🎙 Statement by Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia at UNSC briefing on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question (January 12, 2024)

💬 Russia supported Algeria's initiative to convene today's urgent meeting of the Council on the situation in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, with a focus on the threat of forced displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, in light of the illegality of such steps by West Jerusalem in the terms of international law.

And that is only part of the deadly "puzzle" that assembles into the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.

As of now, more than 23,000 people have been killed in the enclave. That includes, by preliminary data, more than 7,500 children. Thousands of people are missing under the rubble of destroyed buildings. <...> Civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities, has been destroyed almost completely. The total blockade of Gaza has led to acute shortages of water, fuel and medical supplies. <...> Since the beginning of the escalation, some 2 million people have already been displaced. Half of them are women and children. <...>

❗️ The attack of October 7 cannot be used to legitimize Israel's use of force in the Gaza Strip. <...>

A coherent strategy of West Jerusalem is emerging. Its goal is to forcibly displace Palestinians, and its logic is simple - to make life in Gaza unbearable, even impossible, leaving the civilian population with the unimaginable choice – either leave your homeland or get killed. <...>

☝️ Under the current circumstances, Russia's principled approaches remain unchanged:

• an immediate ceasefire,
• unimpeded & safe humanitarian access,
• release of hostages,
• the restoration of the political horizon on the basis of the two-state solution for the Middle East settlement.

⚠️ Without an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the Middle East risks plunging into a full-scale war with the most serious global implications.

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🎙 Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at UNSC briefing with regard to strikes by US-led "international coalition" against the territory of Yemen (January 12, 2024)

💬 On January 11, the so-called "international coalition" led by the United States and Great Britain, which included Australia, Canada, Bahrain and the Netherlands, who calls itself the capital of world justice, launched massive strikes on the territory of Yemen.

This was not an attack against a group in this country, but against the people of Yemen as a whole. They hit the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, the cities of Sanaa, Saada, Zabid, Taiz and Damar. The US and satellites bombed airports and other infrastructure. Fires are burning in shell craters.

Unfortunately, what we are witnessing in Yemen looks painfully familiar. We have seen the exact same pattern of destruction in Gaza for the past three months. Now, long-suffering Yemen has once again become a hotbed of hostilities in the region.

Clearly, Washington is not going to stop there. The White House said it "reserves the right" to resume military action if there be more "threats". It does not take an expert to see that the United States will determine these "threats" and response measures at own discretion, without slightest regard for international law.

☝️ Massive strikes of the US and the UK against the territory of Yemen have nothing to do with the right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter. <...>

The US and its allies have a long record of gross violations and misinterpretations of international law. <...> Apparently, when it comes to Washington's hegemonic aspirations, neither international law nor the ICJ carry any weight for Americans and their allies. This is what the US-promoted "rules-based world order" is about. <...>

❗️ We call on the international community to resolutely condemn the attack on Yemen by a group of countries under the lead of the US and UK that was done without a UN mandate.

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🎙 Briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (Moscow, January 12, 2024)

🔹 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s schedule. FM’s news conference on the Foreign Ministry’s performance in 2023
🔹 Yemen faces strikes by US and UK-led “coalition”
🔹 Ukrainian crisis
🔹 Situation in Moldova
🔹 Details of the German Defence Ministry’s preparations to deploy a Bundeswehr brigade in Lithuania
🔹 EU charges against Russia over increased illegal migration flows in 2023
🔹 Dismantling Russian monuments in Bulgaria
🔹 Ukraine brings pressure to bear on journalist Trofim Tatarenkov
🔹 Serbia launches museum project showcasing Russian regions
🔹 Russian Press Day
🔹 Russian Federation’s chairmanship of #BRICS
🔹 Games of the Future 2024 accreditation

📰 Read in full
📺 Watch

#Yemen

We urge the international community to strongly condemn the attack on Yemen carried out by a group of countries without a UN mandate. We share the concerns expressed by our partners in the region, particularly Saudi Arabia, and call for increased international efforts to prevent further escalation of the situation.

We believe that this undertaking by the forces of the illegal "coalition" poses a direct threat to global peace and security. Based on this understanding, we have called for an immediate convening of the Security Council, where we will voice our principled assessment of these unlawful actions.

#Ukraine

In reality, Washington, London, and Brussels have nurtured an aggressive nationalist and essentially neo-Nazi dictatorship in Ukraine whose sole objective, openly expressed, is to bring a "strategic defeat" to Russia. Western countries can no longer deny that Ukraine itself has been brought to ruin as a result of these policies. However, this has yet to be officially acknowledged.

