Emergency workers and rescuers of Russia's #EMERCOM aka the Ministry of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief (MChS) are busy doing all they can to assist on-site the people of Libya, stricken by natural disaster.

The EMERCOM personnel managed the following in Derna:

• deployed an airmobile hospital of the Tsentrospas State Central Airmobile Rescue Unit;
• arranged an autonomous field camp;
• more than 50 rescuers of the Leader centre, including dog handlers, operate in most affected areas.

Members of the MChS emergency response team will inspect the most precarious sites...

Also, the EMERCOM transport aircraft delivers humanitarian aid for all those afflicted by the calamity:

✅ survival packs;
✅ illumination systems;
✅ tents;
✅ blankets;
✅ portable power stations.

Every bit counts. Our hearts and minds are with the people of Libya.

#RussiaHelps

⚡️ Russia's position at the seventy-eighth session of the UN General Assembly:

International cooperation in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space

📃 As regards the international cooperation in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, we are convinced of the indisputable nature of the central and coordinating role of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).

We view as counterproductive the attempts to erode the COPUOS mandate by artificially transferring the issues of space debris and orbital traffic management from its agenda to parallel and purely disarmament-related UN platforms in line with the concept of the so‑called responsible behaviour in outer space.

❗️ We believe it is important to adopt, by consensus, the resolution entitled "International Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space", which approves the report of the 66th session of COPUOS. We view as dangerous potential attempts to open the draft resolution traditionally adopted without a vote for revision, yielding to political considerations.

We continue to advocate for legal certainty in the matters of delimitation of outer space and airspace, including in the context of establishing the spatial limits to states' sovereignty over their territory and ensuring their national security, and for creating the environment enabling long-term sustainability of aviation activities and safety.

☝️ We call for creation of an effective orbital traffic management system on the basis of regulation and monitoring through a legally binding code of conduct to be developed by the international community.

Заявление МИД Российской Федерации о выходе России из Совета Баренцева/Евроарктического региона

На протяжении тридцати лет Совет Баренцева/Евроарктического региона (СБЕР) являлся полезным и эффективным форматом трансграничного взаимодействия, способствовавшим поддержанию мира и стабильности на Севере, его устойчивому социально-экономическому развитию, защите окружающей среды, укреплению культурно-гуманитарных связей и контактов между людьми, включая представителей коренных народов.

По вине западных участников совета (Дания, Исландия, Норвегия, Финляндия, Швеция, ЕС) его деятельность с марта 2022 г. фактически парализована. Финляндское председательство не подтвердило готовность передать России руководство в СБЕР в октябре 2023 г. в нарушение принципа ротации, сорвав проведение необходимых подготовительных мероприятий.

В сложившихся условиях вынуждены объявить о выходе Российской Федерации из СБЕР. Соответствующее послание Министра иностранных дел России С.В.Лаврова 18 сентября 2023 г. направлено мининдел стран-членов организации, Высокому представителю ЕС по иностранным делам и политике безопасности, а также в Международный Баренцев секретариат в г.Киркенес (Норвегия).

Убеждены, что сиюминутная политическая конъюнктура, которой руководствуются наши североевропейские соседи, не соответствует долгосрочным интересам жителей Заполярья. Ответственность за развал архитектуры Баренцева сотрудничества целиком и полностью лежит на наших «партнерах».

Россия продолжит реализовывать свои национальные задачи на Севере. Остаемся открытыми для взаимодействия со всеми, кто настроен конструктивно, готов к равноправному диалогу и взаимовыгодной совместной работе.

https://mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/1904899/

Uttalelse fra Den Russiske Føderasjons Utenriksministerium om at Russland melder seg ut av Barentsrådet

I løpet av 30 år var Barentsrådet et nyttig og effektivt format for grenseoverskridende samspill som bidro til opprettholdelse av fred og stabilitet i nord, dets bærekraftige sosial-økonomiske utvikling, miljøvern, styrking av kulturelle og humanitære forbindelser og folk-til-folk-kontakter, inkludert urfolkene.

Det at Barentsrådets virksomhet er faktisk paralysert fra mars 2022 skyldes av vestlige deltakere (Danmark, Island, Norge, Finnland, Sverige, EU). Finnlands formannskap har ikke bekreftet at de er parate til å videreføre ledelsen i Barentsrådet til Russland i oktober 2023 noe som strider med rotasjonsprinsippet, og undergraver nødvendige forberedningstiltak.

