Armenia-US-EU format meeting held in Brussels on April 5, 2024 as yet another attempt by the collective West to embroil the South Caucasus into geopolitical confrontation. Irresponsible and destructive interference of extra-regional forces in the affairs of the South Caucasus, and the desire to drive a wedge between the countries of the region and their neighbours can have devastating consequences for stability, security and economic development in the region, and provoke the emergence of new dividing lines, as well as uncontrolled growth of tensions.
Clearly, the West wants to turn Armenia into a tool for implementing its extremely dangerous designs in the South Caucasus. We know that Washington and Brussels –under the guise of ephemeral promises – are pushing for Armenia to withdraw from the CSTO and the EAEU and the Russian military base and border guards to pull out from that region. We urge the Yerevan leadership not to let the West deceive it and to lead the country down a false path, which is fraught with the security vacuum, grave economic problems and population outflow.
The amount of grant support announced by Brussels cannot compare with the multi-billion dollar benefits Armenia continues to receive from its interaction with Moscow and within the EAEU and the CIS. These factors have ensured a multiple increase in trade (fourfold since 2018) in recent years and, as a consequence, a record economic growth and improved well-being of the population.
☝️ We reiterate our commitment to comprehensively deepen and expand relations with Armenia based on the principles that are laid out in the foundational bilateral documents and agreements signed within common integration associations. We are convinced that the progressive development of the Russian-Armenian alliance will contribute to the realisation of the fundamental interests of the peoples of Russia and Armenia and strengthening of the regional security and stability.
The West also does not abandon its attempts to destroy the fundamental basis of Armenian-Azerbaijani normalisation which relies on a set of trilateral statements by the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan made in 2020-2022, which envisage measures to unblock transport links and economic ties, to delimit the border, to draft a peace treaty, and to consolidate mutual trust through contacts of public leaders and experts. Under the pressure from Washington and Brussels, Yerevan suspended the implementation of these agreements, on many of which, particularly the issue of lifting the mutual transport blockade, the parties were close to adopting mutually acceptable solutions. Moscow remains ready to facilitate the long-awaited peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia in every possible way.
Regional and bilateral issues in the South Caucasus should be addressed in accordance with the principle of regional responsibility as agreed during the second meeting of the 3+3 Consultative Platform on October 23, 2023 in Tehran, where Armenia was a participant. We call on external players to respect these agreements, and the authorities in Yerevan to take into account the concerns of neighbouring states when pursuing their foreign policy.
#Antifake
❗️Western media’s yet another attempt to cause a rupture in interethnic peace and harmony in Russia
💬 The tragedy in the Moscow Region – the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall – served as a trigger for the once respectable American political magazine Foreign Policy to promote a biased agenda in the public space, as well as something like litmus test for journalistic consistency and humanity.
The test was failed.
The magazine’s journalists, who have lost all idea of morality and ethics <...> – have released as many as three articles about the terrorist attack, all of them very ugly.
Instead of expressing grief and sympathy for the victims of the disaster, or at least presenting the sequence of events and facts in a neutral key, Foreign Policy began to speculate about interethnic peace in Russia, whitewash the authorities of the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine, and openly discredit the work of Russian law enforcement agencies and security services. All of this is extremely far from the truth.
The investigation is carried out professionally and without political bias. The Investigative Committee of Russia is taking active search measures to identify all instigators and perpetrators of the criminal act. However, the Ukrainian trace is unequivocally proved both by the Kiev regime’s clear motives to sow discord and initiate instability in Russian society, and by other evidence, including the Ukrainian Security Service’s readiness to provide the terrorists with a “window” to cross the border.
<...>
Such behaviour by the magazine’s journalists is unacceptable, and references to freedom of speech and expression are unacceptable when we are talking about the personal tragedy of hundreds of innocent people who suffered at the hands of terrorists.
Foreign Policy is not very different from Ukrainian propagandists.
This deep decline in the quality of Foreign Policy’s work causes nothing but regret. This is a general trend for the entire US media controlled by the Washington establishment.
