🎙 Interview by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova with RT on the sidelines of XXVI St. Petersburg International Economic Forum

Key topics:

🔹 Strikes by Ukraine’s Armed Forces against the Kakhovskaya dam
🔹 Prospects of Russian-German contacts
🔹 Relations between Russia and neighboring countries
🔹 Potential #BRICS candidates
🔹 #RussiaAfrica ties
🔹 Peace initiatives on Ukraine
🔹 Black Sea Initiative
🔹 Relations with the EU countries
🔹 2024 US presidential elections

🇷🇺 Interview by Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov to TASS news agency

🔴 Main topics:

🔵 Zaporozhskaya NPP

🔵 Visit by the IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi to Ukraine and a planned trip to Russia

🔗 Read in full

👩‍🚀 #OnThisDay 60 years ago, Soviet citizen Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. Her mission aboard the Vostok-6 spacecraft became a world sensation and inspired millions of women in the Soviet Union and abroad.

The issue of launching a female cosmonaut was raised immediately after Yury Gagarin’s triumphant return from orbit. The goal was to compare the impact of outer space on male and female bodies and to study the possibility of launching civilian specialists into space in future.

🚀 The Vostok-6 flight lasted for two days, 22 hours and 50 minutes and circled the Earth 48 times. Tereshkova made the flight alone; this was never again repeated later. She maintained radio communications with Vostok-5, piloted by Valery Bykovsky.

The first woman in space successfully accomplished her mission. For example, she was able to take pictures of the horizon, and these photos later made it possible to locate aerosol layers in the atmosphere. She violated her strict instructions only after landing in the Altai Territory. While there, she handed out space food tubes to local residents and partook of potatoes and Koumiss, fermented mare’s milk.

🎖Valentina, then 26, lifted off as a Lieutenant and came back a Captain. Three days after landing, she was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Later, she was made a Hero of Socialist Labour of Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Vietnam and Mongolia and became an honorary citizen of 18 Russian and foreign cities.

Tereshkova became the sixth Soviet cosmonaut, the 12th person in space and the youngest woman in orbit. Her daughter Yelena became the first child both of whose parents were cosmonauts.

🔴 #LIVE: Russian President Vladimir Putin's remarks at the Plenary Session of the 26th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (#SPIEF2023)

🔗 https://forumspb.com/en/programme/business-programme/110303/?ELEMENT_ID=110303

🔗 https://www.ruptly.tv/en/events/202306161100-live14663-putin-and-algerian-president-tebboune-address-spief-2023-plenary-session-in-st-petersburg

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s answer to a question from NTV on the sidelines of the 26th St Petersburg International Economic Forum (June 16, 2023)

❓Question: You have said that the Ukrainian part of the “grain deal” has turned into a commercial project. What does Russia think about the possibility of its extension? Are there any signs that our position will be taken into account?

💬 Sergey Lavrov: Why should we extend an unviable deal? The part of the package regarding Russian fertilisers and foods, proposed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, is not being implemented. Only the Ukrainian part is being implemented, but only as a commercial deal rather than for the purpose mentioned by Guterres, which is to satisfy the needs of the poorest countries.

❗️ Less than 3 percent of the total volume dispatched by Ukraine under the grain part of the initiative were delivered to the poorest developing countries on the special list of the UN World Food Programme.

As for our part of the package deal, the explosion of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline alone has shown that some people would like to destroy the package and everything else that created conditions for expanding our trade and the delivery of Russian products to developing countries.

Ukraine and the EU have established “solidarity lanes,” which are a combination of land and river routes. Many European countries are angry about cheap and low-quality Ukrainian grain that does not meet sanitary requirements. If they have more than they need, they can send the surplus to Africa and other countries that need it, including as fodder for their cattle.

☝️ For the past months when the Russian part of the “grain deal” was blocked, we continued to deliver grain to developing countries via other routes, which are not obstructed by Western barriers. We will continue to do this. There is no doubt about that.

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🔴 #LIVE: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's remarks following the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and heads of the African delegations.


🔗 https://www.ruptly.tv/en/events/202306170900-live14692-refeed-lavrov-speaks-to-press-following-putin-s-meeting-with-african-leaders

🎙 Excerpts from President Vladimir Putin's remarks in the plenary session of the 26th St Petersburg International Economic Forum.

• This proves yet again that common sense, business initiative and objective market forces outweigh politics. This also demonstrates that this ugly and de-facto neo-colonial international system no longer works, while the multipolar world order is, on the contrary, becoming stronger. This is an inevitable process.

•  In today’s world it is hard to make other countries mindlessly tow to somebody’s interests; it is practically impossible sometimes. Those who do it should finally realise that it is counterproductive not only for the global economy, which is hard to perceive at one glance; it is unacceptable for millions of people. Unacceptable.

• And the current situation, the current crisis in Ukraine is beneficial for them. It is a pretext to conceal their economic mistakes both in energy and finance. They have driven the situation to an inflation spike. Why? Because they were flooding their economy with trillions of dollars

• Now they are considering supplies of aircraft [NATO's to Ukraine]. But if they are located at air bases outside Ukraine and are used in hostilities, we will have to think about how and where we can hit the resources that are used against us in the hostilities. There is a serious danger of NATO’s further involvement in this armed conflict.

• Nuclear weapons are created to ensure our security, in the broadest sense of the word, and the existence of the Russian state. First, we see no need to use it; and second, considering this, even as a possibility, factors into lowering the threshold for the use of such weapons. This is my first point. The second point is that we have more such nuclear weapons than NATO countries. They know about it and never stop trying to persuade us to start nuclear reduction talks.