Under disse forholdene er vi nødt til å erklære at Den Russiske Føderasjon melder seg ut av Barentsrådet. Respektive brev fra Russlands Utenriksminister Sergey Lavrov er formidlet til utenriksministre i medlemsland, EUs høye representant for utenriks- og sikkerhetspolitikk, samt til Det internasjonale Barents sekretariatet i Kirkenes (Norge).

Vi er overbevisst om at den kortsiktige konjunkturen som styrer våre nordiske naboer tilsvarer ikke langsiktige interesse av folk nord for Polarsirkelen. Ansvaret for ødeleggelse av Barentssamarbeidet ligger fullstendig på våre «partnere».

Russland vil fortsette å gjennomføre sine nasjonale mål i nord. Vi forblir åpne for samspill med alle som er innstilt for likeverdig dialog og samarbeid til gjensidig nytte.

⚖️ On September 18, oral hearings began at the International Court of Justice in The Hague as part of the preliminary stage of the Russian-Ukrainian dispute under the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

At this point, Russia is challenging the Court’s jurisdiction to consider the claim filed by Kiev in late February 2022. By distorting the facts, Ukraine seeks a Court ruling asserting that it did not commit genocide in Donbass. According to Kiev's plan, this should allow them to argue that Russia acted unlawfully in using military force by initiating the special military operation and in recognising the independence of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR).

Addressing the court, Russia's representative Gennady Kuzmin highlighted the absurdity of Kiev's claims; the Convention has no relevance to the legitimacy of recognising the DPR and the LPR. Likewise, it has no bearing on the conduct of the special military operation in accordance with the UN Charter, specifically Article 51 on the right to self-defence, and general international law.

☝️ By attempting to reference the Convention, which provides for dispute resolution through the International Court of Justice, the Ukrainian side is simply abusing its procedural right to appeal to the Court.

A detailed legal argument to back up Russia's position was presented by a multinational team of legal counsels.

Read in full

⚡️ Foreign Ministry statement on the situation in and around Nagorno-Karabakh

Considering the drastic escalation in the armed confrontation in Nagorno-Karabakh, we urge the parties to the conflict to immediately stop bloodshed, cease hostilities, and do all they can to avoid civilian casualties.

A move that had a dramatic impact on the prospects for Nagorno-Karabakh settlement was Yerevan’s recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the territory of Azerbaijan at the summits in October 2022 and May 2023, held under the EU aegis. This changed the fundamental conditions under which the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed their Statement of November 9, 2020, as well as the status of the Russian Peacekeeping Contingent (RPC).

☝️ As of the moment of its deployment in the region, the RPC has performed in good faith its mission to maintain the ceasefire and support contacts between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The Russian peacekeepers coordinated the effort to improve the humanitarian situation on the ground and facilitated the launch of a direct dialogue between Baku and Stepanakert. Even during these hours, the RPC is helping civilians, including by providing medical assistance. They are also evacuating local residents.

❗️The most important thing right now is to return without delay to implementing the package of trilateral agreements reached at the highest level in 2020-2022, which map out the steps needed to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, stop the armed confrontation, and do whatever is possible to ensure the rights and safety of the population in Nagorno-Karabakh.

#ICYMI

⚡️ We've been sharing Russia's comprehensive position at the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly

A refresher 👇

• Regarding situation around Ukraine
• Middle East settlement
• Africa
• Situation in Kosovo
• Situation in Yemen
• Iraq
• Libya
• Afghanistan
• Settlement in Colombia
• DPRK
• Myanmar
• Cyprus issue
• Bosnia and Herzegovina

***

• Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
• Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
• START Treaty
• Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention
• Arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation
• Development of important multilateral arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation arrangements

***

• Climate Change
• International anti-corruption cooperation
• Rights of the child
• International information security
• Combating maritime crime
• Drug problem
• Sport
• Fight against terrorism
• Law of the sea

#UNGA78

🇧🇷🇷🇺🇮🇳🇨🇳🇿🇦 Media Statement following the Meeting of BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs/International Relations on the margins of the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (20 September 2023)

Key points:

📄 The BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs/International Relations held their annual meeting on the margins of the #UNGA78 on 20 September 2023, chaired by the Russian Federation in its capacity as the incoming BRICS Chair for 2024.

