🎙 Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s interview with ANSA Italian news agency

Read in full
(Telegraph)

Key talking points:

🔹 For Western officials, diplomatically resolving the Ukrainian crisis is not a priority. They plan to drag out the conflict so that the Kiev regime engages in a war of attrition against Russia. Losses among Ukrainians hold no sway for NATO; they are mere expendable assets in achieving NATO’s geopolitical goals.

🔹 Our requirements for resolving the European security crisis provoked by Washington and Brussels are well-known. First, the parameters of security guarantees provided by both Russia and the West must be agreed upon in line with the proposals that we made to the United States and NATO in December 2021.

🔹 The special military operation’s goal is not to seize Ukraine's territory, but to denazify and demilitarise it and ensure its non-bloc status. Only then can we talk about eliminating threats to Russia and its citizens’ security.

🇻🇦 Russia has repeatedly emphasised that it highly values the Vatican's balanced stance on the Ukrainian conflict and the efforts of the Holy See and Pope Francis in seeking a peaceful settlement, which unfortunately have been openly turned down by the Kiev regime.

🇮🇹 Following the lead of the United States, Italy has chosen a course aimed at the deliberate dismantling of the decades-old complex of Russian-Italian cooperation in various fields. Italy is supplying increasingly heavy and lethal weaponry and military equipment to Ukraine

🔹 At the same time, many good things connect us with Italy and its wonderful people, who - we are well aware of it - despite the Russophobic exercises by the paid-up mainstream media, maintain a deep sympathy for and interest in Russia, its culture and people.

⚡️ Russia's position at the seventy-eighth session of the UN General Assembly:

Middle East settlement

📃 We believe that reviving the Middle East settlement process, while placing the efforts to address the Palestinian problem at its core, is a prerequisite for bringing peace and security to the Middle East.

🇮🇱🇵🇸 We attach key importance to preventing the escalation of violence between Palestinians and Israelis and to providing extensive humanitarian assistance to those affected and in need in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

We call on the sides to show restraint, refrain from unilateral steps and provocative actions, and respect the special status and integrity of the Holy Sites in Jerusalem.

☝️ We support the resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on all issues concerning the final status based on a universally acknowledged international legal framework, including the two-state formula.

#UNGA78

🇷🇺🇺🇳 Russia's position at the seventy-eighth session of the UN General Assembly:

Climate change

We attach great importance to international cooperation in addressing climate change. We regard the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Paris Agreement as the main international legal mechanisms to achieve a durable solution to the climate issue. We consider it important to strictly adhere to the provisions of the Paris Agreement in terms of keeping the average global temperature increase within the range of 2–1.5° C and achieving carbon neutrality in the second half of the century rather than by 2050.

We oppose the "blurring" of the mandate of the UNFCCC and the establishment of a system of treaty obligations duplicating it. The division of labour between environmental mechanisms should be respected while avoiding the creation of artificial overlaps making it harder to pursue common goals and interests.

❗️ We are convinced that climate action should build on non-discriminatory international cooperation with due regard for economic realities and interests of all the countries concerned.

We oppose linking climate and security agendas and vesting peacekeeping missions with unnatural climate-monitoring functions. By doing so, major donor states are seeking to shrug off the responsibility for economic problems faced by least developed countries.

#UNGA78

🎙 Briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (Moscow, August 30, 2023)

🔷 FM Sergey Lavrov’s schedule
🔷 G20
🔷 Ukrainian crisis
🔷 Ukrainian Crimes Against Humanity
🔷 Rodion Miroshnik’s appointment as Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large for Kiev Regime’s Crimes
🔷 The situation in the global grain market
🔷 Impact of the anti-Russia sanctions on the global economy

And more...

📚 Read in full

#Ukraine

▪️ While encouraging their Kiev puppets to commit even more savage crimes, the NATO countries continue to flood the country with deadly weapons. In addition to the ongoing arms supplies, there have been never-ending discussions lately in a number of European countries about the possibility of sending fighter jets to Kiev. We strongly condemn such actions, as they are aimed at escalating the conflict further. For us, it makes no difference if they send the F-16 or any other planes. All this means is that the West is getting increasingly drawn into the Ukraine conflict. Their words that they are not in a “direct confrontation” with our country have lost their meaning.

