Good morning, India! 🌞 शुभ प्रभात, भारत!

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🎙 Briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (Vladivostok, September 13, 2023)

🔷 FM Sergey Lavrov’s schedule
🔷 International and interregional ties of Russia’s Far East
🔷 78th session of UNGA
🔷 Ukrainian crisis
🔷 Double standards of “Hague justice”
🔷 NATO Northern Coasts 2023 exercise
🔷 Situation in Niger
🔷 International Day of Democracy

And more...

📚 Read in full

#Ukraine

On September 10, a milestone event took place in the new constituent entities of the Russian Federation, namely, the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. The first elections to local government under Russian law were held.

Kiev once again made desperate attempts to thwart people that it treats as outsiders from expressing their will. On the night of September 10 the Ukrainian forces used a drone to attack a polling station and completely destroyed it.

Were Ukrainian neo-Nazis the only ones to threaten the electoral cycle participants? Let me remind you that they were joined by the official capitals of Western countries that issued threats to election observers.

#InternationalDayOfDemocracy

The global majority countries are openly expressing their discontent with the fact that the collective West has usurped the right to determine “the only right” version of democracy and its values, according to the West, which has also claimed the prerogative to determine the standards of democracy in different states, communities and nations.

One example of this neocolonial approach is the Summit for Democracy devised in Washington. This strange platform is actually a get-together of the United States’ satellites where loyalty is the main criterion. The main goal of events such as the Summit for Democracy is to divide the international community into us and them while rallying supporters in the struggle for maintaining America’s geopolitical positions.

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

Drug problem

The world drug problem has exacerbated during the COVID‑19 pandemic and remains a serious threat to the security and well-being of populations.

We call for equal attention to its three interrelated components:

• reducing drug demand
• reducing drug supply
• strengthening the international anti-drug cooperation based on the principle of common and shared responsibility

Strict compliance with the three relevant UN conventions of 1961, 1971 and 1988 by all states is essential for the effective functioning of the global drug control system.

❗️ We consider all attempts to destabilize it, including the legalization of drugs for recreational use, to be a threat to the national security of our country. The principle of limiting the use of drugs to medical and scientific purposes only, as enshrined in the conventions, represents the best way to implement the human rights to life and health.

☝️ We advocate for building a society free of drug abuse by promoting healthy lifestyles and keeping children and youth away from illicit drugs.

Countering the illicit drug use should not limit the availability and accessibility of narcotic drugs in medicine when they are proven effective for the treatment of specific diseases.

#UNGA78

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

Sport

📃 We are convinced that sport is a unique tool for developing and strengthening social ties, building mutually respectful communication, and should bring closer together and unite peoples.

We are unwaveringly committed to the development of equal international sports cooperation that fully complies with the spirit and principles of Olympism, which precludes politicization and biased approach.

We find it unacceptable when certain Western countries use sport for their self-serving purposes. Persistent attempts to politicize sports cooperation, put pressure on the relevant multilateral organizations, including the International Olympic Committee, and cause division in the international Olympic movement are at odds with the Olympic goals and ideals.

🏆 We insist on holding fair and just competitions, and ensuring that all countries without exception have equal access to full participation in the Olympic and Paralympic movements.

🚘 This Saturday, a motor rally of retro cars started from the Russian MFA building on Smolenskaya Square heading for the Zavidovo recreation complex in the Tver region.

Diplomats, car enthusiasts and Moscow guests appreciated the best samples of Russian and foreign automobile industry, got acquainted with the car models that served the diplomatic corps in the Soviet era.

📹 #ICYMI

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

Fight against terrorism

📃 We call for the consolidation of international efforts in the fight against terrorism, with the UN's central coordinating role, without politicization, double standards, or hidden agendas and based on the UN Charter, relevant universal conventions and protocols, UNSC thematic resolutions, as well as the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

We believe it is important to make extensive use of the tools of the UNSC subsidiary counter-terrorism bodies, particularly its Counter-Terrorism Committee, ISIL (Da'esh) and Al‑Qaida, and the Taliban Movement sanctions committees.

👉 We stand for intensifying the work to cut off ideological, material, financial and human resources support for terrorists, as well as for strengthening cooperation among countries in countering foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) and bringing them to justice on the basis of the "extradite or prosecute" principle.

❗️ We oppose the course pursued by the West towards eroding the international legal counter-terrorism framework – whether through over-emphasizing human rights and gender issues that are secondary in the context of counter-terrorism or by promoting the controversial concepts of "countering violent extremism" and countering "racially and ethnically motivated violent extremism/terrorism".