Naturally, we cannot allow such a source of threat to the security of our country and our citizens to exist near our borders.

🟡 From February 21 to March 3, 2024, the first ever Games of Future will be held in Kazan, Russia.

🕹️ The international multi-sport tournament in the phygital format will combine competitions in the physical and digital dimensions.

💻 More than 260 teams, more than 2000 athletes from different countries will take part in 21 innovative сlusters, called "challenges", in such areas as sports, tactics, battle, speedrun, technology.

📌 More details ➡️ LINK

‼️ Kindly note that media accreditation for the event is open till January 21, 2024 ➡️ https://en.gofuture.games/content/press-center

🎙 Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s comment following the latest Copenhagen-format meeting on Ukraine in Davos

💬 <...> Today, more countries from the Global South and East, including those that attended the Copenhagen-format meetings, are openly saying that discussing any possible contours of an eventual settlement of the Ukraine crisis does not make any sense without Russia.

There is a growing understanding that the ultimatums set forth in the Zelensky Formula cannot bring about a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. This framework is based on delusional demands, such as withdrawing Russian troops to the 1991 borders, holding Russia accountable and making it pay reparations. At the same time, the Kiev regime does not hide the fact that it demands the withdrawal of troops in order to launch a genocide against Russians who support reunification with Russia. Supporting these demands means endorsing ethnic cleansing, which is a crime.

All Copenhagen-format meetings, including the one in Davos and any future gatherings, are ineffective and undermine the prospects for achieving a settlement of the Ukraine crisis. The organisers have been trying to draft The Principles for Peace in Ukraine but they are inherently unviable since they are based on the Zelensky Formula, absurd and unacceptable as it is. Moreover, Zelensky has enacted a legal ban that prevents him from engaging in peace talks with Russia.

☝️ It is only by returning to the roots of its statehood, including neutrality, non-bloc and non-nuclear status while fully respecting the rights and freedoms of people of all ethnic backgrounds living on its territory, that Ukraine would be able to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace settlement.

❗️ Unfortunately, the Zelensky Formula and the agenda of the Copenhagen-format meetings fail to address these crucial matters.

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⚡️ МИД России подготовлен очередной доклад о нарушениях прав российских граждан и соотечественников в зарубежных странах.

❗️Нарушения прав граждан России в западных государствах остаются многочисленными. По-прежнему в качестве предлога для оправдания этого неприглядного отношения к нашим соотечественникам используется проводимая Российской Федерацией специальная военная операция по денацификации и демилитаризации Украины и защите мирного населения Донбасса (СВО).

👉 Никуда не исчезли такие нарушения прав россиян, как отказы от оказания широкого спектра услуг, введение мер, направленных против российского бизнеса, наложение ареста на имущество росграждан, принуждение к публичным покаяниям и осуждению действий российских властей, отстранение от спортивных состязаний и культурных мероприятий.

👉 Не утихают и только усиливаются преследования проживающих за рубежом соотечественников и активистов-антифашистов, особенно за их усилия по сохранению подлинной исторической памяти.

👉 В значительном числе фиксируются инциденты с задержаниями и политически мотивированными преследованиями россиян, в том числе по запросам третьих стран, среди которых лидируют США.

👉 Продолжаем также фиксировать инциденты с воспрепятствованием властями зарубежных стран деятельности российских журналистов или лиц, представляющих российские СМИ.

Со своей стороны МИД России продолжает предпринимать все возможные дипломатические шаги для защиты прав российских граждан, оказавшихся в тюрьмах за рубежом. Такие дела находятся на контроле российских дипломатических представительств и, в случае необходимости, выносятся на обсуждение на самом высоком уровне.

🌐 О ситуации с нарушениями прав российских граждан и соотечественников на Украине, в США, ФРГ, Великобритании, Канаде, Австралии, Латвии, Литве, Польше, Эстонии, Японии и других странах.

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🎖 #OTD in 1943, the Siege of Leningrad was broken as the result of Operation Iskra (Spark). After 16 months of heroically battling the Nazi invaders, the Soviet Union’s second most important city regained its land connection to the rest of the country.

▪️ The siege of Leningrad lasted 872 days. For most of that time, the only way to get to the city was by air or via the sole transport route across the ice of Lake Ladoga – the Road of Life.

Soviet troops tried to break the siege several times. They succeeded on January 18, 1943, following Operation Iskra conducted by the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts with air support from the Baltic Fleet.