Read in full
❗️Western media’s yet another attempt to cause a rupture in interethnic peace and harmony in Russia
💬 The tragedy in the Moscow Region – the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall – served as a trigger for the once respectable American political magazine Foreign Policy to promote a biased agenda in the public space, as well as something like litmus test for journalistic consistency and humanity.
The test was failed.
The magazine’s journalists, who have lost all idea of morality and ethics <...> – have released as many as three articles about the terrorist attack, all of them very ugly.
Instead of expressing grief and sympathy for the victims of the disaster, or at least presenting the sequence of events and facts in a neutral key, Foreign Policy began to speculate about interethnic peace in Russia, whitewash the authorities of the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine, and openly discredit the work of Russian law enforcement agencies and security services. All of this is extremely far from the truth.
The investigation is carried out professionally and without political bias. The Investigative Committee of Russia is taking active search measures to identify all instigators and perpetrators of the criminal act. However, the Ukrainian trace is unequivocally proved both by the Kiev regime’s clear motives to sow discord and initiate instability in Russian society, and by other evidence, including the Ukrainian Security Service’s readiness to provide the terrorists with a “window” to cross the border.
<...>
Such behaviour by the magazine’s journalists is unacceptable, and references to freedom of speech and expression are unacceptable when we are talking about the personal tragedy of hundreds of innocent people who suffered at the hands of terrorists.
Foreign Policy is not very different from Ukrainian propagandists.
This deep decline in the quality of Foreign Policy’s work causes nothing but regret. This is a general trend for the entire US media controlled by the Washington establishment.
Read in full
🤝 On April 5, Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Commonwealth of Independent States Sergey Lavrov met with Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Independent States Sergey Lebedev.
They discussed topical aspects of cooperation within the organisation, including in the context of preparations for the upcoming meetings of its supreme statutory bodies. The Minister briefed the CIS Secretary General on the progress in implementing the Concept of Russia’s Chairmanship in the CIS this year and the Action Plan for its implementation.
☝️ Sergey Lavrov praised the level of interaction between the Russian Foreign Ministry and the CIS Executive Committee, noted Sergey Lebedev’s great personal contribution to the development of integration in the Eurasian space, strengthening neighbourly relations and the atmosphere of friendship and trust between the CIS countries.
They discussed topical aspects of cooperation within the organisation, including in the context of preparations for the upcoming meetings of its supreme statutory bodies. The Minister briefed the CIS Secretary General on the progress in implementing the Concept of Russia’s Chairmanship in the CIS this year and the Action Plan for its implementation.
☝️ Sergey Lavrov praised the level of interaction between the Russian Foreign Ministry and the CIS Executive Committee, noted Sergey Lebedev’s great personal contribution to the development of integration in the Eurasian space, strengthening neighbourly relations and the atmosphere of friendship and trust between the CIS countries.
Forwarded from Russian Mission Geneva
🗓 On April 5 in Geneva, the 60th round of the Geneva International Discussions on Security and Stability in the South Caucasus (GID) took place. The event, co-chaired by the UN, OSCE, and the European Union, was attended by representatives from the Republic of Abkhazia, Georgia, the Republic of South Ossetia, the Russian Federation and the United States. The Russian delegation was headed by Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin.
🤝Overall readiness towards continuing collaborative efforts under the auspices of the GID was confirmed. These discussions remain the only internationally agreed format for post-conflict restoration of relations within the Sukhum-Tbilisi-Tskhinval “triangle".
🇷🇺 The Russian side emphasized that there is no alternative to direct dialogue between the Georgian, the Abkhazian and South Ossetian sides within the existing negotiation mechanisms.
❗️ It was stressed that, in practical terms, the main efforts should be directed at the key priority tasks – ensuring robust security for Abkhazia and South Ossetia through a legally binding agreement on the non-use of force by Georgia against these republics, as well as initiating delimitation of the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-South Ossetian state borders with their subsequent demarcation.
⚔️ Relevance of these goals is increasing against the backdrop of provocative activities by the US and NATO in the Black Sea region, including their enhancement of military training activities and implementation of plans for further expansion of the alliance, including through the admission of Georgia. Serious risks to regional stability and security from the ongoing military-biological activities of Washington and other NATO member states in the South Caucasus, including Georgia, as well as the support from the European Union to the armed forces of this country within the framework of the so-called "European Peace Facility" of the EU, do not go unnoticed.
