📰 Article by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin «Russia and Africa: Joining Efforts for Peace, Progress and a Successful Future» (July 24, 2023)

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Key points:

• The partnership relations between our country and Africa have strong, deep roots being distinguished by stability, trust and goodwill at all times.

• We have consistently supported African peoples in their struggle for liberation from colonial oppression. We have provided assistance in the formation of statehood, strengthening of sovereignty and defence capabilities.

• We highly value the honestly gained capital of friendship and cooperation, traditions of trust and mutual support that Russia and African countries share.

🌍 Russia welcomes the rising international authority of individual states as well as Africa as a whole. Their desire to make their voices strongly heard and to take the continent's problems into their own hands. We have always supported the constructive initiatives of our partners. We stand for granting African countries their rightful place in the structures that determine the fate of the world, including the UN Security Council and the G20, as well as reforming the global financial and trade institutions in a way that meets their interests.

• Africa feels the burden of global challenges like no other part of the world. In such a challenging environment, we look forward to working with our African partners to shape a non-discriminatory agenda for cooperation.

• We understand the importance of uninterrupted food supplies for the socio-economic development and political stability of the African States. <...> Notwithstanding the sanctions, Russia will continue its energetic efforts to provide supplies of grain, food products, fertilizers, and other goods to Africa.

🤝 We attach great importance to the upcoming Second #RussiaAfrica Summit. <...> I am looking forward to welcoming the African leaders in St. Petersburg and stand committed to a fruitful constructive dialogue.

❗️Уважаемые друзья,
📲С 1 августа 2023 г. граждане 52 государств, включая Норвегию  🇳🇴 , смогут обращаться за получением единых российских электронных виз. Такие визы выдаются иностранцам, направляющимся в Россию со следующими целями: туризм, гостевая, деловая, общественно-политическая, научно-культурные и спортивные связи.
💻Заявка на получение электронной визы должна подаваться через сайт https://electronic-visa.kdmid.ru/ не позднее, чем за 4 дня до предполагаемой даты выезда.
📆Однократная виза выдается на 60 дней, срок пребывания в России – 16 дней.
🚌 Транспортные компании могут проверить наличие у иностранного гражданина электронной визы на сайте https://evisacheck.kdmid.ru/
‼️Обращаем Ваше внимание, что МАПП «Борисоглебск-Стурскуг» пока не включен в перечень пунктов пропуска, через которые можно въехать на основании единой электроннй визы. Информация о включении МАПП «Борисоглебск-Стурскуг» в данный список будет опубликована Генконсульством дополнительно.

❗️Dear friends,
📲Starting from August 1, 2023 citizens of 52 countries including Norway 🇳🇴  may apply for unified electronic visas to Russia.
Such visas are issued to foreigners traveling to Russia for the following purposes: tourism, guest or business visit, socio-political, scientific, cultural and sports ties.
💻An application for an electronic visa must be submitted through the website https://electronic-visa.kdmid.ru/ no later than 4 days before the expected date of departure.
📆A single-entry e-visa is issued for 60 days, the period of stay in Russia is 16 days.
🚌Transport companies may check whether a foreign citizen has a valid electronic visa using the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (http://evisacheck.kdmid.ru). Information about the check procedure is available on the mentioned website.
‼️Please note that the checkpoint Borisoglebsk-Storskog is not yet included in the list of checkpoints through which you can enter on the basis of a unified electronic visa. The Consulate General will additionally inform you as soon as Borisoglebsk-Storskog is included in the list.

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

🔗 https://www.ruptly.tv/en/events/202307261100-live15058-russian-mfa-spokesperson-zakharova-holds-weekly-briefing

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

🇷🇺 President Vladimir Putin met with Dilma Rousseff, President of the New Development Bank, established by the BRICS States.

💬 Vladimir Putin: I am very glad to see you. I remember our contacts during your tenure as President of Brazil.

I would like to congratulate you on your appointment to the position as the head of #BRICS’ New Development Bank. I would like to note that in 2014 you and I were among those who initiated setting up this financial structure.

☝️ The members of our organisation, BRICS, do not ally against anyone, but rather work in each other’s best interests. This applies to the financial sector as well.

<...>

Our countries in BRICS are increasing the use of national currencies in their mutual settlements. In this regard, I believe the bank can also play a significant role in boosting our joint activities.

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#SaintPetersburg is one of the most gorgeous cities in the world and THE place to be at this very moment.

All eyes are on the city as it hosts the 2nd #RussiaAfrica Summit - main events to begin soon.