#Sanctions

▪️ According to a source the West definitely views as reliable – The Financial Times – since the beginning of the special military operation, which coincided with the sanctions from hell as Joe Biden called them, major European companies have lost at least 100 billion euros. Oil and gas companies, financial institutions and banks, as well as manufacturers piled up the biggest losses.

⚡️ Russia's position at the seventy-eighth session of the UN General Assembly:

Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

📃 We strictly abide by our obligations under the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). We support its early entry into force. We call on the eight countries whose signature and/or ratification is required for its entry into force to do so without delay.

We consider the position of the USA, which is the only state to have officially refused to ratify the Treaty, to be a major destructive factor for the CTBT. Washington has taken consistent steps towards resuming nuclear tests, including by increasing the readiness of the Nevada Test Site and allocating significant funds for its maintenance. We encourage Washington to reconsider its stance on the CTBT.

❗️ We firmly reject any insinuations that our country might resume nuclear tests. As President Vladimir Putin clearly stated in his address on 21 February 2023, Russia would not be the first to conduct a nuclear test. We will only take this step in response to a similar action by the US. We intend to further maintain our voluntary moratorium on nuclear tests introduced in 1991.

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

🔗 https://www.ruptly.tv/en/events/202309050800-LIVE15447-russian-mfa-spokesperson-zakharova-holds-weekly-briefing

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

⚡️ Russia's position at the seventy-eighth session of the UN General Assembly:

Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

📃 Committed to the noble goal of building a world free of nuclear weapons, Russia has for decades made a significant practical contribution to the achievement of this task. However, against the background of the all-out hybrid war unleashed against us, our country has reached the limits of its nuclear arms reduction capabilities. Further progress on this track will only be possible if Western countries abandon their anti-Russian policy and should involve all countries that possess military nuclear capabilities.

We understand the motivations of the advocates of a "shortcut" to a nuclear-weapon-free world, but we are convinced that progress is possible only on the basis of a realistic, balanced and step-by-step approach which contributes to strengthening international peace, stability and security for all states.

☝️ In our view, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) neither meets those criteria, nor can serve as the main framework for practical measures to reduce nuclear arsenals.

For Russia, the possession of nuclear weapons at this historical juncture is the only possible response to concrete external threats, which are only increasing. The security situation is degrading due to destructive attempts by the United States and NATO to achieve military superiority.

In such circumstances, an immediate renunciation of nuclear weapons would drastically weaken the reliability of strategic deterrence which we pursue and, accordingly, our national security.

❗️ At the same time, we are strongly committed to the inviolability of the principle reaffirmed by the leaders of the five nuclear-weapon states in their relevant joint statement in January 2022 that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. It is of paramount importance for each of those states to demonstrate in practice their commitment to that statement in its entirety.

Good morning, India! 🌞 शुभ प्रभात, भारत!

📸 Can you guess location on the photo?

The correct answer will be posted in comment section later today!

🗓 The 18th East Asia Summit (#EAS) will convene in Jakarta on September 7.

🇷🇺 Russia advocates using the EAS platform to expand multi-pronged practical cooperation with a focus on sector-specific projects.

Our initiatives on this platform include efforts:
• to establish regionwide collaboration in pandemic response with the launch of a collective response mechanism to epidemic threats,
• the development of practical cooperation in the field of tourism. Relevant Russian proposals have been part of top-level thematic documents.

⚠️ During the East Asia Summit, Russia considers it critical to highlight the growing risks to peaceful and sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region against the backdrop of the West’s confrontational policy aimed at militarising the regional space, with the potential involvement of NATO and the dismantling of the established ASEAN security architecture and replacing all of it with “Indo-Pacific” bloc-based constructs based on containment and counteraction principles.

Russia advocates strengthening the system of country-to-country relations in the region, including by aligning ASEAN with regional formats in the Eurasian space, primarily the #SCO and the #EAEU, which, like ASEAN, operate on a positive non-bloc agenda of connectivity and co-development.

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🇮🇳🇷🇺 When Lavrov Met Jaishankar: Indian & Russian top diplomats shake hands in Jakarta

The Russian foreign minister arrived in Indonesia's capital on early Wednesday for the East Asian Summit.

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🎙 Briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (Moscow, September 5, 2023)

🔷 FM Sergey Lavrov’s schedule
🔷 Ukrainian crisis
🔷 The use of Western weapons in Ukraine for attacking civilian facilities
🔷 US State Department Global Engagement Centre’s new bulletin, "The Kremlin's War Against Ukraine’s Children"
🔷 Attack on the Acting Russian Consul-General in Gothenburg

And more...