To lift the siege, the Soviet command decided to focus its strikes on the narrowest part of the bulge in the German defence adjoining Lake Ladoga near Shlisselburg. This area was the best option for mounting two swift counterstrikes – from the west (from within the ring) and from the east.

On January 18, the Red Army broke the encirclement after heavy fighting. A narrow 11 km-wide corridor was formed on the southern shore of Lake Ladoga for supplies and evacuation.

✍️ From Marshal Georgy Zhukov’s memoirs: “I saw the joy with which the fighters of the fronts that broke the siege rushed toward each other. Heedless of the enemy shelling from Sinyavino Heights, they met each other in warm, brotherly embrace. This was truly a hard-won joy!”

☝️ Lifting the blockade primarily meant restoring the besieged city’s connection to the mainland. The railway was repaired three weeks after the breakthrough and the first trains with food and ammunition headed for Leningrad. Power supply improved as well.

On January 18, 2018, the Proryv (Breakthrough) panoramic museum was opened on the site where the troops of the Leningrad Front crossed the Neva River. It depicts the dramatic events of January 13, 1943, the second day of Operation Iskra.

📅 On January 18, 1654 (370 years ago), Zaporozhiye Cossacks led by Hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky announced in the city of Pereyaslav their decision to move “under the high arm” of the Moscow tsar.

Since the start of the Rzeczpospolita, the Catholic gentry had subjected the people living in ancient Russian lands to aggressive Polonisation and Latinisation, which was accompanied by the seizure of substantial land holdings. Threatened with the loss of religious and ethnic identity, the Orthodox population of the Dnieper River began gradually forming a liberation movement. Those who wanted to escape the yoke of the Polish gentry and reunite with Russia were ready to act together.

The leaders of the uprising looked at other options for the future. There were initiatives to reconcile with the Polish king, and even seeking the patronage of the Turkish sultan was considered.

☝️ Ultimately, however, the people of these lands made their historical choice in favour of unification with Russia.

The Pereyaslav Agreement ’s defining feature was representation of all areas of the Hetmanate divided into military-administrative units (Cossack regiments). A certificate from Tsar Alexis of Russia read that he accepted under his “high arm the entire Zaporozhiye Cossacks with cities and lands". Bogdan Khmelnitsky, the Cossack commanding officer and the local population swore allegiance to Russia.

❗️ This decision marked a turning point in the history of Eastern Europe as a whole.

The decision by the Pereyaslav Agreement clearly demonstrated the will of the once separated people to live in the same state.

Unfortunately, the term “reunification” has been all but forgotten in official Ukrainian historiography. The West is openly encouraging the Kiev regime to renounce centuries of friendship and brotherhood with Moscow and fanning anti-Russia hysteria in Ukrainian society.

О ГОЛОСОВАНИИ НА ТЕРРИТОРИИ НОРВЕГИИ
ПО ВЫБОРАМ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ
17 МАРТА 2024 Г.

17 марта 2024 г. состоится голосование по выборам Президента Российской Федерации. В соответствии с Конституцией и законодательством Российской Федерации граждане, проживающие или находящиеся в день выборов за рубежом, могут реализовать своё избирательное право на специально образованных при российских дипломатических и консульских учреждениях избирательных участках. В Норвегии это – Посольство России, генеральные консульства в Киркенесе и на Шпицбергене.

На избирательном участке № 8244 в Посольстве России в Норвегии голосование состоится с 08.00 до 20.00. Адрес: Drammensveien 74, Oslo, вход со стороны Leiv Eirikssons gate.

В голосовании могут принять участие граждане Российской Федерации, достигшие 18 лет на день голосования. При себе необходимо иметь действующий загранпаспорт гражданина Российской Федерации.

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine

📍 New York, January 22, 2024

Key talking points:

💬 The vast majority of unbiased experts clearly see that the West's continuing support for the Kiev regime is the key factor that is preventing a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine crisis. Support is provided despite its obvious agony and inability to fulfil the goal of inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Russia that was dictated to it by its higher ups, or, as they started saying recently, of at least degrading my country.

• Despite the complete failure of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the battlefield, the Western patrons of the Kiev regime continue to push it, like maniacs, to continue this meaningless military confrontation.

☝️ We were forced to start the military operation against a criminal regime that went too far, emboldened by impunity, and was unwilling, despite our numerous efforts over many years, to say no to the war against its own citizens in southern and southeastern Ukraine and its policy of total discrimination against Russian-speaking Ukrainians, who are still the majority in that country.