📖 FULL STATEMENT
🤝Overall readiness towards continuing collaborative efforts under the auspices of the GID was confirmed. These discussions remain the only internationally agreed format for post-conflict restoration of relations within the Sukhum-Tbilisi-Tskhinval “triangle".
🇷🇺 The Russian side emphasized that there is no alternative to direct dialogue between the Georgian, the Abkhazian and South Ossetian sides within the existing negotiation mechanisms.
❗️ It was stressed that, in practical terms, the main efforts should be directed at the key priority tasks – ensuring robust security for Abkhazia and South Ossetia through a legally binding agreement on the non-use of force by Georgia against these republics, as well as initiating delimitation of the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-South Ossetian state borders with their subsequent demarcation.
⚔️ Relevance of these goals is increasing against the backdrop of provocative activities by the US and NATO in the Black Sea region, including their enhancement of military training activities and implementation of plans for further expansion of the alliance, including through the admission of Georgia. Serious risks to regional stability and security from the ongoing military-biological activities of Washington and other NATO member states in the South Caucasus, including Georgia, as well as the support from the European Union to the armed forces of this country within the framework of the so-called "European Peace Facility" of the EU, do not go unnoticed.
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📆 On April 6, 1654, exactly 370 years ago, Russia's Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich Romanov aka Alexey I, granted his royal charter to Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host Bogdan Khmelnitsky. The document secured Russia’s reunification with Left-Bank Ukraine (then – part of Little Russia aka Malorossiya).
In the late 16th and the first half of the 17th century, pressure on the Orthodox population increased from the Polish-Lithuanian gentry in the lands of Ancient Rus controlled by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
After the Union of Brest was adopted in 1596, a majority of Orthodox priests became completely subordinate to the Pope. Those who remained faithful to Orthodoxy became outcasts and were deprived of hierarchical leadership, since Metropolitan of Kiev Mikhail Rogoza also joined the Greek Catholics. The gentry pursued aggressive Polonisation and Latinisation policy, and those who had the courage to resist were deprived of titles and lands and suffered persecution.
All attempts by the Zaporozhian Cossacks to come to an agreement with the Polish king failed as the Polish nobility did not plan to tolerate a free Orthodox community in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Under the threat of losing religious and national identity, a liberation movement of the Orthodox population of the Dnieper region began to form, with prerequisites created for supporters who sought to overthrow the gentry and reunify with Russia.
In 1648, the Cossacks stepped up their liberation struggle led by Hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky, who repeatedly asked Tsar Alexey I for help, urging him to take the Hetmanate under “his royal hand.”
On January 8, 1654, Pereyaslav Rada officially declared the acceptance of the Zaporozhian Cossacks into the Russian state. On April 5, Tsar Alexey I signed the royal charter, where the Russian monarch’s title “Tsar of all Russia Great and Little” was used for the first time.
👉 Read more about the Pereyaslav Agreement
In the late 16th and the first half of the 17th century, pressure on the Orthodox population increased from the Polish-Lithuanian gentry in the lands of Ancient Rus controlled by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
After the Union of Brest was adopted in 1596, a majority of Orthodox priests became completely subordinate to the Pope. Those who remained faithful to Orthodoxy became outcasts and were deprived of hierarchical leadership, since Metropolitan of Kiev Mikhail Rogoza also joined the Greek Catholics. The gentry pursued aggressive Polonisation and Latinisation policy, and those who had the courage to resist were deprived of titles and lands and suffered persecution.
All attempts by the Zaporozhian Cossacks to come to an agreement with the Polish king failed as the Polish nobility did not plan to tolerate a free Orthodox community in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Under the threat of losing religious and national identity, a liberation movement of the Orthodox population of the Dnieper region began to form, with prerequisites created for supporters who sought to overthrow the gentry and reunify with Russia.
