🇷🇺🇰🇿📞 Russia's President Vladimir Putin and President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev spoke over the phone.

Vladimir Putin warmly congratulated President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on his recent birthday.

The Presidents discussed certain issues of bilateral cooperation and upcoming contacts in various formats. They reaffirmed their mutual commitment to further strengthening the allied relations and strategic partnership between Russia and Kazakhstan.

Vladimir Putin also shared his impressions from his recent state visit to the People’s Republic of China, which concluded yesterday.

📃 Earlier, the President of Russia sent a message of congratulations to Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

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🎙 Russia's President Vladimir Putin replied to questions from Russian media representatives on the outcomes of his two-day state visit to the People’s Republic of China (May 17, 2024)

Key talking points:

💬 The fact that the future depends on Russia & China is only partly true. The future of humankind depends on the whole of humanity. Certainly, Russia & China are important components of modern civilisation. We have our own views on how we should develop. <...>

We believe that development should be constructive & peaceful, no doubt about it. Apart from our interests, it should heed the interests of all parties to international interaction.

• Of course, it is necessary to strengthen the emerging multipolar world. There is absolutely no doubt that a new world is taking shape before our eyes and becoming multipolar.

• Of course, we are analysing now everything that is taking place in this regard [the Ukrainian crisis]. Of course, we are looking at what is happening around the universally announced meeting in Switzerland, in Geneva. I believe this is the venue of the meeting. We are certainly not going to discuss any formulas about which we know absolutely nothing.

But as distinct from Ukraine, we have never rejected talks.

The goal of this event [in Geneva] is clear. They want to gather as many countries as possible, declare that everything has been agreed upon with everyone and then present it to Russia as a resolved issue, as an ultimatum. This will never happen.

• Sanctions imposed on third countries engaged in economic activities are doubly or triply illegitimate because sanctions are absolutely illegitimate when adopted without the approval of the UN Security Council.

• By undermining trust in the dollar for political reasons, the US authorities are weakening the main, the most powerful & important instrument of their might – the dollar itself. They are doing irreparable damage to themselves. Using one of popular sayings, they are quarrelling with their own bread & butter.

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🇷🇺🇵🇬 48 years ago — on May 19, 1976 — the Soviet Union and Papua New Guinea established diplomatic relations.

The USSR was one of the first states to recognise the Pacific country after it gained independence from Australia. In 1990-1992, the USSR and then the Russian embassy operated in Port Moresby.

🤝 Today, the Russian Federation is represented in Papua New Guinea by the non-resident Ambassador of Russia to Indonesia. The two countries continue to develop relations in many areas.

ℹ️ The name of the Russian scientist and humanist, traveler and public figure, Nikolai Miklukho-Maklai, is inseparably linked with Papua New Guinea. He made his legendary trip to the northeastern coast of New Guinea Island in 1871. It was him who left a good impression of Russia and was the first to fight for independence among Papua New Guineans.

In 1971, Soviet sailors established a memorial to Miklukho-Maklai on Garagasi Cape. In September 2014, thanks to the efforts of a Russian-Italian family of patrons, the renovated memorial was inaugurated. Today, the Mikhlukho-Maklai Foundation works to further develop humanitarian ties with the university and archives of Papua New Guinea, with the assistance of the Russian Embassy. It stays in contact with the descendants of the people Miklukho-Maklai knew, and helps organise new research expeditions with this influence.

#RussiaPapuaNewGuinea

⚡️ Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova:

💬 We are closely monitoring the latest updates regarding the passengers of the third helicopter, which was carrying high-ranking Iranian officials, including President Ebrahim Raisi.

We hope they are alive, and that their lives and health are not in danger.

Russia is ready to offer the necessary assistance in the search for the missing helicopter and in investigating the causes of the accident.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s condolences to the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran

💬 We are deeply saddened by the news of the tragic death in the helicopter crash of President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and those who accompanied them.

▪️ We will always remember these outstanding political figures as genuine patriots of the Islamic Republic, who firmly upheld the interests of their country and gave their lives in selfless service to their Motherland. President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were known in Russia as real and reliable friends of our country. Their role in strengthening beneficial Russian-Iranian cooperation and trust-based partnership is invaluable.

🕯 We offer all those near and dear to the victims and the entire friendly people of Iran our sincere condolences. Our thoughts and hearts are with you in this hour of grief.

SERGEY LAVROV

📆Today, the World Metrology Day is celebrated worldwide for the first time. The relevant resolution was adopted at the 42nd session of the UNESCO General Conference on the initiative of Kazakhstan🇰🇿. Our country co-authored the launching draft decision.

☝️This day was not chosen by chance. On 20 May in 1875 in Paris, with the active participation of the Russian Empire, the Metric Convention was signed - the basic pillar of the whole measuring system in the world.

It is encouraging that Russia 🇷🇺 is the world leader in the number of measuring facilities registered with the International Bureau of Weights and Measures.

