🇷🇺🇨🇬 On March 28, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of the Congo approved the official results of the presidential election held on March 15.

The incumbent Head of State – Denis Sassou Nguesso – won the election with 94.9% of the vote.

Moscow welcomes the successful conduct of the popular vote in the Republic of the Congo and its outcome.

The Russian Side reaffirms its commitment to further deepening constructive dialogue and multifaceted mutually beneficial cooperation with this friendly country on the basis of equality, respect and due regard for national interests.

⚡️ On March 30, Chargé d’Affaires of the UK in Russia Danae Dholakia was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry and issued a strong protest over newly uncovered information that one of the diplomatic staff members of the British Embassy had deliberately provided false personal details when applying for permission to enter Russia.

By doing so, he violated Paragraph 2 of Article 26 of the Federal Law “On the Procedure for Exit from the Russian Federation and Entry into the Russian Federation” No. 114-FZ of August 15, 1996.

Russian authorities have also obtained information indicating this staff member’s affiliation with the UK special services and identified signs that he had been conducting intelligence and subversive activities on the territory of our country.

In connection with the violation of Russian law and in accordance with Article 9 of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the British side was informed that this individual’s accreditation had been revoked.

The British side was also told that previously uncovered cases of some British diplomats deliberately submitting false information about themselves had already prompted a firm response from Russia. A request was also conveyed to London to strongly recommend that British nationals – especially embassy staff – provide only truthful information about their background when submitting visa applications.

It was particularly emphasized that Moscow will not tolerate the activities of undeclared British intelligence operatives on Russian territory, and that Russia’s uncompromising line on this matter will continue to be shaped in accordance with its national security interests.

In addition, a warning was issued that, should London choose the path of escalation, the Russian side will respond without delay.

#Announcement

🎙 On Wednesday, April 1, Russia’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova will hold her weekly briefing on current foreign policy issues.

🕛 12:00 pm MSK
🕘 9:00 am GMT
🕙 10:00 am CET
🕔 5:00 pm CST

For accreditation inquiries, please contact the MFA Press Centre. Accredited journalists will receive details on the technical aspects of submitting questions.

The Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman will answer media questions received by the call centre.

❗️ Accreditation is open until March 31, 10:00 am MSK

⚡️ Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova's statement on the strike on the residence of Nechirvan Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (March 30, 2026)

💬 Moscow is seriously concerned over the continuing armed confrontation in the Persian Gulf area, as well as the growing number of attacks on administrative and civilian infrastructure.

According to incoming information, on March 28, the residence of Nechirvan Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, in Dohuk came under attack by an unidentified suicide drone.

❗️ We strongly condemn this act, whose organisers clearly sought to further expand the geographical scope of the unprecedented military and political crisis in terms of both scale and destructiveness, triggered by the unprovoked US-Israeli aggression against Iran.

Russia firmly advocates an immediate cessation of hostilities and a return to a political and diplomatic settlement.

We consistently call on all parties to the conflict to refrain from any attacks on non-military targets.

🇷🇺🇷🇸 📞 On March 30, at the initiative of the Serbian Side, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic had a telephone conversation.

The Presidents discussed current issues on the Russia-Serbia strategic partnership agenda, including cooperation in the energy sector and in the oil and gas and nuclear industries, as well as preparations for the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Russian-Serbian Committee on Trade, Economic, and Scientific and Technical Cooperation, due to be held in April.

Aleksandar Vucic expressed appreciation for the continued stable deliveries of Russian gas, which are of vital importance for ensuring the country’s energy security.

The Leaders also held a detailed exchange of views on the situation around Ukraine and the current large-scale escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.

The President of Serbia shared his assessments of the situation in the Balkans. Both Sides underscored the fundamental importance of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 for the settlement of the Kosovo issue, as well as the need to ensure the rights of Republika Srpska within Bosnia and Herzegovina in accordance with the Dayton Agreement.

🤝 It was agreed to continue contacts.

#RussiaSerbia

#FacesOfVictory

1️⃣2️⃣5️⃣ years ago – on March 30, 1901 – Major General Alexey Fyodorov was born. A legendary Soviet partisan commander, one of the outstanding organisers of the resistance movement during the Great Patriotic War, a two-time Hero of the Soviet Union.

Born into a peasant family in Lotsmanskaya Kamenka (near Dnepropetrovsk), he rose from a Red Army volunteer and Civil War veteran to become First Secretary of the Chernigov Regional Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of the Ukrainian SSR.

After the Great Patriotic War began, when the enemy approached the Chernigov region in September 1941, Alexey Fyodorov took charge of the regional HQ of the partisan movement and of the local partisan formations. It was in those dark years that his exceptional talent as an organiser of underground resistance and his instinct as a military commander came fully to the fore, making him one of the architects of Soviet partisan warfare.