In 1648, the Cossacks stepped up their liberation struggle led by Hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky, who repeatedly asked Tsar Alexey I for help, urging him to take the Hetmanate under “his royal hand.”
On January 8, 1654, Pereyaslav Rada officially declared the acceptance of the Zaporozhian Cossacks into the Russian state. On April 5, Tsar Alexey I signed the royal charter, where the Russian monarch’s title “Tsar of all Russia Great and Little” was used for the first time.
👉 Read more about the Pereyaslav Agreement
🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the ambassadorial roundtable discussion to settle the situation around Ukraine (Moscow, April 4, 2024)
Key talking points:
• April 14 marks the 10th anniversary of the Nazis that came to power in Ukraine declaring an “anti-terrorist operation” against the people of Donbass. They designated them as terrorists who must be destroyed.
• Throughout these years, we knew and said publicly that the accusations of terrorism against Donbass were baseless. Now it was confirmed by the UN International Court of Justice in its decision dated January 31, 2024, regarding the claim filed by Kiev and its masters against the Russian Federation.
• The International Court of Justice has effectively confirmed that Kiev's aggressive actions against Donetsk and Lugansk were initially based on lies.
• Today, Ukraine, if we return to its arguments about terrorism as justification for its actions, has clearly become a terrorist state. Over the past 10 years it has been terrorising citizens in its own country and beyond.
• The Foreign Ministry has recently issued official demands to the Ukrainian authorities, urging them to promptly cease any support for terrorist activities, extradite those responsible, and provide compensation for damages incurred.
• Alongside the appeal made through the Foreign Ministry, the Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office has dispatched relevant documents to the US and several other Western countries, documents based on appeals from citizens and parliamentarians and detailing the actions we expect from them in connection with the newly discovered evidence exposing the support for the Ukrainian regime’s terrorist activities and preparations from its patrons.
• We all know that Kiev is not independent, but is following instructions from its bosses and handlers implementing their anti-Russia project.
• We honestly told the Westerners that they were pushing Ukraine towards a disaster. No one wanted to listen.
Read in full
Key talking points:
• April 14 marks the 10th anniversary of the Nazis that came to power in Ukraine declaring an “anti-terrorist operation” against the people of Donbass. They designated them as terrorists who must be destroyed.
• Throughout these years, we knew and said publicly that the accusations of terrorism against Donbass were baseless. Now it was confirmed by the UN International Court of Justice in its decision dated January 31, 2024, regarding the claim filed by Kiev and its masters against the Russian Federation.
• The International Court of Justice has effectively confirmed that Kiev's aggressive actions against Donetsk and Lugansk were initially based on lies.
• Today, Ukraine, if we return to its arguments about terrorism as justification for its actions, has clearly become a terrorist state. Over the past 10 years it has been terrorising citizens in its own country and beyond.
• The Foreign Ministry has recently issued official demands to the Ukrainian authorities, urging them to promptly cease any support for terrorist activities, extradite those responsible, and provide compensation for damages incurred.
• Alongside the appeal made through the Foreign Ministry, the Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office has dispatched relevant documents to the US and several other Western countries, documents based on appeals from citizens and parliamentarians and detailing the actions we expect from them in connection with the newly discovered evidence exposing the support for the Ukrainian regime’s terrorist activities and preparations from its patrons.
• We all know that Kiev is not independent, but is following instructions from its bosses and handlers implementing their anti-Russia project.
• We honestly told the Westerners that they were pushing Ukraine towards a disaster. No one wanted to listen.
Read in full
🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statement and answers to media questions following at the ambassadorial roundtable discussion to settle the situation around Ukraine (Moscow, April 4, 2024)
Read in full
Zelensky's 'peace formula'
• This scheme is widely known and it is effectively an ultimatum that forces Russia to surrender, capitulate, and retreat to the borders of 1991. Recently, Mr Zelensky “kindly suggested” that “we start” with the borders as of February 2022. It doesn’t hurt to dream of things.
• We stand for our truth and the interests of our people <...>. If they want to reach a fair, realistic deal and strike a balance between us in terms of our security interests, we are ready to move in this direction any moment. But for that, we do not need a foundation or a liner of any kind such as the Zelensky formula, no matter how you describe it, in order to move from stating the readiness to launch talks to actually starting the negotiation.
