Желаем всем нашим норвежским друзьям счастливого Рождества.

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📂 We bring to your attention the report Russia’s Policy Towards World Majority, prepared based on a series of studies, conferences, and situational analysis sessions conducted under the situational analysis program by the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs of the Higher School of Economics, Council on Foreign and Defense Policy and Russia in Global Affairs journal with support from the State Duma Committee on International Affairs and under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

Key points:

🔹 Since the start of the Special Military Operation in Ukraine, the Russian foreign policy space has split in two:

👉 On the one hand, a US-led coalition of several dozen states, which keeps taking new punitive measures against Russia.

👉 On the other hand, there is the rest of the world: more than a hundred countries that de facto have taken a neutral position on the Ukraine conflict, and many have assumed a benevolent attitude towards Moscow.

🔹 The nations of the Global South and East are Russia’s natural associates in democratizing the world order, eradicating neocolonial practices, and banning instruments of pressure and blackmail from the world political, monetary, and financial systems.

🔹 The armed conflict in Ukraine has already led to the emergence of the World Majority as a clearly defined phenomenon in international relations.

🔹 The World Majority is not something external to Russia. Russia itself is its active member, its most important geopolitical resource and, in fact, its military-political core.

🔹 Strategically, the World Majority policy is a programme to build a new world order. Developing such a programme and the related long-term (for example, until 2040) strategy is a priority.

Read in full (download pdf)

⚡️🇪🇺 Перестали действовать «льготные» визовые ставки для граждан ряда европейских государств

Федеральный закон, отменяющий упрощенный визовый режим со странами Евросоюза, Данией, Исландией, Лихтенштейном, Норвегией и Швейцарией, вступил в силу 25 декабря с.г.

Законом синхронизирован режим взимания визовых сборов за оформление российских виз с решениями, принятыми властями указанных государств,
о приостановлении в одностороннем порядке действия международных договоров с Российской Федерацией о взаимном упрощении выдачи виз, в том числе повлекшими переход на взимание визовых сборов по ставкам, установленным их национальным законодательством.

В результате с граждан упомянутых стран Европы будут взиматься визовые сборы, определенные российским законодательством и отраженные в тарифах сборов, утвержденных соответствующими приказами по Посольствам Российской Федерации.

☝🏻При этом отмечаем, что в русле одобренного Президентом Российской Федерации подхода для поддержания контактов с европейскими гражданами сохраняется возможность выдачи виз отдельным категориям европейцев без оформления приглашений в территориальных органах МВД России (т.е. по соответствующим прямым приглашениям).

Речь идет о предпринимателях, лицах, участвующих в научной, культурной или творческой деятельности, участниках международных спортивных мероприятий и официальных программ обмена между породненными городами, школьниках, студентах, аспирантах, направляющихся на учебу и стажировку, близких родственниках граждан стран Европы, проживающих в России, водителях-дальнобойщиках.

👌🏻Также граждане стран Европы имеют право на получение единой электронной визы (ЕЭВ) для осуществления краткосрочных поездок (продолжительностью до 16 дней) с различными целями — туристическими, частными, деловыми.

В общей сложности с начала запуска проекта в августе с.г. к настоящему времени оформлено свыше 163 тысяч ЕЭВ.

http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/document/0001202312250039?index=1&fbclid=IwAR07o7yRZH68HE-8lvz70k4HdE8kxgnov1_6HDfrVDX8SW1GNZXYSV2a87I_aem_AZPqSeFrMSuhSl6I5HTr52IiO8G7v_epPpNgF9i4d7vDDn_HK0GPQPZVKko2vyyM9Zo

#консульскиеновости #визы

🎙 Briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (Moscow, December 27, 2023)

🔹 FM Sergey Lavrov’s schedule
🔹 Ukrainian crisis
🔹 Situation in Serbia
🔹 OSCE
🔹 EU’s anti-Russia sanctions
🔹 EU activities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic
🔹 Russia’s upcoming chairmanship of the CIS

📰 Read in full
📺 Watch

#Ukraine

• Fewer people are willing to take up arms and fight for the Ukrainian government, rotten as it is by pervasive corruption and nationalism. Over the past year, conscription stations sent about 40,000 people into the army, failing to offset the casualties suffered by the Ukrainian Armed Forces during their so-called counteroffensive.

To achieve the required result, Ukraine decided to amend its laws by de facto designating a substantial part of its population as slaves and depriving them of any rights. They are getting ready to hunt down those who fall within the conscription age range as part of the mobilisation effort, and plan to force Ukrainian men who fled abroad to escape the war to come back in order to mobilise them into the army.

Illegitimate EU#Sanctions

• The introduction of even limited sanctions on Russian aluminium will inevitably raise prices, put hundreds of companies in the EU at risk of being shut down, and will have a negative impact on the industrial potential of the EU and the implementation of measures towards the green economy. <...>

It is clear whose interests Brussels is serving. First, it acts against its own citizens and EU residents. Second, it serves the monopolists whose companies or interests are directly related to Washington and London.