📚 Read in full

#Ukraine

▪️ I often talk about this, but today I will show you several fragments of NATO munitions we have received from the Defence Ministry of Russia. These horrible “postcards” are designed for those in the EU and NATO countries who believe that their taxes and free donations serve the cause of peace. Look at them. There’s children’s blood on them, the blood of innocent civilians. These munitions were bought, produced and transported with the money of people in the EU countries who talk about peace every day and believe that this is important. Is the EU paying for this kind of peace? Is this the peace that EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell regards as ideal? Is this the peace the Western NGOs and media organisations are talking about?

#US

▪️ On August 24, the Global Engagement Centre at the US Department of State published a bulletin, The Kremlin’s War Against Ukraine’s Children, which contains a streak of absurd accusations against Russia relating to the issue of children. This is not just a piece of rampant misinformation distorting facts; it is in fact a terrible Goebbels-style fake narrative. Russia has never hidden what it has been doing in the interests of Ukrainian children who ended up in our territory. On behalf of President Vladimir Putin, most of the work in this area is being carried out by Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, who regularly reports to the public, including the international community, on the situation regarding children evacuated from the war zone.

Good morning, India! 🌞 शुभ प्रभात, भारत!

📸 Can you guess location on the photo?

The correct answer will be posted in comment section later today!

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

💬 The Foreign Ministry has released a statement regarding the food deal and the supply of grain and fertiliser.

Let's, for the umpteenth time, use facts and figures to take a look at the situation concerning food security after the Black Sea Initiative was discontinued.

1. The grain deal did not help the poorest countries address hunger. Out of 32.8 million tonnes of food, just a trifle - less than 3 percent - were sent to the countries in need.
2. After the deal came to an end, grain prices continued to fall. In August, they fell by 4-5 percent.
3. The grain exported as part of the deal mainly went toward enriching Ukrainian animal feed producers. It was primarily intended for livestock and was shipped to Europe rather than Africa.
4. Ukraine is no longer the world's breadbasket. The country's share of global grain exports is only 5 percent and continues to shrink.
5. Ukraine's arable land is shrinking as well, partly due to contamination with radiation and toxins from depleted uranium munitions that Kiev has been using since the spring.
6. Europe is not helping Ukraine export grain. Since May, there has been a ban on grain shipments to EU countries bordering on Ukraine. This situation is likely to continue into the winter.

Now, let's discuss the UN Secretariat and the West being unwilling to act on their obligations to Russia under the deal.
1. To make the deal work, it is necessary to reconnect Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT. Instead, what we are witnessing are endless discussions about creating intermediary mechanisms through subsidiary enterprises and partner banks (without implementation guarantees). Rosselkhozbank accounts are being closed altogether.
2. There has been no progress on insuring Russian ships. We’ve seen nothing but promises to take care of things “later.” A special insurance platform mechanism has not been created.
3. The unlocking of assets is only to be discussed after the humiliating process of companies acknowledging their “sanctioned status.” Again, without any guarantees.
4. The UN remains silent with regard to resuming the Toglatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline’s operation, which could provide fertiliser to tens of millions of customers.
5. We invited the UN to join in a discussion, but Rebeca Grynspan who is in charge of the deal on behalf of the UN, is unwilling to come to Moscow or even send reports about her activities.


Finally, let's talk about how Russia is actually addressing the issue of hunger in the world, without any “deals.”
1. Russia has already sent or will soon send:
• 20,000 tonnes of fertiliser to Malawi;
• 34,000 tonnes of fertiliser to Kenya;
• 23,000 tonnes of fertiliser to Zimbabwe;
• 34,000 tonnes of fertiliser to Nigeria;
• 55,000 tonnes of fertiliser to Sri Lanka;
• 200,000 tonnes of wheat to Somalia, the Central African Republic, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, and Eritrea.
2. A project is being developed jointly with Ankara and Doha to deliver 1 million tonnes of grain (!) to Türkiye where it will be processed and shipped free of charge (!) to the poorest countries.

It turns out that while Europe was exporting animal feed grain from Ukraine across the Black Sea as part of the deal, efforts were made to block and to create loss-making circumstances for Russian agriculture. The UN failed to resolve the situation.