Regarding the West's cynical attitude towards Ukraine
• What the West has been saying about Ukraine and putting its bets on defeating Russia is also quite telling. In his interview with CNN, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said: “We cannot afford Russia to win this war. Otherwise, the US and European interests will be very damaged. It’s not a matter of generosity alone, it’s not a matter of supporting Ukraine because we love Ukrainian people. It is in our own interests and it is also in the interests of the US as a global player <...>».
👉 Europe recognised that it has no aspirations and all it wants is for the United States not to lose its dominant role in global affairs, no matter the cost.
The situation in the Gaza Strip
• We reiterated our position where we condemned the terrorist attack of October 7, 2023 and the untenable methods Israel is using now. In fact, Tel Aviv has resorted to collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
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Zelensky's 'peace formula'
• This scheme is widely known and it is effectively an ultimatum that forces Russia to surrender, capitulate, and retreat to the borders of 1991. Recently, Mr Zelensky “kindly suggested” that “we start” with the borders as of February 2022. It doesn’t hurt to dream of things.
• We stand for our truth and the interests of our people <...>. If they want to reach a fair, realistic deal and strike a balance between us in terms of our security interests, we are ready to move in this direction any moment. But for that, we do not need a foundation or a liner of any kind such as the Zelensky formula, no matter how you describe it, in order to move from stating the readiness to launch talks to actually starting the negotiation.
Regarding the West's cynical attitude towards Ukraine
• What the West has been saying about Ukraine and putting its bets on defeating Russia is also quite telling. In his interview with CNN, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said: “We cannot afford Russia to win this war. Otherwise, the US and European interests will be very damaged. It’s not a matter of generosity alone, it’s not a matter of supporting Ukraine because we love Ukrainian people. It is in our own interests and it is also in the interests of the US as a global player <...>».
👉 Europe recognised that it has no aspirations and all it wants is for the United States not to lose its dominant role in global affairs, no matter the cost.
The situation in the Gaza Strip
• We reiterated our position where we condemned the terrorist attack of October 7, 2023 and the untenable methods Israel is using now. In fact, Tel Aviv has resorted to collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
#Opinion by Maria Zakharova
💬 Zelensky said that Kiev was hostage to the election process in the US.
So... were there no elections in the United States before 2024? Or is that the absent Ukrainian presidential elections have been moved to the US?
I get it. Zelensky wants to believe he’s one of a kind and everything revolves around him, but this is not the case. He is just a line in a long list of victims of US “elections,” or, to be precise, the American system. He is one of those who were 100 percent sure the United States was their ally.
South Vietnamese got it back in the 1960s.
There was a girl once upon a time, who was South Vietnam’s greatest beauty, Tran Le Xuan. She was popularly called Madame Nhu because she was married to Ngo Dinh Nhu, the younger brother and chief advisor of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem.
Ngo Dinh Nhu and Ngo Dinh Diem, the two South Vietnamese leaders, were supported by the Americans.
Even at the height of the Vietnam War, a bloody and ugly child of the French colonial system, Washington promised Ngo Dinh Nhu and Ngo Dinh Diem its full assistance. The Americans were working hard to ensure the tragic split into the South Vietnam and North Vietnam seeking to benefit from a war in the former French colonies.
Can’t Zelensky see parallels?
The US was so delicate with South Vietnamese leaders that US Vice President Lyndon Johnson visited Saigon in 1961. Later, he, then the US President, would send hundreds of thousands of Americans to die in Vietnam. During his visit, Johnson called Diem the “Churchill of Asia.” In much the same way, the US has promoted an ambitious drug addict crowning him “the leader of a Free Ukraine”.
So, what happened to the Washington allies, Ngo Dinh Nhu and Ngo Dinh Diem? They were killed. General Duong Van Minh, considered one of the most loyal military commanders, led a coup on November 1, 1963 in which South Vietnam’s top brass were arrested and shot on the putschists’ orders.