We draw the attention of the international community to the dangerous rise in right-wing extremist threats, especially manifestations of aggressive nationalism and neo-Nazism.

#UNGA78

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

International cooperation in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space

📃 As regards the international cooperation in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, we are convinced of the indisputable nature of the central and coordinating role of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).

We view as counterproductive the attempts to erode the COPUOS mandate by artificially transferring the issues of space debris and orbital traffic management from its agenda to parallel and purely disarmament-related UN platforms in line with the concept of the so‑called responsible behaviour in outer space.

❗️ We believe it is important to adopt, by consensus, the resolution entitled "International Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space", which approves the report of the 66th session of COPUOS. We view as dangerous potential attempts to open the draft resolution traditionally adopted without a vote for revision, yielding to political considerations.

We continue to advocate for legal certainty in the matters of delimitation of outer space and airspace, including in the context of establishing the spatial limits to states' sovereignty over their territory and ensuring their national security, and for creating the environment enabling long-term sustainability of aviation activities and safety.

☝️ We call for creation of an effective orbital traffic management system on the basis of regulation and monitoring through a legally binding code of conduct to be developed by the international community.

#Announcement

🇧🇷🇷🇺🇮🇳🇨🇳🇿🇦 On September 20, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will take part in a Meeting of the BRICS Foreign Ministers on the sidelines of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, USA.

The meeting participants will exchange views on topical international issues, including those on the agenda of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.

The Ministers will discuss cooperation in the BRICS format, including opportunities for strengthening coordination in the leading multilateral platforms and implementation of the decisions of the 15th BRICS Summit (Johannesburg, August 22-24). Sergey Lavrov will inform his colleagues about plans for Russia's upcoming BRICS Chairmanship in 2024.

#UNGA78

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s answer to a question from the Moscow. Kremlin. Putin programme (Vladivostok, September 17, 2023)

❓ Question: The United States has declared once again that it is ready to supply Ukraine with long-range depleted uranium munitions. What happens next?

💬 I am in no position to comment on their statements. They constantly change their minds. Perhaps, they are preparing the public at large. However, this will not alter the gist of current developments. For many years, they have been training Ukraine to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia with the hands and bodies of its citizens, and they have trained the country accordingly.

No matter what they say, they are running this war, supplying weapons and ammunition, intelligence, reconnaissance and satellite data.

They are waging a war against Russia.

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

UN peacekeeping

📃 UN peacekeeping should strictly comply with its basic principles and the UN Charter. Efforts should be focused on promoting political settlement and national reconciliation. The use of new technologies should not overshadow the key tasks of peacekeeping. Intelligence in peacekeeping should solely be used to ensure the safety of peacekeepers and the protection of civilians.

❗️ Expanding the peacekeepers' mandate, including by granting them the authority to use force, is only possible by decision of the Security Council with strict consideration of the specific circumstances in a particular country.

We are convinced that the UNGA Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (C-34) should maintain its leading role in developing common parameters for peacekeeping. We consider counterproductive attempts to bypass this forum, including through the UNSC.

☝️ We believe that there are good prospects for engaging the CSTO in UN peacekeeping activities. The CSTO has come a long way in improving its peacekeeping capacities. The Organization's Member States express willingness to enhance their participation in UN peacekeeping efforts not only in their national capacity but also under the CSTO banner.

International support for peacebuilding and peacekeeping should only be provided at the request of the host Government and with a view to building the states' own capacities. The replenishment of the peacebuilding fund through assessed contributions is possible provided that the transparency and accountability of its expenditures are increased and UN intergovernmental bodies issue relevant mandates.

#UNGA78

Good morning, India! 🌞 शुभ प्रभात, भारत!

📸 Can you guess location on the photo?

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

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

Combating illicit arms diversion

📃 As regards the situation in Ukraine, we are deeply concerned that the Western countries undermine global efforts to combat illicit arms diversion and violate their arms control obligations. The unrestrained "pumping" of weapons into the Kiev regime by NATO Member States, which openly acknowledge the lack of capabilities to trace their further movement, is sharply exacerbating the risk of these weapons, including particularly sensitive ones, falling into the hands of criminal organizations and terrorist groups, as well as their uncontrolled proliferation in Europe and worldwide.

Good morning, India! 🌞 शुभ प्रभात, भारत!

📸 Can you guess location on the photo?

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