🎙 Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s answer to a media question about the meeting on Ukraine in Jeddah

❓ Question: What is your comment on the recent meeting on the Ukrainian crisis in Jeddah?

💬 The Foreign Ministry of Russia took note of the news about the consultations concerning the Ukraine crisis, held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on August 5 and 6, at the initiative of the Kiev regime and the G7.

👉 None of its 10 points is aimed at finding a negotiated and diplomatic solution to the crisis, while in their totality they constitute a senseless ultimatum to Russia, directed at dragging out the hostilities. No peaceful settlement is possible on this basis.

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🤝 We greatly appreciate the mediating and humanitarian initiatives advanced by our friends from countries of the Global South, initiatives aimed at reaching peace. Unlike the Kiev regime, which broke off and banned negotiations with Russia, we have always been open to a diplomatic solution to the crisis and are ready to respond to serious proposals.

No meetings on the Ukraine crisis add any value without Russia’s participation or regard for its interests.

❗️ We are confident that a truly comprehensive, stable and just settlement is only possible if the Kiev regime stops its combat operations and terrorist attacks and if its Western sponsors stop inundating the Armed Forces of Ukraine with weapons.

They should confirm the original foundations of Ukraine’s sovereignty, that is, its neutral, non-bloc and nuclear-free status. They should recognise the new territorial realities that took shape after the residents in the new Russian regions exercised their right to self-determination enshrined in the UN Charter. The next step is to ensure Ukraine’s demilitarisation and de-Nazification as well as the rights of its Russian speakers and ethnic minorities.

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🕯 On August 9, 1945, the United States carried out a nuclear strike on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, three days after dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The attack wiped the city off the face of the earth, killing more than 70,000 people instantly; another 95,000 died years and decades later from diseases caused by radioactive contamination.

💬 From the memoirs of an eyewitness, Yasuaki Yamashita: The A-Bomb had turned the centre of Nagasaki into an inferno of death and devastation. Communications and transportation were disrupted. There was no food in the city and we were starving. One week after the explosion we walked through the rubble of the city centre where fires still burned. Some years later I worked in the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Hospital. It was very painful to see the survivors still suffering from the effects of burns and radiation.

The attack on Nagasaki was the final stage of a monstrous test of a new weapon of mass destruction to see how effective it was when used on cities, infrastructure and people.

Americans took the bombing calmly, believing it would accelerate the end of the war (in reality, that was brought about by the USSR starting hostilities against Japan). US President Harry Truman, who ordered the attack on the Japanese cities, had no doubts about his decision until the end of his life, referring to the Japanese as savages and barbarians in his diary.

💬 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov: Atomic bombings by the United States were in fact a show of force and an operational test of nuclear weapons on civilians. The United States was the first and only country to use this type of weapons of mass destruction. We must join our efforts to ensure that the terror and pain of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will never repeat. The tragedy left a deep imprint on the hearts of the Russian people. (Sergey Lavrov’s message to the participants of the memorial ceremony in Hiroshima on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing, August 6, 2020).

#NoStatuteOfLimitations

🚀 On August 11, the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with a Fregat booster lifted off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome and launched the Luna 25 automatic station into Earth orbit.

Russia’s first lunar station in the contemporary history of the country will land near the lunar south pole, an area with a rough landscape, and carry out lengthy research. This mission is expected to kick off the exploration of the Earth’s natural satellite in Russia.

In keeping with Russian law, our country has fulfilled its international obligations, according to the established procedure, and advised the UN Secretary-General of the nuclear sources of energy on board the Luna 25.

🇷🇺🇿🇦 South Africa warmly welcomes Russian Foreign Minister Sergey #Lavrov.

#RussiaSouthAfrica

📹 Maria Zakharova

🎥 President Putin's video address on National Flag Day (August 22, 2023)

💬 Vladimir Putin: Compatriots!

Today we celebrate our National Flag Day.

Our state banners, like our country, have a thousand-year history. Old Russian armies raised flags with the image of Christ Not Made by Hand over their regiments. In the 19th century, the black, yellow and white flag of the Russian Empire was flown on the country’s official buildings. In the 20th century, our country lived with the red flag for over 70 years, and it was under this flag that the Great Patriotic War was won.

All of Russia’s historical flags and symbols warrant respect from its citizens, public activists, and representatives of the authorities because they reflect the continuity of the development of our nation and statehood.

But we certainly have special feelings for the white, blue and red flag; it is our official national flag, which was instituted as such by Peter the Great.

🇷🇺 The tricolour was hoisted over our country again on August 22, 1991. We have overcome many hardships and ordeals with this flag flying overhead, but in essence we have restored the sovereignty of our country.

Russia is a one thousand year old country and civilization. Our national flag is a symbol of our unity. I believe that the national flag will always inspire us to move forward, to victory, and to assert the glory of Russia.

Happy National Flag Day, friends!

#FamilyPhoto

📸 Heads of delegations of the #BRICS member states 🇧🇷🇷🇺🇮🇳🇨🇳🇿🇦

📍 Johannesburg, August 22, 2023

🎙 President Vladimir Putin took part, via videoconference, in the XV BRICS Summit (August 23, 2023)

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💬 I would like to begin by thanking our South African friends for everything they have done as part of their #BRICS chairmanship this year.

Those of my colleagues who took the floor before me praised BRICS for its efforts, and overall we share this assessment. This association of five nations has established itself on the international stage as a respected entity and has been consistently strengthening its standing in international affairs.

BRICS has been following a forward-looking strategic course which meets the aspirations of a significant portion of the international community, the so-called global majority. By acting in a coordinated manner and based on the principles of equality, supporting each other as partners and taking each other’s interests into account, we tackle the most urgent issues on the global and regional agendas.

🌍 Importantly, we are all united in our commitment to shaping a multipolar world order with genuine justice, based on the international law and in keeping with the key principles set forth in the UN Charter, including sovereignty and respecting the right of every nation to follow its own development model. We oppose hegemonies of any kind and the exceptional status that some countries aspire to, as well as the new policy it entails, a policy of continued neo-colonialism.

Let me point out that it was the attempts by some countries to preserve their global hegemony that paved the way to the deep crisis in Ukraine. <...>

☝️ Russia decided to side with people who are fighting for their culture, their traditions, language and future. Stopping the war unleashed by the West and its satellites in Ukraine against the people of Donbass is the only thing that defines our actions in Ukraine.