🔴 #LIVE: Briefing by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria #Zakharova on topical foreign policy issues

🔗 https://twitter.com/mfa_russia/status/1681933278318669824

🔗 https://www.ruptly.tv/en/events/202307200700-live15002-russian-mfa-spokesperson-zakharova-holds-weekly-briefing

🔗 https://mid.ru/en/press_service/video

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at a meeting with Russian non-profit organisation leaders

📍 Moscow, July 19, 2023

👉 Read in full

Key talking points:

• We are aware that it’s about the struggle between the worlds and attempts by the Western world, which Washington has brought to its heel and turned into an “obedient team” that is unable to have alternative viewpoints, to force the rest of the world into agreeing that the hegemony of the West, which has lasted for a long 500 years, should be perpetuated.

• In fact, the West does not let sovereign states decide who to build relations with.

• At the recent NATO summit in Vilnius, they announced once again who can have relations with whom. Along with reiterating what was said at last year's NATO summit in Madrid about NATO’s global responsibility, including in the Asia-Pacific region, what went on record this time in Vilnius was that the deepening Russia-China partnership and their complementary attempts to undermine the “rules-based order” contradicts the alliance’s values and interests.

• We cannot and will never give up the stated goals of the special military operation.

• We are seeing a growing self-awareness, a feeling of one’s own identity and a striving to uphold it in the countries of Eurasia, the Asia-Pacific Region, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. It is impossible to stop the formation of a multipolar world. This must be admitted. I understand that the West finds it difficult to do this.

• We are developing associations of a new type. They differ from the European Union that is trying to adopt the unanimity rule and force dissenters to obey it.

• Naturally, there is a demand for efforts to disseminate objective information about the situation in our country and to promote the Russian language, culture and domestic education abroad. Complicated processes are taking place now, in part, in the CIS space.

🔴 #LIVE: Briefing by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin on the Istanbul agreements

🔗 https://www.ruptly.tv/en/events/202307211230-live15029-russian-deputy-mfa-vershinin-holds-briefing-in-moscow

🔗 https://mid.ru/en/press_service/video

❗️ Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with permanent members of the Security Council

Full text of the President's statement

Key points:

• It is clear today that the Western curators of the Kiev regime are certainly disappointed with the results of the counteroffensive that the current Ukrainian authorities announced in previous months. There are no results, at least for now. The colossal resources that were pumped into the Kiev regime, the supply of Western weapons, and the deployment of thousands of foreign mercenaries and advisers, who were most actively used in attempts to break through the front of our army, are not helping.

• NATO arsenals and stockpiles of old Soviet weapons in some countries are already largely depleted. The West does not have the production capacities to quickly replenish the consumption of reserves of equipment and ammunition. Additional, large resources and time are needed. The main thing is that formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine suffered huge losses as a result of self-destructive attacks: tens of thousands of people.

• People in Ukraine are asking a legitimate question more often: for what, for the sake of whose selfish interests, are their relatives and friends dying. Gradually, slowly, but clarity comes.

• I cannot refrain from commenting on what has just been said and on media reports that have come out about plans to establish some sort of the so-called Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian unit. This is not about a group of mercenaries – there are plenty of them there and they are being destroyed – but about a well-organised, equipped regular military unit to be used for operations in Ukraine, including to allegedly ensure the security of today’s Western Ukraine – actually, to call things by their true name, for the subsequent occupation of these territories.

• Belarus is part of the Union State, and launching an aggression against Belarus would mean launching an aggression against the Russian Federation.

The Russian MoD’s latest statements on Ukrainian attack on Russian journalists:

▪️ The Armed Forces of Ukraine launched an artillery strike on a group of Sputnik journalists on July 22;

▪️ Four journalists were injured, with varying degrees of severity, as a result of a Ukrainian strike with cluster munitions on a group of correspondents;

▪️ Sputnik journalists who were hit by the Armed Forces of Ukraine were preparing materials on the shelling of the Zaporozhye region with cluster munitions;

▪️ The journalists were promptly evacuated to the field medical facilities of the Russian MoD, where they receive qualified medical care;

▪️ The state of health of the injured journalists is moderate, stable, there is no threat to life; all the necessary medical care is being provided.

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🇷🇺🇺🇳 Permament Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN:

🎙 Statement by Chargé d'Affaires of the Russian Federation Dmitry Polyanskiy at UNSC briefing on Black Sea Initiative (21 July, 2023)

Read in full

💬 From the very start, we have been drawing everyone’s attention to the fact that the initiative did not meet the initially proclaimed goal and was gaining a well-defined commercial nature. In fact, from the very beginning, developed countries have taken the lead among those buying food from Ukraine. However, no steps were taken to remedy this trend.