📢We congratulate the metrological community on this day and wish further success in their professional field!

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s answer to a question from the Moscow. Kremlin. Putin programme (Moscow, May 19, 2024)

💬 Sergey Lavrov: It’s high time for the Kiev regime to accept the reality “on the ground”. I hope that this message, which has been repeated many times, will be heeded and that the West will understand that it’s time to stop sacrificing Ukraine for its absolutely hopeless goals.

❓ Question: President of France Emmanuel Macron made a surprising statement, saying that he's afraid that if Russia wins then the Russian military infrastructure will be closer to Europe and Russian missiles will be closer to Europe. However, President Vladimir Putin has been saying for 20 years that Western infrastructure is approaching us. And the West has told us not to worry and relax. What would you advise the West to do now?

Sergey Lavrov: Let them relax too, if they can. We know very well what we are capable of, including in terms of all possible scenarios for the further development of the situation in Ukraine.

✉️ President Vladimir Putin expressed his deepest condolences to Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the death of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi

✍️ Please accept our deepest condolences in connection with the great tragedy that befell the Islamic Republic of Iran – a helicopter crash that claimed the lives of President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi and several other prominent government leaders of your country.

Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi was an outstanding politician whose entire life was devoted to serving his Motherland. He enjoyed the well-deserved respect of his compatriots and high prestige beyond his country. As a true friend of Russia, he made an invaluable personal contribution to the development of good neighbourly relations between our countries and made great efforts to advance them to the level of strategic partnership.

I have had the privilege of meeting Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi on multiple occasions, and I will always cherish the fond memories of this wonderful man. Please convey my heartfelt condolences and support to the family and friends of the late President, as well as to all those affected by this tragic incident. I extend my wishes for strength to the Iranian people as they navigate through this challenging and irreparable loss.

Vladimir Putin

🇷🇺🇨🇳 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi hold a meeting ahead of the SCO Foreign Ministers Council meeting.

📍 Astana, May 20

#RussiaChina

🇷🇺🇰🇿 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Kazakhstan's Deputy PM – Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu hold a meeting ahead of the SCO Foreign Ministers Council meeting.

📍 Astana, May 20

#RussiaKazakhstan

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s answer to a question from the Moscow. Kremlin. Putin programme (Moscow, May 19, 2024)

❓ Question: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that President of Russia Vladimir Putin had cut off gas. When state leaders allow themselves to lie – how is that?

💬 Sergey Lavrov: It was not only British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who said so. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also pitched in, and from his lips it sounds even more phantasmagorical. It was the Americans who blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines that were to provide for Germany’s further prosperity. You all know what is happening to the Germany’s economy now.

To say that Russia cut off gas… And no one of them even blushed. That’s the saddest thing. It means that the West has no politicians, who could talk on a pragmatic basis and factually. But they do not recognise facts, they twist them and are trying to prevent their population and electorate from obstructing this dead-end policy catastrophic for Europe.

⚡️ Comment by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on riots in New Caledonia
 
On May 13, thousands of people took to the streets in the capital of French New Caledonia to protest against France’s colonial policies. The rally grew into island-wide riots that claimed the lives of several local residents and policemen. Dozens of law enforcers were wounded, with hundreds of protesters put into custody.

As is common knowledge, interfering in the internal affairs of foreign states is against our principles, as is to give or press advice on how to deal with internal problems or crises. This is characteristic of the West and, not in the least, of France itself, although, instead of mentoring others, Paris should better look at its own deep-down problems.

After all, it is clear that the tragic events in New Caledonia are the consequence of long-standing antagonisms and the growing dissatisfaction with their status on the part of the Kanaks, the indigenous people of New Caledonia, who make up almost 40 percent of this French overseas territory’s population.

The pretext for yet another surge of public discontent was the consideration by the French Parliament of a bill designed to change the local voting rules, in effect since 1998, and give the right to vote to all those, who have resided on the island for more than ten years. Opponents of this legislation saw it, with a good reason, as an attempt to finally deprive the Kanaks of their fundamental right to self-determination and cut the land from under the feet of those advocating independence. Not accidentally, the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front, one of the leading New Caledonian Parties, branded Paris’ actions as “re-colonisation.”

We regard the public and political crisis in New Caledonia as stemming from the lack of finality in the process of its decolonisation and as yet another confirmation that the French policy towards its former colonies, renamed “overseas territories,” is reaching an impasse. <...>

☝️ Currently, France governs 13 overseas territories and is attempting to meddle in the internal affairs of its former colonies across the globe. While occupying dozens of countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America for centuries and brutally exploiting the local population, the French have committed numerous military crimes and crimes against humanity there. <...>

❗️ We call on Paris to refrain from an unjustified use of force against the protesters and respect the rights and liberties of the indigenous population of New Caledonia and other overseas territories under its control.