Here is an appetizer for what the African leaders will see and what the "Northern Venice" has to offer to any who visits 👇

#RussiaAfrica

📹 RT ARABIC

Africans leaders have arrived in #SaintPetersburg.

As the 2nd #RussiaAfrica Summit is already underway we greet our guests 🇷🇺🤝🌍

Welcome!

🇸🇨 🇧🇯 🇦🇴 🇨🇩 🇳🇦 🇹🇿 🇧🇫 🇬🇲 🇬🇼 🇬🇳 🇩🇯 🇰🇲 🇧🇮 🇲🇬 🇸🇴 🇹🇩 🇬🇶 🇿🇼 🇪🇹 🇸🇩 🇸🇸 🇪🇬 🇲🇱 🇿🇦 🇪🇷 🇨🇬 🇳🇬 🇨🇫 🇺🇬 🇩🇿 🇸🇳 🇬🇭 🇿🇲 🇷🇼 🇲🇿 🇨🇲 🇹🇬 🇲🇷 🇹🇳 🇸🇿 🇱🇾 🇲🇼 🇨🇮 🇬🇦 🇲🇦 🇰🇪 🇸🇱

#RussiaAfrica

🇷🇺🌍President Vladimir Putin's remarks in the Plenary Session of the Russia–Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum.

📍 Saint Petersburg, July 27, 2023

Key talking points:

• Africa’s potential is obvious to everyone. For example, the average annual GDP growth on the continent in the past 20 years was 4–4.5 percent, which exceeds the world’s average. Africa’s population is approaching 1.5 billion and is growing faster than anywhere else in the world.

• Russia’s government, business and the public are sincerely interested in further deepening multifaceted trade, investment and humanitarian ties with the continent, which meets the needs of all our countries and promotes stable growth and prosperity.

• Russia-Africa trade reached 18 billion US dollars last year. It is an obvious result of the Russia–Africa Summit held in Sochi.

• We have always given and will continue to give special attention to supplying wheat, barley, corn and other grain crops to our African friends, including as part of humanitarian aid provided under the UN World Food Programme.

• Last year Russia’s trade with African countries in agricultural products increased by 10 percent to $6.7 billion, and has already demonstrated record growth in January-June of this year by increasing by 60 percent.

⚡️We are witnessing a paradox. On the one hand, the West seeks to block our grain and fertiliser exports, while accusing us of the current crisis on the global food market. This is outright hypocrisy. We saw this approach in all clarity with the so-called grain deal. Brokered with the participation of the UN Secretariat, it was initially designed to promote global food security, mitigate the threat of hunger and help the poorest countries, including in Africa.

• Russia’s share of the world wheat market is 20 percent, Ukraine's is less than five per cent. This means that it is Russia that makes a significant contribution to global food security and is a solid, responsible international supplier of agricultural products.

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🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s answer to a question from Channel One (St Petersburg, July 27, 2023)

❓Question: Could you please comment on the events in Niger?

Sergey Lavrov: The Foreign Ministry of Russia has already commented on the attempted coup (as I understand, everything is still in motion there) in Niger. We believe the coup is an anti-constitutional act. We always occupy a clear position in such cases.

I noted that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the British and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have denounced the coup. They all said it is unacceptable to change power by undemocratic means.

In this context, I recall February 2014, when a coup took place in Ukraine. The West had guaranteed the violated provisions of the agreement, and we asked why it could not call the opposition to order. Responding to our bewildered questions, the West explained vaguely that sometimes the democratic process could be “unpredictable.”

Judge for yourself the attitude of our Western partners to coups – both those that take place far away and those they stage themselves.

☝️We reaffirm our position that it is necessary to restore the constitutional order in Niger.

💬 Официальный представитель МИД России М.В.Захарова:

Обратили внимание на представленный Правительством Норвегии в июне с.г. доклад по вопросу о разработке минеральных ресурсов на норвежском континентальном шельфе, включая район архипелага Шпицберген. В этой связи полагали бы необходимым акцентировать внимание на нашей позиции относительно правового статуса шельфа.

Считаем неправомерными попытки Норвегии по «выводу» вопросов поиска и разработки минеральных ресурсов континентального шельфа архипелага Шпицберген из-под действия Договора о Шпицбергене 1920 г.

Континентальный шельф архипелага составляет естественное продолжение его суши и образует с ней единое и неразрывное целое. Правовой режим, установленный указанным Договором, полностью распространяется на шельф архипелага в пределах, определенных в статье 1 Договора. Таким образом, Норвегией не могут устанавливаться и осуществляться какие-либо «исключительные» интересы или права в отношении шельфа в указанном районе без согласия всех других участников Договора 1920 г.