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#Announcement

🎙 Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova will hold a briefing on current foreign policy issues at approximately 3 pm MSK (12 pm GMT) on June 21.

❗️ Accreditation is open until 2 pm on June 20.

🎙 Briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (Saint Petersburg, June 15, 2023)

🔹 FM Sergey Lavrov’s schedule
🔹 Ukrainian crisis
🔹 Zaporozhye NPP update
🔹 Organ trade in Ukraine
🔹 Ukrainisation of UNSC agenda
🔹 Situation in Afghanistan
🔹 Nuclear deterrence
🔹 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
🔹 European Union

And more...

📚 Read in full

#Ukraine
As a result of the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant due to prolonged shelling by the Ukrainian armed forces, 36 settlements in Kherson Region were flooded.

A large-scale humanitarian operation has been taking place in this Russian region over the last few days. Russian Emergencies Ministry workers rescued almost 2,000 people, among them hundreds of children.

While Russia is making every effort to save the residents of the affected areas and to provide them with essential supplies, Kiev continues to target civilian sites.

#NuclearDeterrence
Russia is fully committed to the principle of the inadmissibility of a nuclear war. There can be no winners in such a war, and it must never be waged.

The hypothetical use of nuclear weapons is only possible under extraordinary circumstances for purely defensive purposes.

#EU
An astronomical amount of [COVID19] vaccines, many times the size of the EU population, was purchased on behalf of the EU member states, at an astronomical cost and mainly from a single company, Pfizer.

The multi-billion dollar amount and the terms of the contract were not made public. This was done without bidding, without documents and without witnesses. Such decisions were made simply by text message.

🎥 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with RT TV Channel on the sidelines of the 26th St Petersburg International Economic Forum (St Petersburg, June 16, 2023)

Key talking points:

🔹 We can no longer rely on the promises and the agreements signed with the West which were presented as a foundation for developing constructive partnership. <...> The West has “lost” Russia at this point of history.

🔹 The dominant trend today is the awareness of the need to regionalise the development processes. This includes the #SCO and, in a wider sense, the Greater Eurasian Partnership, which President Vladimir Putin mentioned at the #RussiaASEAN Summit a few years ago.

🔹 The Anglo-Saxons and their ilk are bringing pressure to bear across the board, including on our closest #CSTO allies. The Gulf Arab countries are not an exception. I would say that the Western methods are boorish. I cannot think of another word.

🔹 Our relations with the Africans and our other partners are not based on money. What we are trying to do is identify projects that meet the interests of both sides.

🔹 #BRICS will expand, with the countries representing major Arab, or Islamic civilisation in a broader sense, joining it. This will strengthen the multipolar principles that we are discussing now and that are objectively taking shape.

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🎶The XVII International Tchaikovsky Competition will be held from June 19 to July 1, 2023 in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
🎹The International Tchaikovsky Competition, first held more than 50 years ago, is not only a valuable asset of Russian musical culture but is also one of the major events in the international music community.�The International Tchaikovsky Competition is held once every four years.
The main purpose of the musical competition is revealing new talent.
Past editions have spawned such renowned musicians as pianists Van Cliburn, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Eliso Virsaladze, Mikhail Pletnev, Grigory Sokolov, Boris Berezovsky, Denis Matsuev, Daniil Trifonov; violinists Gidon Kremer, Victoria Mullova, Vladimir Spivakov, Viktor Tretiakov, Pavel Milyukov; cellists Mario Brunello, David Geringas, Nathaniel Rosen, Natalia Gutman, Antonio Meneses and singers Vladimir Atlantov, Elena Obraztsova, Yulia Matochkina, Evgeny Nesterenko, Paata Burchuladze and Deborah Voigt.
📺Online streaming will be available in FullHD quality without registration or paid subscription on any device with Internet access around the world on the competition's official website, as well as on its VKontakte community page
🔗 https://tchaikovskycompetition.com/en/about/
🔗 https://vk.com/tch2023

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

🔗 https://www.ruptly.tv/en/events/202306211200-live14711-russian-mfa-spokesperson-zakharova-holds-weekly-briefing

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

🕯 June 22 marks the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow in Russia.

82 years ago, at 4 am, Nazi Germany perfidiously attacked the Soviet Union after a lengthy artillery barrage and without a declaration of war. Nazi forces launched attacks along the entire length of the Soviet border, from the Barents to the Black Sea.

This is how the Great Patriotic War began, opening one of the most tragic chapters in the history of our country.

Romania and Italy sided with Germany. Slovakia, Finland and Hungary joined them in several days later. The aggressors controlled the industrial potential and other resources of virtually all the continental European countries.

The bloodiest war in history lasted 1,418 days and nights and culminated in the Victory of the Soviet Union and its allies, and it entailed the complete defeat of Axis countries.

❗️ The Soviet Union accounted for 40 percent of wartime losses. Its casualties totalled 26.6 million war dead, including over 8.7 million killed in action. The Nazis deliberately exterminated 7.42 million people on the occupied territories.

#WeRemember how, after living through the war and despite certain disagreements, the nations of the world were united by a striving to prevent another monstrous conflict in the future and to avoid the mistakes of the past.

Unfortunately, Nazi ideology has proved resilient over the decades. They are using Nazi ideology once again for monstrous geopolitical experiments aimed at containing Russia. Collaborators who found refuge in the West after the war, Nazi criminals and their young followers are brandishing the banner of these ideas today.

🕯 The Candle of Remembrance memorial event has been held every June 22 since 2009. Everyone can honour the memory of the deceased with a moment of silence, light a candle and lay flowers at a military burial site or a Great Patriotic War monument.

#NoStatuteOfLimitations #Victory78