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova:

According to the media, the White House claims that depleted uranium munitions to be sent to Kiev do not present a radioactive threat.

Is this a lie or ineptitude?

I wrote many times about the toxicity of depleted uranium, the special danger of radioactive dust for human health and soil contamination with radionuclides, I would like to remind everyone that the number of cancer cases spiked in the areas where depleted uranium munitions have been used. NATO military personnel can testify to that, especially Italian servicemen, who did not know about this during the bloc’s aggression against Yugoslavia. Years later, the Italian parliament published a 252-page report citing the results of such research.

Out of the 7,500 people subjected to the effects of toxic agents and radiation, 372 have died (that is a 5 percent mortality rate, or every 20th person). Moreover, they died of painful cancer complications such as renal dysfunction, lung cancer, bone cancer, oesophagus cancer, degenerative skin disorder, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and leukaemia.

Serbs, the direct victims of NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia, were also affected by depleted uranium munitions. According to the Serbian Health Ministry, the rate of various diseases increased considerably in the regions bombed by NATO, including cancer, male infertility, a broad range of autoimmune diseases, pathological pregnancies, and children’s mental disorders.

🇷🇺🇮🇳🤝 On September 6, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey #Lavrov held talks with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on the sidelines of the 18th East Asia Summit in Jakarta.

The ministers exchanged views on the most pressing issues of bilateral relations and international issues. They discussed practical steps for the further development of trade, economic and energy cooperation, and cooperation in transport and in financial matters.

A mutual desire to increase coordination in multilateral formats, primarily at #UN, as well as within #SCO, #BRICS and #G20, was emphasised.

#RussiaIndia #DruzhbaDosti

📆 #OnThisDay in 1945, the Allied Soviet, US, British and French forces held a joint parade in Berlin. The anti-Hitler coalition allies marched through the defeated Nazi stronghold of Berlin.

The initiative for this celebration came from the Soviet Union, whose leaders suggested organising a joint Allied military pass-by in Berlin after its own Victory Parade in Moscow in June. It was arranged that it would take place on Alexanderplatz near the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate after the downfall of militarist Japan, their last enemy.

👉 Originally it was assumed that the parade would be reviewed by all the commanders-in-chief of the Allied forces in Germany. On the eve of the event, however, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower (USA), Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (GB), and Gen. Jean de Lattre de Tassigny (France) refused to attend, sending their representatives instead. This was a clear attempt to belittle the Soviet Union’s role in gaining a victory over the hydra of German Nazism and Japanese militarism.

The Berlin parade involved all branches of the land forces. It was decided to do without Air Force and Navy units because they were deployed far from Berlin. Soviet generals primarily sought to invite officers and men who had particularly distinguished themselves during the assault on Berlin.

The parade began at 11 am on the dot. The stands were filled with Soviet military leaders, generals and admirals of the British, US, and French armies and navies, and a group of US congressmen. Nearly 20,000 Berliners assembled around the parade ground. After reviewing the troops, Marshal Georgy Zhukov delivered a speech praising the historic achievements of the Soviet and Allied forces. Next there was a pass-by of the foot columns.

☝️ The memorable Victory Parade near the Brandenburg Gate was the last symbolic act involving the anti-Hitler coalition Allies. This joint military holiday became a prologue to the Cold War that was about to begin by the West's initiative.

⚡️ Russia's position at the seventy-eighth session of the UN General Assembly:

Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention

📃 We support the strengthening of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention, the 1925 Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare.

We are gravely concerned over the growing tendency of Euro-Atlantic allies, led by the United States, to "privatize" specialized international organizations, of which the unacceptable situation in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is a graphic example.

❗️ Since 2018, in the vein of the anti-Russian and anti-Syrian rhetoric, NATO and EU countries have completely abandoned the practice of attaining consensus on key issues on the OPCW's agenda, as enshrined in Article VIII of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), and replaced it with voting on the basis of bloc discipline.

These consistent efforts resulted in vesting the Technical Secretariat with "attribution" functions in violation of the CWC-established procedure for introducing amendments to the Convention (Article XV). While pursuing its goal of toppling the legitimate government of Bashar al-Assad, undesirable for Washington, the "collective West" has virtually undermined the integrity of the Convention and ruined the technical nature of the OPCW's work.