• It is surely time for Europeans – I am addressing sane Europeans – to wake up and understand that with the help of Vladimir Zelensky’s regime, the US is not only waging a war against Russia, but also pursuing the strategic objective of sharply weakening Europe as an economic rival.

• Let me remind you that we have never renounced peaceful methods and have always been ready for negotiations.

❗️ The majority of people in Ukraine are beginning to realise who their real enemy is and who has been misleading them for years by demonising Russia, spreading lies about it, and “cancelling” our shared history.

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🇷🇺🇺🇳 On January 23, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as part of his visit to New York to participate in the UN Security Council meetings on Ukrainian and Middle East issues.

They had a substantive discussion of various aspects of cooperation between Russia and the UN, as well as key issues on the international agenda.

Both Sides noted the importance of further strengthening the central coordinating role of the United Nations in global politics with account of the full range of its member states’ opinions.

Sergey Lavrov also emphasised that it is imperative for all members of the UN Secretariat to strictly observe the principles of impartiality and equidistance in full compliance with the UN Charter.

#RussiaUN

🎙 FM Sergey Lavrov’s statement at the UN Security Council Ministerial Meeting on the Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question (New York, January 23, 2024)

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💬 Immediate measures must be taken to bring about a ceasefire and stop the suffering of people in Palestine not just for major political reasons but also in the name of universal human morality. Likewise, steps must be taken to prevent further destabilisation in the other parts of the Middle East.

The Security Council has been unable to formulate an appropriate response to this crucial challenge. As you know, the reason for this is the stance of the US, which is blocking all attempts and initiatives to halt the bloodshed in the occupied territories. <...> This obviously gives them carte blanche to continue with the collective punishment of the Palestinians.

<...>

• Every new round of Washington’s arrogant one-sided policy in the Middle East and separate shuttle negotiations with regional players, accompanied by financial promises, leads to an increasingly bloody escalation.

• Nearly 30,000 civilians have been killed, including an enormous number of women and children. <...> It is a human tragedy that has no end.

<...>

The following factors must be of paramount importance when we reach the stage of discussing the parameters of “the day after.”

First, the consolidated will of the Palestinian people themselves.

<...>

The second key factor is the inviolability of the two-state formula for a Palestinian-Israeli settlement and the imperative of its early implementation.

<...>

❗️ I would like to underscore a critical point. We have no right to allow the UN decisions to create a Palestinian state to be buried the same way as the 2015 Minsk Agreements, which were unanimously approved by the UN Security Council. France and Germany, which acted as guarantors, later admitted they never planned to implement them. Such criminal acts must not be allowed to happen again, this time against the Palestinian people.

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions following a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine and an open debate on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question,” (New York, January 24, 2024)

Key talking points:

• Terrorist attack by the Kiev regime on Il-76 plane
• Middle East
• Prospects of the Palestinian-Israeli settlement
• Ukraine
• Double standards of Western media
• Russia-US relations
• Nuclear security
• Korean Peninsula

💬 Sergey Lavrov: I am compelled to begin by stating yet another fact of the Kiev regime’s use of terrorist methods.

A terrorist attack was perpetrated on January 24, at 11:15 am Moscow time, resulting in the downing of a Russian Il-76 cargo plane in the Belgorod Region. The aircraft was en route from the Moscow Region to Belgorod, carrying 65 prisoners from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Three Russian officers and a crew of six people accompanied them. All of them died. The Ukrainian prisoners of war were being taken to the Belgorod Region for a prisoner exchange agreed between Moscow and Kiev.

Instead, Ukraine targeted this aircraft from the Kharkov Region using surface-to-air missiles, causing a fatal strike. <...>

#US #MiddleEast

As for the present crisis, everyone seems to have a similar understanding of the consequences of US policy in the region. None of the reckless attempts Washington has engaged in over the last few decades to defend its “core security interests” ten thousand miles across the Atlantic led to a situation where people’s lives improved in a country that the US attacked.

#US #Santions

They should not assume that just because they are strong, because they have the dollar, they can use it to “strangle” others: disconnect them from the SWIFT system or deny them access to the IMF and World Bank loans at whim. The US actually invented the system and made the world accept it.

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🕯 January 27 is the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, established on November 1, 2005 by the decision of the United Nations General Assembly, which Russia co-authored.

On this day, commemorative events are held around the world to highlight the importance of combating neoNazism, xenophobia, racism and other forms of intolerance.