It was only by chance that Ngo Dinh Nhu’s wife, Tran Le Xuan, wasn’t killed, because she was abroad. It was then that Madame Nhu uttered the much-remembered phrase: "Those who have the United States as an ally need have no enemies". And that phrase turned out to be prophetic. In 1975, it turned out that the Americans knew of the impending coup. They could have warned their allies, saved the South Vietnamese president and his team, but just as the French did not prevent the genocide in Rwanda, the Americans "found it inexpedient" to stop the military putsch. Some sources claim that the degree of involvement of the Americans was even greater in that they inspired the coup and used the military to remove the president.
But let’s return to the American elections. Here are just a few quotations from comments, statements and interviews by the Russian Foreign Ministry leadership on this subject.
Sergey Lavrov: “This is not the first time that serious international issues that concern many members of the world community are being held hostage to US electoral cycles. However, this is a short-sighted approach.” (September 21, 2018)
Sergey Lavrov: “It is sad when these endless election cycles are starting to make virtually everything else a hostage to the domestic US political struggle. Elections take place every two years, and it is necessary to do something during them, so that the enemy will feel defeated.” (December 22, 2019)
Sergey Lavrov: “When the issue concerns a country that boasts the most powerful military and economy, and is the most influential country in the world, which holds political elections every two years, it very often occurs that the most important international issues become hostage to electoral motives of the existing US authorities, which want to ensure that their every move in the international arena scores big for their party candidates.” (December 30, 2015)
We warned them. It’s just that Mr Nhu refused to realise this or was simply unable to. Reread the first sentence of the post: now it started dawning on him.
💬 Zelensky said that Kiev was hostage to the election process in the US.
So... were there no elections in the United States before 2024? Or is that the absent Ukrainian presidential elections have been moved to the US?
I get it. Zelensky wants to believe he’s one of a kind and everything revolves around him, but this is not the case. He is just a line in a long list of victims of US “elections,” or, to be precise, the American system. He is one of those who were 100 percent sure the United States was their ally.
South Vietnamese got it back in the 1960s.
There was a girl once upon a time, who was South Vietnam’s greatest beauty, Tran Le Xuan. She was popularly called Madame Nhu because she was married to Ngo Dinh Nhu, the younger brother and chief advisor of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem.
Ngo Dinh Nhu and Ngo Dinh Diem, the two South Vietnamese leaders, were supported by the Americans.
Even at the height of the Vietnam War, a bloody and ugly child of the French colonial system, Washington promised Ngo Dinh Nhu and Ngo Dinh Diem its full assistance. The Americans were working hard to ensure the tragic split into the South Vietnam and North Vietnam seeking to benefit from a war in the former French colonies.
Can’t Zelensky see parallels?
The US was so delicate with South Vietnamese leaders that US Vice President Lyndon Johnson visited Saigon in 1961. Later, he, then the US President, would send hundreds of thousands of Americans to die in Vietnam. During his visit, Johnson called Diem the “Churchill of Asia.” In much the same way, the US has promoted an ambitious drug addict crowning him “the leader of a Free Ukraine”.
So, what happened to the Washington allies, Ngo Dinh Nhu and Ngo Dinh Diem? They were killed. General Duong Van Minh, considered one of the most loyal military commanders, led a coup on November 1, 1963 in which South Vietnam’s top brass were arrested and shot on the putschists’ orders.
It was only by chance that Ngo Dinh Nhu’s wife, Tran Le Xuan, wasn’t killed, because she was abroad. It was then that Madame Nhu uttered the much-remembered phrase: "Those who have the United States as an ally need have no enemies". And that phrase turned out to be prophetic. In 1975, it turned out that the Americans knew of the impending coup. They could have warned their allies, saved the South Vietnamese president and his team, but just as the French did not prevent the genocide in Rwanda, the Americans "found it inexpedient" to stop the military putsch. Some sources claim that the degree of involvement of the Americans was even greater in that they inspired the coup and used the military to remove the president.
But let’s return to the American elections. Here are just a few quotations from comments, statements and interviews by the Russian Foreign Ministry leadership on this subject.