Хотели бы вновь напомнить норвежской стороне, что ее суверенитет над архипелагом Шпицберген не является безусловным. Международно-правовой основой для его установления и реализации является Договор 1920 г. Попытки одностороннего регулирования ресурсодобывающей деятельности на участках шельфа в границах действия Договора 1920 г. расцениваем как нарушение Норвегией режима этого документа и обязательств по нему. Неоднократно призывали норвежскую сторону отказаться от подобной неправомерной с точки зрения международного права практики, в том числе в контексте промысла морских биологических ресурсов в водах Шпицбергена или разработки минеральных ресурсов.

🔗 https://mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/1898513/#10

💬 Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova:

We have noted the Norwegian Government’s June 2023 report on developing mineral resources on Norway’s continental shelf, including the Spitsbergen (Svalbard) Archipelago. In this connection, we would deem it necessary to emphasise our position regarding the legal status of this shelf.

It is our opinion that Norway’s attempts to review issues of prospecting for mineral resources on the continental shelf of the Spitsbergen (Svalbard) Archipelago and developing these resources outside the Spitsbergen Treaty of 1920 are illegal.

The archipelago’s continental shelf is a natural extension of the landmass and is inextricably linked with it. The legal regime, stipulated by the above-mentioned treaty, fully applies to the archipelago’s shelf within the limits stipulated by Article 1 therein. Norway therefore has no right to establish and implement any exclusive interests or rights with regard to the shelf in this area unless all other parties to the Treaty of 1920 agree to this.

We would like to remind the Norwegian side once again that it does not exercise unconditional sovereignty over the Spitsbergen (Svalbard) Archipelago. The Treaty of 1920 serves as international legal foundation for establishing and implementing this sovereignty. We perceive any attempts by Norway to unilaterally regulate mining operations on continental shelf sections within the 1920 Treaty’s remit as a violation of this document’s regime and its obligations stemming from it. We have repeatedly urged the Norwegian side to renounce this practice, considered illegal from the standpoint of international law, including in the context of harvesting marine biological resources or developing mineral resources in the archipelago’s waters.

🔗 https://mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/1898513/?lang=en

☦️ For many years, the Kiev regime has been pursuing a policy of eradicating the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in Ukraine, discriminating against its clergy, and persecuting clergymen and believers. The country's legislative system & the actions of various law enforcement agencies are designed to fulfill this goal.

The events unfolding in Ukraine contribute to the overall picture of a systemic crisis in world Orthodoxy caused by the policies of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the US & other Western countries, which encourage schismatics to do what they are doing.

⛔️ The Kiev authorities and the West are trying to drive a wedge between the Russian and Ukrainian peoples, to destroy the spiritual affinity of Orthodox believers in the two countries, even despite the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s decision to become independent from the Moscow Patriarchate. It is not surprising that the former Ukrainian authorities also took various steps against the canonical Church.

Full-scale system-wide pressure on canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine began in 2018 and intensified in 2022-2023. It was spearheaded by the central authorities of Ukraine and is currently being implemented through legislation, activities of the intelligence services, etc.

In addition, the Kiev regime’s efforts include:
❌ drafting discriminatory laws,
❌ forceful seizures of churches and monasteries,
❌ illegal re-registration of communities,
❌ encouragement of hate speech,
❌ unmotivated aggression,
❌violence against the UOC clergy & believers.

🤐 Multilateral universal organisations have for the most part remained blind & deaf to the facts of the Kiev regime persecuting the canonical UOC.

🗂 The report is divided into 7 sections, presents facts and circumstances gathered from various sources that show the full extent of political lawlessness in & legal outrage against the UOC, the gross systematic violation of the rights of Orthodox Christians by the Kiev regime, the reactions of some international human rights organisations.

‼️ВНИМАНИЮ ГРАЖДАН, ПРОЖИВАЮЩИХ В ИСЛАНДИИ🇮🇸‼️

С 1 августа 2023 года в связи с прекращением консульским отделом Посольства России в Исландии🇮🇸 приема документов на оформление виз в Россию проживающие в Исландии граждане по решению МИД России имеют право обращаться по вопросу оформления виз в Россию в консульские учреждения России в Норвегии🇳🇴 и консульский отдел Посольства России в
Дании🇩🇰.

‼️INFORMATION FOR THOSE RESIDING IN ICELAND🇮🇸‼️

In accordance with the decision of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, due to the termination of the admission of documents for visa processing at the Consular Section of the Russian Embassy in Iceland, citizens residing in Iceland will have the right to apply for visas to Russia at the Russian consular posts in Norway and Consular Section of the Russian Embassy in Denmark starting from August 1, 2023.