Today is Diplomatic Workers' Day aka Diplomats' Day in 🇷🇺 #Russia!

The date of the holiday goes back to the earliest documented mention (February 10, 1549) of the Ambassadorial Prikaz - the first state body in our country’s history that oversaw foreign affairs.

#DWR2024 #DiplomatsDay

⚡️ President Vladimir Putin answered questions from Tucker Carlson, a journalist and founder of Tucker Carlson Network.

Key talking points:

💬 After 1991, when Russia expected that it would be welcomed into the brotherly family of ”civilized nations,“ nothing like this happened. You tricked us (I'm talking about the US), the promise was that NATO would not expand eastward, but it happened five times, there were five waves of expansion.

• I proposed that the US, Russia and Europe jointly create a missile defense system that, we believe, if created unilaterally, threatens our security. <...> In the end they just told us to get lost. Our proposal was declined, that’s a fact.

• In 2008 the doors of NATO were opened for Ukraine. In 2014, there was a coup, they started persecuting those who did not accept the coup, and it was indeed a coup, they created a threat to Crimea which we had to take under our protection. They launched a war in Donbass in 2014 with the use of aircraft and artillery against civilians. This is when it started.

❗️ And what triggered the latest events? Firstly, the current Ukrainian leadership declared that it would not implement the Minsk Agreements. <...> A year or a year and a half ago, former leaders of Germany and France said openly to the whole world that they indeed signed the Minsk Agreements but they never intended to implement them. They simply led us by the nose.

•After we withdrew our troops from Kiev, the other side (Ukraine) threw away all these agreements and obeyed the instructions of Western countries, European countries and the US to fight Russia to the bitter end.

❓ Wouldn't it be better to negotiate with Russia? Make an agreement, already understanding the situation that is developing today, realizing that Russia will fight for its interests to the end. And, realizing this, actually return to common sense, start respecting our country and its interests and look for certain solutions. It seems to me that this is much smarter and more rational.

Read in full

📄 President Vladimir Putin congratulated current staff and veterans of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Diplomatic Worker’s Day.

💬 Vladimir Putin: The Russian Foreign Ministry rightfully takes pride in its rich history and glorious traditions. Throughout history, its employees have honourably protected the interests of the Motherland in the international arena despite any difficulties and challenges.

In the current geopolitical landscape, amidst a hybrid war unleashed against us and attempts by the collective West to isolate Russia and undermine its security, the Foreign Ministry faces difficult and responsible tasks.

Russian diplomacy aims to make a significant contribution to creating favourable external conditions for our country’s dynamic development, fostering effective cooperation with foreign partners, and promoting a positive agenda in international relations. It also seeks to strengthen the unity of the global majority – of countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America – in order to build a just multipolar world order based on true equality, mutual respect, and universally recognised norms of international law.

❗️ Efforts to enhance cooperation with #CIS countries, expand the integration process within the #EAEU, and strengthen ties within the #CSTO and the Union State remain a top priority. Special attention should be given to the proper implementation of tasks and responsibilities during Russia’s chairmanship of the CIS and of the expanded #BRICS association.

Undoubtedly, there is significant need for efforts aimed at uniting the multinational and multi-religious Russian community through supporting our compatriots abroad, promoting the Russian language and showcasing national cultural and scientific achievements, as well as countering attempts to falsify history and revise the outcomes of World War II.

I am confident that staff members at the Ministry’s head office and foreign missions will continue to work with utmost dedication, creativity, and initiative.

🔗 http://tiny.cc/jgqpwz

#DiplomatsDay

📽RT film 'Donbass: The Flipside of War' tells the story of volunteers who have taken on a terrible and important task – identifying civilians killed by the Ukrainian Army.

💬Anna Soroka, Adviser to the Head of the Lugansk People's Republic:
"They [Ukrainian soldiers] shelled residential buildings with artillery and tanks. A shell landed here. You can see the monsters deliberately took aim at a populated area, a residential area where people lived."

Anna leads the team of volunteers from the NGO 'Memorial: We Shall Not Forget, We Shall Not Forgive'. Together they find, identify, and give a dignified farewell to the victims of Ukrainian shelling. They say the people never lose their hope to find their relatives, or at least bury them in a humane manner.