Sergey Lavrov: “This is not the first time that serious international issues that concern many members of the world community are being held hostage to US electoral cycles. However, this is a short-sighted approach.” (September 21, 2018)
Sergey Lavrov: “It is sad when these endless election cycles are starting to make virtually everything else a hostage to the domestic US political struggle. Elections take place every two years, and it is necessary to do something during them, so that the enemy will feel defeated.” (December 22, 2019)
Sergey Lavrov: “When the issue concerns a country that boasts the most powerful military and economy, and is the most influential country in the world, which holds political elections every two years, it very often occurs that the most important international issues become hostage to electoral motives of the existing US authorities, which want to ensure that their every move in the international arena scores big for their party candidates.” (December 30, 2015)
We warned them. It’s just that Mr Nhu refused to realise this or was simply unable to. Reread the first sentence of the post: now it started dawning on him.
🇷🇺 State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom:
The Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant has faced an unprecedented series of drone attacks posing a direct threat to the plant’s safety.
The Rosatom State Corporation urges the leadership of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the European Union countries to promptly address the escalating situation at the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
On April 7, 2024, the Ukrainian Armed Forces initiated an unprecedented series of attacks on the Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant.
At 11.38 am, a drone struck the vicinity of the canteen, injuring three people.
Thirty minutes later, another drone targeted the cargo port area. Subsequently, a strike at the sixth power unit of the power plant impacted its dome.
No critical damage or casualties occurred; the radiation levels at the plant and its surroundings remain unchanged and do not surpass natural background levels.
Prior to this incident, the Ukrainian Armed Forces conducted an assault on the plant’s premises on April 5. Incursions by Ukrainian Armed Forces drones were detected in the vicinity of the cargo port and the nitrogen-oxygen station.
The Rosatom State Corporation strongly condemns the unprecedented assault on the nuclear power plant facilities and its infrastructure. It urges the leadership of the IAEA, specifically Director General Rafael Grossi, and the leaders of the EU nations to promptly address the immediate threat to the safety of the Zaporozhskaya NPP. Furthermore, it calls for a categorical condemnation of the escalation of tensions surrounding the plant.
The Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant has faced an unprecedented series of drone attacks posing a direct threat to the plant’s safety.
The Rosatom State Corporation urges the leadership of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the European Union countries to promptly address the escalating situation at the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
On April 7, 2024, the Ukrainian Armed Forces initiated an unprecedented series of attacks on the Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant.
At 11.38 am, a drone struck the vicinity of the canteen, injuring three people.
Thirty minutes later, another drone targeted the cargo port area. Subsequently, a strike at the sixth power unit of the power plant impacted its dome.
No critical damage or casualties occurred; the radiation levels at the plant and its surroundings remain unchanged and do not surpass natural background levels.
Prior to this incident, the Ukrainian Armed Forces conducted an assault on the plant’s premises on April 5. Incursions by Ukrainian Armed Forces drones were detected in the vicinity of the cargo port and the nitrogen-oxygen station.
The Rosatom State Corporation strongly condemns the unprecedented assault on the nuclear power plant facilities and its infrastructure. It urges the leadership of the IAEA, specifically Director General Rafael Grossi, and the leaders of the EU nations to promptly address the immediate threat to the safety of the Zaporozhskaya NPP. Furthermore, it calls for a categorical condemnation of the escalation of tensions surrounding the plant.
Forwarded from Генеральное консульство России в Эдинбурге
On April 7, 2024, Consul General of the Russian Federation in Edinburgh Denis Moskalenko honored the memory of Russian Navy sailors Fedor Likhachev and Yakov Grigoriev as well as Naval chaplain Sergiy buried in the Craigton cemetery in Glasgow. They were crew members of the battleship "Peter the Great" which underwent modernization in Scotland in 1881. Information about the burial was recently discovered thanks to the research of the Russian Memorials online project, aimed at finding and mapping burial places of Russian and Soviet soldiers abroad.
Forwarded from Embassy of Russia in the USA / Посольство России в США
We took notice of another batch of statements discrediting our country made by representatives of the US Department of Defense. This time, during a meeting with Defense Writers Group in Washington, the Russian-Chinese initiative promoting the signing of a treaty on the prevention of the placement of weapons in outer space was called a political trick.