🎙Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with RIA Novosti and Rossiya 24 TV on current foreign policy issues

📍Moscow, December 28, 2023

• Because of this hybrid war by the entire collective West, which was unleashed by the hands, bodies and other parts of Ukrainian society against us with the use of modern Western weapons, Russia has become much stronger during this year. The unity of our people has increased substantially.

• The overwhelming majority of states, the World Majority, have not joined the sanctions but cannot raise their voice high enough during debates for the time being. However, they are coming to realise that this could happen to anyone, and that any country could become a target for sanctions by the US, Europe or any US ally.

• More and more countries are telling us that they are with us. They understand that the lengthy process of forming a multipolar world has begun. They will help us by action but will have to occasionally trot out fake excuses (excuse the rude expression) to avoid being given a hard time. This is a serious trend.

• With the special military operation underway and our ongoing confrontation with the West, including on the economic and sanctions front, the objective substantiation of our actions takes on special importance.

• In the context of the emphasis on the Global Majority, on the countries that are ready to work with us in a fair, mutually beneficial and mutually respectful manner, including in the economy, politics, and security, our chairmanships, two of them, coming next year, are of central importance. One is in the #CIS and the other in #BRICS.

• Maybe, the West is even thinking about “specifying its strategy” because if “Russia’s strategic defeat” is a strategy (excuse my tautology please), it has failed miserably. <...> It is clear what they want to achieve – to leave as soon as possible from this grievous position, one that Europe was driven into primarily by Washington.

📖 Read in full
🎥 Watch

📰 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with TASS news agency (December 28, 2023)

Key talking points:

🔹 It is time everyone drew a lesson from the consequences of US attempts to play at behind-the-curtain diplomacy in the Middle East. It was Washington’s policy of monopolising mediation and undermining the international legal framework for a settlement that resulted in the current escalation in the conflict zone.

🔹 Neither Washington, nor Brussels refrain from assisting the Kiev regime because they realise that it would be doomed without such assistance. They remain committed to containing Russia at the expense of Ukrainians and their lives.

🔹 Americans placed their bets on force in an attempt to slow down the erosion of their hegemony. This is why they have been seeking to secure their military supremacy and have a free hand to use force. And this is how we can explain their refusal to accept any restrictions in terms of arms control.

🔹 It is obvious to us that the American proposals on launching nuclear arms control talks while keeping them separate from the negative military and political context and the dismal state of relations between Russia and the West are inadequate. We can see through what Washington is after: they want to mitigate nuclear risks to themselves while securing an advantage in terms of other military capabilities.

🔹 Armenia has been and remains our strategic partner in the South Caucasus. We are confident that all these difficulties are temporary and will be overcome with enough political will to do so. The sustainable and systematic expansion of Russian-Armenian ties meets the fundamental interests of the people in both states.

🔹 Most of our partners agree with us that sooner or later our Western colleagues will have to accept the realities of a multipolar world, and then all issues will be resolved based on a balance of interests.

Read in full

⚡️ Foreign Ministry statement on yet another brutal attack on Russian civilians by the Kiev regime

❗️ The Kiev regime has once again revealed its inhuman Nazi essence by committing another cynical and horrific crime – an attack on residential areas in Belgorod using multiple launch rocket systems.

The premeditated and meticulously prepared shelling attack on the city centre resulted in the deaths of at least 14 people, including two children, and injured 100 civilians, 17 of whom were minors.

‼️ British and American consultants were directly involved in organising this terrorist attack, regularly inciting the Ukrainian authorities to commit brutal crimes. The countries of the European Union, which persistently and irresponsibly continue to supply the Ukrainian ruling clique with weapons, are also responsible for this.

It should be emphasised that the strike deliberately targeted places where civilians gather, particularly families with children. The enemy attacked pre-holiday attractions in downtown Belgorod, including the New Year's snow town, the Christmas tree and the ice rink, which were popular among the residents. The Ukrainian criminals used cluster munitions to maximise the number of victims in their terrorist attack.

The shelling of communities in Donbass, the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, Crimea, and other Russian regions, as well as the ruthless and indiscriminate killing of civilians, serve as evidence of the agony of Zelensky's neo-Nazi regime, which is immersed in terrorism, lawlessness, corruption, and cynicism. In their impotent rage, they seek to please their Western bosses by killing as many Russian people as possible.

☝️ All those responsible for orchestrating and carrying out this and other crimes by the Kiev junta will face inevitable punishment in accordance with the law.

The UN Security Council will also investigate the terrorist attack in Belgorod, specifically the use of cluster munitions, which are banned in most countries, by Ukrainian terrorists to target civilians, as well as the sources of these deadly weapons.

We urge all responsible governments and relevant international organisations to strongly condemn this brutal act of terrorism and publicly distance themselves from the Kiev regime and its Western handlers who commit such crimes.

⚠️ Silence in response to the unrestrained brutality displayed by Ukrainian Nazis and their puppeteers, as well as their accomplices from "civilised democracies," will be seen as aiding and abetting their heinous acts.