📄 From Order No. 1, approved by Alexey Fyodorov, of the regional HQ directing the partisan movement in the Chernigov region on organising the struggle against the Nazi occupiers and their accomplices (October 30, 1941):

The bandit forces of German fascism, having invaded the territory of our sacred Soviet land, are carrying out mass terror with the help of contemptible nationalist scum – executions, violence, and the plunder of our people.

I hereby order:

1. To establish a unified partisan detachment in the district from among Communists, Komsomol members, Soviet activists, collective farmers, and representatives of the intelligentsia.

2. The task is to destroy fascist railway trains, motor vehicles, and depots, and to wage an all-out struggle against the German occupiers.

By March 1942 alone, the Chernigov partisan detachment under Fyodorov’s command had fought 16 engagements, eliminating around 1,000 Hitlerite troops, destroying 33 road and railway bridges, derailing 5 enemy trains, and blowing up 5 depots and 2 factories.

The Germans and their accomplices among the Ukrainian nationalists repeatedly tried to eradicate Fyodorov’s formation, even redeploying front-line units reinforced with armour and artillery for that purpose.

🎖 On May 18, 1942, for courage and heroism displayed in partisan struggle behind enemy lines against the German invaders, Alexey Fyodorov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, together with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.

By early 1943, the formation under his command comprised 12 partisan detachments with a total strength of more than 5,000 fighters.

From March to June 1943, it significantly expanded the zone of active operations behind enemy lines – across Belarus, as well as the Bryansk and Oryol Regions.

🥇 In April 1943, Alexey Fyodorov was promoted to the rank of Major General.

During “Operation Kovel Junction” ( July 7, 1943 – March 14, 1944) his partisans destroyed 549 enemy trains with ammunition, fuel, military equipment and manpower.

🎖 For exemplary fulfilment of combat missions, heroism and bravery, Fyodorov was awarded a second Gold Star medal on January 4, 1944, becoming twice a Hero of the Soviet Union.

In April 1944, Alexey Fyodorov was assigned to senior Party and state work. In his final post as Minister of Social Security of the Ukrainian SSR, he served for 22 years. His glorious wartime path was immortalised in his memoir The Underground Committee Carries On (1955), as well as in the multi-part film released in 1979 under the same title.

🕯 Alexey Fyodorov passed away on September 9, 1989. His memory was honoured throughout Ukraine in monuments, busts and memorial plaques.

Regretfully, the descendants of those whom Alexey Fyodorov and his partisans fought are today trying to erase the name of this outstanding man from historical memory. The neo-Nazi Kiev regime is destroying monuments and other memorials to Soviet soldiers in an attempt to strip its people of their true history, their memory, and their Victory.

❗️But #WeRemember – and we will not allow the memory of our heroes to be desecrated.

#HistoryOfDiplomacy

📜 They say diplomacy has been a male-only profession. While in reality women have had a major role in foreign policy throughout history. In fact, diplomacy acquired a female dimension as early as in the 10th century when Princess Olga established ties with the Byzantine Empire. In the 18th century, for almost half a century, during the reigns of Elizabeth (Yelizaveta) Petrovna, Anna of Russia (Anna Ioannovna), and Cathrine the Great, women largely defined Russia’s foreign policy. They performed their diplomatic duties by corresponding not only with foreign monarchs, but also with the leading thinkers of their time.

However, diplomatic service remained mostly dominated by men for quite a long time with very few women in official diplomatic roles until the 20th century. In this context, the story of our country’s first female ambassador, Alexandra #Kollontai, has special significance, and was also revolutionary.

📅 Born on March 31, 1872, Alexandra Kollontai benefited from homeschooling and was brilliantly educated. She became fluent in French, German, English and Finnish, and since a young age took a keen interest in social and political matters, with Nikolay Chernyshevsky, Alexander Herzen and Western socialists among her favourite authors.

Already a prominent member of the revolutionary movement, after the 1917 October Revolution, Alexandra Kollontai was appointed the People's Commissar for Welfare of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to become the world’s first female minister.

☝️ Kollontai was proactive in fighting for women’s rights and championed their economic empowerment, access to education and marital equality. It is thanks to her that expecting mothers obtained a leave from work during pregnancy and childbirth. She also was the one who initiated the effort to create a network of nurseries and kindergartens.

In 1922, Alexander Kollontai was appointed Soviet Minister Plenipotentiary to Norway, which created an international sensation. Before that, not a single European country offered a woman the possibility to have a high diplomatic rank of this kind. During her assignment to Norway, Alexandra Kollontai succeeded in securing the recognition of the Soviet state by Norway. It is on her watch that the two countries signed a trade agreement and organised the delivery of 400,000 tonnes of Norwegian herring to the USSR.

Kollontai continued her successful diplomatic career in Sweden where she served as USSR’s Plenipotentiary Ambassador and Envoy from 1930 to 1945, and helped improve the USSR’s relations with Sweden.