The date itself was not chosen at random - on January 27, 1945, during the Vistula-Oder Operation, the Soviet soldiers liberated the Auschwitz (Oswiecim) concentration camp. According to the available data, at least 1.3 million people passed through the camp during its existence, and some 1.1 million of them were... exterminated.

❗️ The slogan on the camp’s gate, “Work Sets You Free” (in German: “Arbeit macht frei”) underlines the utter inhumanity of the Nazi criminals and their boundless cynicism.

On that day the Red Army soldiers saved more than 7,000 prisoners left in the camp.

During World War II, ~20 million people, including approximately 7.4 million Soviet citizens, were murdered as a result of the aggression in the territories occupied by the Nazi Germany. Approximately 6 million Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis solely because of their ethnicity...

The UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/60/7 states: "The Holocaust, which resulted in the murder of one third of the Jewish people, along with countless members of other minorities, will forever be a warning to all people of the dangers of hatred, bigotry, racism and prejudice".

#WeRemember

🗓 On January 27, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko took part in a ceremony for unveiling a memorial to the USSR civilians who fell victim of the Nazi genocide during the Great Patriotic War. The event is timed to the 80th Anniversary of breaking the Siege of Leningrad.

💬 President Putin: January 27 is one of the most important dates in our shared national history. On this day in 1944, Red Army soldiers completely lifted the Siege of Leningrad. A year later, in 1945, they liberated Auschwitz.

<...>

For eight decades now, our pain for the victims, for the shattered destinies, and for everyone who endured incredible ordeals has not subsided. Our compassion is passed on from generation to generation and has #NoStatuteOfLimitation, just like the crimes of Hitler’s fanatics and their accomplices, those who cold-bloodedly planned and cruelly carried out the genocide of the Soviet people.

🕯 The massacres of unarmed and defenceless elderly people, women, children, and disabled were deliberate, systemic punitive acts.

<...>

We are witnessing a disturbing trend where the outcomes of the Nuremberg trials, which unequivocally condemned Nazism, are being revised. Some countries not only rewrite history and exonerate the executioners: revanchists and neo-Nazis have embraced the Nazi ideology and methods.

• Tens of thousands of people in the Baltic states are labelled “subhuman,” stripped of basic rights and persecuted.

• The Kiev regime glorifies Hitler's followers and members of the SS and uses terror against dissenters. Barbaric shelling of peaceful cities and towns persists, and the killing of the elderly, women and children continues.

• Some European countries endorse Russophobia as a state policy.

❗️ We will do everything in our power to halt and eradicate Nazism.

The followers of Nazi executioners are doomed. Nothing can deter the desire of millions of people in Russia and across the planet for true freedom, justice, peace, and security.

#Victory79 #WeRemember

🗓 On January 27, 1944, the 872-day siege of Leningrad was finally lifted, marking the end of one of the most tragic episodes of the Great Patriotic War which claimed the lives of over a million Leningraders.
 
The blockade began on September 8, 1941, when Nazi troops isolated the city from the rest of the country by land. From the north, it was cut off from the main forces by Finnish troops allied with the Nazi Germany. In addition to the Finns, soldiers from Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands & Norway took part in the offensive, as well as volunteers from Austria, Latvia, Poland, France & Czechoslovakia.
 
Despite the cold, hunger & horrors of war, the Leningraders selflessly defended their city from total destruction during these 872 days and even in these dire circumstances continued producing goods & various machinery to supply the war effort against the Nazis. The incredible resilience and bravery of Leningrad residents shattered all the plans and ambitions of the Nazi invaders.
 
⚔️ A year after the breakthrough, Soviet Army managed to finally lift the siege of the city on January 27, 1944. After the success of the Iskra Operation, the situation in the city improved dramatically, but the threat remained. At the end of 1943, the Leningrad-Novgorod Strategic Offensive Operation was planned, during which Soviet soldiers liberated the Leningrad, Novgorod and part of the Kalinin (now Tver) regions, and pushed back the enemy to the borders of Estonia and Latvia.

🎖 The courage & heroism of Leningrad defenders were highly appreciated by the Motherland. Many units & formations were awarded the honourable title of “Guards”, orders & the honorary title of “Leningrad”. On the Leningrad, Volkhov & Karelian fronts, 486 people were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, including eight people who received it twice. 350,000+ servicemen on the Leningrad front alone received orders & medals.

#WeRemember and pay tribute to the heroes who stopped the Nazi plague that crippled Europe and threatened humankind.