• The Ministers exchanged views on major global and regional issues on the United Nations agenda in the political, security, economic, financial, and sustainable development spheres, as well as on intra-BRICS activities.

• The Ministers reiterated their commitment to strengthening multilateralism and upholding international law, including the Purposes and Principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations as its indispensable cornerstone, and the central role of the UN in an international system.

• The Ministers supported a comprehensive reform of the United Nations, including its Security Council, with a view to making it more democratic, representative, effective and efficient, and to increase the representation of developing countries in the Council’s memberships.

• The Ministers underscored the importance of sustained efforts aimed at making the United Nations more effective and efficient in implementing its mandates.

• The Ministers were briefed on the preparations for Russia's upcoming BRICS Chairship in 2024. Brazil, India, China and South Africa extended their full support to Russia for its BRICS Chairship in 2024 under the theme “Strengthening of multilateralism for the purposes of just global development and security” and the holding of the XVI BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia. The Ministers also look forward to the Standalone Meeting of BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs/International Relations in Russia in 2024.

Read in full

Off we go! 🇺🇳

Day 1 📹 #UNGA78

🇷🇺🇺🇳 On September 20, the Russian delegation led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived at the UN Headquarters in New York to participate in the High-Level week of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.

The first working day was a success 👇

• Meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Jordan Ayman Safadi.
• Meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Honduras Eduardo Enrique Reina.
• Conversation with Foreign Minister of Venezuela Yvan Gil.
• Working meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the CSTO member countries.
• Meeting of BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs/International Relations.
• FM Lavrov's remarks at the UN Security Council meeting.
• Ad hoc meeting of the SCO Foreign Ministers Council.
• Meeting with Director General of IAEA Rafael Grossi.
• Meeting with Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

#ICYMI

🎙 FM Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the UNSC meeting “Upholding the purposes and principles of the UN Charter through effective multilateralism: maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine” (New York, September 20, 2023)

Key talking points:

• When the Cold War came to an end, the US-led so-called collective West appropriated the right to rule the destinies of the entire humankind and, driven by its exceptionalism complex, started ignoring the legacy of the UN founding fathers more often and on an increasingly greater scale.

• The West makes selective use of the Charter’s norms and principles, on a case-by-case basis, and only when they serve its vested geopolitical needs. This inevitably throws global stability off-balance, exacerbating the existing hotbeds of tension and creating new ones.

• As for talks, we do not refuse to talk now either. President of Russia Vladimir Putin said this on numerous occasions, including recently. <...> President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky has signed an executive order prohibiting talks with the government of Vladimir Putin. If the US is interested in such talks, I think it only needs to give the signal for Zelensky’s order to be cancelled.

• Today, the rhetoric of our opponents is full of slogans such as “invasion,” “aggression” and “annexation.” They do not say a word about the inner reasons for the problem, or the fact that for many years they nurtured a downright Nazi regime, which is openly rewriting the results of World War II and the history of their own people.

• While chanting their mantras about the territorial integrity of Ukraine, the former colonial powers keep silent about the UN decisions inviting France to return the island of Mayotte to the Comoros and Britain to withdraw from the Chagos Islands and to resume negotiations with Argentina to resolve the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) issue.

• Facts point to a deep crisis in international relations and the absence of the Western countries’ desire and will to overcome this crisis.

Read in full

#UNGA78

🇧🇷🇷🇺🇮🇳🇨🇳🇿🇦 On September 20, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov chaired a traditional meeting of the BRICS Foreign Ministers on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. According to the established practice, the meeting was organised by the Russian Side as the next BRICS Chair.

The Ministers exchanged views on a wide range of current international issues, including those on the agenda of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly. They considered ways of promoting peace and security, global economic stability and sustainable development.

The Parties reaffirmed their intention to enhance the coordination of the #BRICS format at international platforms, relying on the members’ commitment to multilateralism and the vision of a more equitable world order with the central role of the United Nations and governed by international law.

The participants reviewed certain aspects of interaction within the BRICS framework in the context of the decisions made at the XV BRICS Summit, held on August 22-24 in South Africa. Sergey Lavrov informed his colleagues about Russia’s plans for chairing BRICS in 2024.

Following the meeting, the Ministers approved a joint communiqué.