☝️We remind that it is Washington, with the support of its allies, who has been blocking the development of a full-fledged legally binding international document for many years. While Russia and China have been leading global efforts for years to develop comprehensive measures that would be designed to prevent outer space from turning into arena of military confrontation and include a ban on the placement of weapons of any kind in outer space.
👉 We consider the Pentagon’s manipulations in the information domain as yet another confirmation of the United States’ attempts to use Russophobic statements to justify its own plans for military space exploration.
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🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview on the occasion of Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko’s birthday (Moscow, April 7, 2024)
❓ Question: What is Valentina Matvienko like? If you were to describe her, which qualities would you highlight?
💬 Sergey Lavrov: Valentina Matvienko is a prominent public figure. She has come a long way through various levels of power in the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation.
<...>
I am pleased to express hope that Ms Matvienko is also using her extensive diplomatic experience in her work. Before joining the Government led by Prime Minister Primakov, she served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Malta and Greece. She showed herself as a tough negotiator who, at the same time, understands the need to find a balance of interests. We do not impose our interests on the rest of the world. Others have taken this niche, but this time will go away soon.
With this kind of experience under the belt, in addition to addressing important tasks related to developing the state and improving living standards in the country, Ms Matvienko pays much attention to foreign policy issues.
Parliamentary diplomacy is making strides. The International Parliamentary Conference, Russia - Latin America, was held in the autumn of 2023. There are parliamentary dimensions to Russia-Africa cooperation, as well as #BRICS, #SCO, #CIS, and #CSTO. There remains much to be done.
☝️ Our parliamentarians are effectively exploring this area and contributing to the common efforts to fulfil the foreign policy goals set by President Vladimir Putin, which were updated on March 31, 2023 in the wake of the latest international developments and included in the new edition of Russia’s Foreign Policy Concept.
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❓ Question: What is Valentina Matvienko like? If you were to describe her, which qualities would you highlight?
💬 Sergey Lavrov: Valentina Matvienko is a prominent public figure. She has come a long way through various levels of power in the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation.
<...>
I am pleased to express hope that Ms Matvienko is also using her extensive diplomatic experience in her work. Before joining the Government led by Prime Minister Primakov, she served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Malta and Greece. She showed herself as a tough negotiator who, at the same time, understands the need to find a balance of interests. We do not impose our interests on the rest of the world. Others have taken this niche, but this time will go away soon.
With this kind of experience under the belt, in addition to addressing important tasks related to developing the state and improving living standards in the country, Ms Matvienko pays much attention to foreign policy issues.
Parliamentary diplomacy is making strides. The International Parliamentary Conference, Russia - Latin America, was held in the autumn of 2023. There are parliamentary dimensions to Russia-Africa cooperation, as well as #BRICS, #SCO, #CIS, and #CSTO. There remains much to be done.
☝️ Our parliamentarians are effectively exploring this area and contributing to the common efforts to fulfil the foreign policy goals set by President Vladimir Putin, which were updated on March 31, 2023 in the wake of the latest international developments and included in the new edition of Russia’s Foreign Policy Concept.
Read in full
🇷🇺🇨🇳 On April 8-9, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will pay an official visit to China, where he will hold talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
🤝 The Foreign Ministers will discuss a wide range of issues related to bilateral cooperation, as well as interaction at the international arena with a focus on joint efforts at the #UN, #BRICS, the #SCO, the #G20, #APEC and other multilateral mechanisms and forums.
The Sides will have a thorough exchange of views on a number of pressing matters and regional issues, including the Ukrainian crisis and the situation in the Asia-Pacific region.
🤝 The Foreign Ministers will discuss a wide range of issues related to bilateral cooperation, as well as interaction at the international arena with a focus on joint efforts at the #UN, #BRICS, the #SCO, the #G20, #APEC and other multilateral mechanisms and forums.
The Sides will have a thorough exchange of views on a number of pressing matters and regional issues, including the Ukrainian crisis and the situation in the Asia-Pacific region.