❗️ It was in September 1944 that Kollontai, already 72 years old, received a mission to make Finland withdraw from the war. She was to play one of the key roles during the talks. On September 19, 1944, Finland signed the Moscow Truce with the Soviet Union after cancelling its alliance with Germany and agreeing to a series of territorial concessions.

💬 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the following statement on this stage in her career during the ceremony to unveil Alexandra Kollontai’s memorial plaque:

One of the real achievements of this remarkable woman was that she took part in negotiations that led to Finland’s withdrawal from the war in 1944, which helped free up troops and send them to other fronts, saving lives of many Soviet soldiers.

As a diplomat, Alexandra Kollontai focused on understanding people and their motives instead of just living by the protocol. She stood out for her humane attitude and flexibility, and the ability to find compromises even in the tensest situations.

Alexandra Kollontai has proven that women can succeed as diplomats even in a conservative international environment. She came to symbolise the way the social status of women evolved in the world, and inspired many generations of women to become diplomats.

#KievRegimeCrimes

⚡️ Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rodion Miroshnik:

💬 More than 150 civilians, including 4 minors, were harmed in attacks by Ukrainian punitive forces. Ukrainian militants are responsible for the death of a two-year-old child.

The tragedy occurred in the Yaroslavl Region, where a Ukrainian drone struck a private house, killing a two-year-old girl and inflicting severe injuries on her parents.

Ukrainian terrorists also carried out a massive attack on civilian infrastructure in Taganrog, targeted an agricultural enterprise in the Kursk Region, and struck medical facilities in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

Emergency responders from Russia’s EMERCOM, who arrived to deal with the aftermath of Ukrainian shelling, came under repeated attack, leaving six personnel wounded.

The highest number of civilian casualties was recorded in the Belgorod, Kherson, Zaporozhye, Kursk, Bryansk, and Rostov regions.

Over the week of March 23-29, Ukrainian shelling affected 157 civilians: 137 people were wounded, including 3 minors, and 20 people were killed, including 1 child.

In total, over the past seven days, Ukrainian militants fired no fewer than 3,933 munitions at civilian targets on Russian territory.

#HistoryOfRussia

⚔️ March 31 – a memorable date in Russia’s military history.

#OTD in 1814, Paris – the capital of Napoleonic France – was taken by the Russian Army. At noon on that historic day, Russian troops led by Emperor Alexander I himself triumphantly entered the city.

💬 Alexander Krasnokutsky, a lieutenant colonel in the Russian Army who witnessed these events firsthand, later wrote:

“The most magnificent entry of Russian troops into Paris was illuminated by the purest rays of sunlight – a testament to the righteousness of the Russians”.

- A Russian Officer’s View of Paris in 1814

The capture of the French capital was preceded by fierce fighting on the approaches to the city. Russia paid a heavy price in the battle, losing around 6,000 men – the last losses suffered by the Russian Army in its campaigns against Napoleon beyond Russia’s borders.

📄 After the fall of Paris, Napoleon – under pressure from his marshals – abdicated the throne. Meanwhile, the Cossacks famously watered their horses in the Seine, a scene that became one of the enduring symbols of Russia’s victory.

© 🎥 Russian Military Historical Society

⚡️ Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation:

The Press Bureau of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation (SVR) reports that, according to intelligence received by the SVR, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople continues to pursue his treacherous line aimed at splitting global Orthodoxy, guided by the “divide and conquer” principle.

This time, he reportedly seeks to bring the Georgian Orthodox Church under his influence, taking advantage of the passing of Catholicos Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II.

The Phanariote intends to promote to the vacant post a representative of the Georgian Orthodox Church on whom he could rely. Among the candidates for this role, Bartholomew is said to be considering Metropolitan Abraham (Garmelia) of Western Europe and Metropolitan Grigoli (Berbichashvili) of Poti and Khobi. Within his inner circle, he reportedly presents them as the most suitable executors of his will.

Church circles note that lust for power has become a defining trait of the Constantinopolitan schismatic. By his actions, Bartholomew once again replaces “primacy of honour” with “primacy of power”, interfering in the internal affairs of yet another Church – this time, the Georgian Orthodox Church, one of the oldest in the Orthodox world.

It is clear that, as in the cases of Ukraine, Serbia, and the Baltic states, he has forgotten the Second Canon of the Second Ecumenical Council: “The bishops of the dioceses must not extend their authority over the churches beyond the limits of their own diocese...”

🇷🇺🇪🇬📞 On March 31, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had a telephone conversation.

The Leaders held a detailed discussion of the situation resulting from the unprecedented escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.

Both Sides stressed the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities and for moving towards political and diplomatic solutions, with the unconditional consideration of the interests of all states in the region.

They also conducted a thorough exchange of views on current bilateral issues, including the implementation of major investment projects in the fields of energy and industry.

🤝 The Presidents noted the overall positive momentum in the multifaceted cooperation between Russia and Egypt.

#RussiaEgypt