☝️ During the Black Sea Initiative, a total of 32.8 million tonnes of cargo was exported, of which more than 70% (26.3 million tonnes) went to high- and upper-middle-income countries, including the European Union. The poorest states, notably Ethiopia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Somalia, accounted for less than 3%, a total of 922,092 tonnes.

🔹 When we agreed to the "package deal”, hearing the calls to join forces for the purpose of global food security, we expected an exemption to be made from the discriminatory approach to us on the part of Western countries, which imposed unprecedented sanctions against Russia, actually trying to organize a blockade of our manufacturers.

❗️ In fact, the Russia-UN Memorandum of Understanding, which was called to assist us, never even started to work. The EU and US officially turned down one of our key requirements – to reconnect our agricultural bank, “Rosselkhozbank”, to SWIFT.

🔹 Now we regard all vessels in the Black Sea heading to Ukrainian ports as potential carriers of military cargo. Accordingly, the countries of such vessels will be considered to be involved in the Ukrainian conflict on the side of the Kiev regime.

📰 Article by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin «Russia and Africa: Joining Efforts for Peace, Progress and a Successful Future» (July 24, 2023)

Read in full (PDF)

Key points:

• The partnership relations between our country and Africa have strong, deep roots being distinguished by stability, trust and goodwill at all times.

• We have consistently supported African peoples in their struggle for liberation from colonial oppression. We have provided assistance in the formation of statehood, strengthening of sovereignty and defence capabilities.

• We highly value the honestly gained capital of friendship and cooperation, traditions of trust and mutual support that Russia and African countries share.

🌍 Russia welcomes the rising international authority of individual states as well as Africa as a whole. Their desire to make their voices strongly heard and to take the continent's problems into their own hands. We have always supported the constructive initiatives of our partners. We stand for granting African countries their rightful place in the structures that determine the fate of the world, including the UN Security Council and the G20, as well as reforming the global financial and trade institutions in a way that meets their interests.

• Africa feels the burden of global challenges like no other part of the world. In such a challenging environment, we look forward to working with our African partners to shape a non-discriminatory agenda for cooperation.

• We understand the importance of uninterrupted food supplies for the socio-economic development and political stability of the African States. <...> Notwithstanding the sanctions, Russia will continue its energetic efforts to provide supplies of grain, food products, fertilizers, and other goods to Africa.

🤝 We attach great importance to the upcoming Second #RussiaAfrica Summit. <...> I am looking forward to welcoming the African leaders in St. Petersburg and stand committed to a fruitful constructive dialogue.

❗️Foreign Ministry statement on the Ukrainian attacks on Moscow and Crimea

According to the Defence Ministry of the Russian Federation, two Ukrainian unmanned combat aerial vehicles were used to attack facilities in Moscow early in the morning of July 24. All of them were suppressed by radio-electronic warfare systems and crashed. There were no casualties or substantial damage, though two non-residential buildings were struck.

On July 24, a helicopter-type drone with no explosives aboard fell in the Central Cemetery of Moscow’s Zelenograd Administrative Area.

In the early hours of July 24, an attempt by the Kiev regime to attack facilities in Crimea was also thwarted. In all, 17 drones were launched. Fourteen were suppressed using radio-electronic warfare systems, 11 of them crashed in the Black Sea and three fell on the territory of the peninsula. Three more drones were destroyed by air-defence forces. There were no casualties. According to Head of the Republic of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov, an ammunition depot was hit in the Dzhankoi District. Drone fragments damaged a private home in the Kirovsky District.

Ukraine has already claimed responsibility for these attacks. Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mikhail Fyodorov openly confirmed the complicity of the Zelensky regime in the attacks and noted that Kiev would continue these incursions, and that their number will increase.

The military and political leadership of Ukraine has yet again resorted to terrorist methods to intimidate the civilian population. These attacks had no military significance. We strongly condemn this new crime of the Kiev regime, and we urge international organisations to duly evaluate them.

The brazen actions of Ukrainian neo-Nazis highlight the intent of the West to continue aggravating the situation.

The Investigative Committee of Russia has opened criminal proceedings in connection with the attacks. All culprits will be found and punished.

⚠️ The Russian side reserves the right to take tough retaliatory measures.