#UNGA78

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s address at the Preparatory Ministerial Meeting for the Summit of the Future

📍 New York, September 21, 2023

💬 The talks focusing on the scope of the summit and its final documents have revealed deep differences in a number of key areas. The reason for this lies in the West’s relentless pursuit of hegemony and its attempts to counteract the development of a fairer international order and to impose the infamous rules-based order which undermines international law and runs counter to the interests of the Global Majority countriest.

Such self-centred politics has already triggered a profound crisis in European security and is now creating extremely dangerous tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, where bloc-based approaches are being aggressively promoted.

👉 The goals of the Summit of the Future include reaffirming the commitment of all UN Member States to the principles of the UN Charter in their entirety and interdependence, giving a boost to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, and reforming the global monetary system to reflect the actual weight and legitimate interests of the Global South. <...>

We join in calling on the Secretary-General to draft a report about the repercussions of unilateral sanctions. <...>

☝️ Russia will continue to increase its contribution to achieving the sustainable development goals, seeking balanced and acceptable solutions during the preparations for the Summit of the Future. The success of the summit is firmly grounded in the UN Charter principles, above all, the respect for sovereign equality of states and the preservation and strengthening of the intergovernmental nature of our organisation.

We caution against turning the Summit of the Future into an arena for pitting “democracies” against “autocracies.” We are concerned about signs of the UN Secretariat’s susceptibility to this confrontational concept.

Read in full

Day 2 📹 #UNGA78

🇷🇺🇺🇳 On September 21, the Russian delegation led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov continued to participate in the High-Level week of the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly.

13 meetings in 1 day!👇

• Meeting with President of the Presidential Leadership Council of Yemen Rashad al-Alimihad
• Talks with Foreign Minister of Egypt Sameh Shoukry
• Talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand Panpree Phahitthanukorn
• Remarks at the preparatory Ministerial dedicated to the Summit of the Future in 2024
• Informal meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the countries that are parties to the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (#CICA)
• Talks with Foreign Minister of Cuba Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla
• Meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Mali Abdoulaye Diop
• Talks with Foreign Minister of Brazil Mauro Vieira
• Talks with Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud
• Meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and Burkinabe Abroad of the Interim Government of Burkina Faso Olivia Rouamba
• Talks with Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council of Sudan Abdel Fattah al-Burhan
• Talks with Foreign Minister of Pakistan Jalil Abbas Jilani
• Meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

#ICYMI

Day 3 📹 #UNGA78

🇺🇳 On the Day 3, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's schedule remained tight: 12 bilaterals, frank and constructive discussions within the Friends in Defense of the UN Charter group, positive exchange of opinions in the Astana format as well... handshakes and smiles galore!

• 4th Ministerial meeting of the Group of Friends in Defence of the Charter of the UN Charter
• Meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nicaragua Denis Moncada
• Talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Péter Szijjártó
• Meeting with Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves
• Talks with Foreign Minister of Bolivia Rogelio Mayta Mayta
• Meeting with Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov
• Talks with First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Ivica Dačić
• Meeting with President of the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly Dennis Francis
• Astana format meeting with FMs of Iran and Türkiye, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Hakan Fidan
• Talks with Foreign Minister of Iran Hossein Amir-Abdollahian
• Meeting with Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Мexico Alicia Bárcena Ibarra
• Talks with ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric
• Meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Iraq Fuad Hussein
• Talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Guyana Hugh Todd

Stay tuned and follow our updates from the UN HQ!

👩‍🚒 Russia's EMERCOM (Ministry of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief) rescuers are working 24/7 in the disaster zone in Libya.

At the request of the Libyan authorities, the Russian Emergencies Ministry specialists are working in the most challenging and dangerous sections that have already been searched by other international teams.

The following relief efforts are being conducted on the ground and in the sea:
✅ dismantling overhanging and unstable structures of damaged buildings;
✅ lifting sunken boats and vehicles.

In the past 24 hours, the rescuers:
• searched more than 20,000 square metres of land, 10 kilometres of coastline, 33,000 square metres of water area;
• examined 46 facilities;
• made 12 dives from the coastline;
• evacuated 23 bodies from a hard-to-reach area, pulled 2 bodies from under rubble of collapsed buildings in an urban area.

Since the start of relief efforts, the rescuers:
• searched more than 530,000 square metres on land, 80km of coastline, 33,000 square metres of water area;
• cleared 116 cubic metres of building structures and rubble;
• extracted and evacuated 137 bodies;
• made 35 dives, lifted 2 cars to the surface;
• rendered medical aid to 522 victims, including 54 children.