The volunteers primarily focus on identifying the deceased in large population centers where people are returning to normal life. The work is incredibly taxing, both physically and mentally.

WATCH the documentary in full: https://rtd.rt.com/films/donbass-the-flipside-of-war/

🗓 17 years ago, on February 10, 2007, Russia's President Vladimir Putin delivered a speech (http://tiny.cc/doqpwz) at the Munich Security Conference, addressing points that continue to hold relevance today.

Let us recall the key highlights from the President’s historic speech:

💬 I believe that the unipolar model is not only unacceptable but also impossible in today’s world. <...> What is even more important is that the model itself is flawed.

What is happening in today’s world is an attempt to introduce exactly this concept into international affairs, the concept of a unipolar world.

• Certain legal norms are becoming increasingly similar to one state’s legal system. One state, and, of course, first and foremost the US, has overstepped its national borders in every way. This is evident in the economic, political, cultural and educational policies it imposes on other nations.

☝️ I believe that we've reached a point where we need to carefully consider the entire architecture of global security.

• The role of multilateral diplomacy is significantly increasing. The need for principles such as openness, transparency and predictability in politics is undisputed.

• The stones and concrete blocks of the Berlin Wall have long been distributed as souvenirs. But we shouldn't forget that the fall of the Berlin Wall was possible thanks to a historic choice – one that was also made by the people of Russia – a choice in favour of democracy, freedom, openness and a sincere partnership with all members of the big European family.

Today, they're trying to impose new dividing lines and walls on us. These lines may be virtual but they're still dividing and cutting through our continent. Is it possible that we'll once again need many years and decades, as well as several generations of politicians, to dismantle these new walls?

🇷🇺 Russia is a country with a history that spans more than a thousand years and has practically always exercised the privilege of conducting an independent foreign policy. We're not going to change this tradition today.

Embassy Comment

Global economic consequences of the West’s efforts to isolate Russia from the world economic system

The world economic system continues to be in a state of instability and uncertainty. Multiple problems, largely provoked by the anti-Russian sanctions of the West, carry risks of slowing global GDP growth in the coming years. According to IMF estimates, in 2024 this figure will not exceed the level of last year and will be 3.1% (forecast for 2025 - 3.2%).

The United States plays a negative role in provoking economic imbalances, both as the main initiator of the sanctions policy and as the conductor of a strict monetary policy. The main victims of the White House's protectionist and restrictive policies are the least developed countries, which do not have the budgetary capacity to withstand crisis phenomena, primarily persistent food and energy inflation. About 40 low- and middle-income countries, according to World Bank estimates, are on the verge of a debt crisis.

The countries of the “Old World” are plunging into a protracted systemic crisis. The growth rate of the European economy in 2023 decreased by about 70% compared to the “pre-pandemic” average for 2015-2019. As the IMF predicts, GDP growth in the EU in 2024 will reach 0.7% (in 2023 - 0.5%; forecast for 2025 - 1.2%). Constraining factors are the continued tightening of monetary policy, chronically high inflation, declining real wages, austerity of budget funds, and growing debt burden.

Experts do not rule out that ongoing geopolitical risks could lead to a new jump in prices for electricity and food and could spur food inflation in Europe (in 2023 this figure was 5.9%, in 2024 it is projected at 3.1%). Inflation in France in 2023 reached 4.9%, while prices for energy goods increased by 5.6%, for food - by 11.8%. The risks of a new round of inflation remain in the UK. Despite its reduction in 2023 from 11% to 4.6%, it remains the highest among the G7 countries.

The European industrial sector is in a difficult situation, especially energy-intensive sectors. Rising production costs associated with rising energy costs have seriously undermined the global competitiveness of European industry, provoking a decrease in demand for manufactured products, the closure of individual enterprises and the relocation of production outside Europe. Between November 2022 and November 2023, total industrial production in the EU fell by 5.8% (in the Eurozone - by 6.8%).

In this context, experts note the fact that the European Union, according to Eurostat estimates, has overpaid almost 200 billion euros for “blue fuel” since the introduction of sanctions against Russia. Europeans now spend an average of 15.2 billion euros per month on fuel purchases, although in 2021 monthly expenses amounted to 6 billion euros. At the same time, the United States earned the most from selling gas to Europe – 53 billion euros.

Crisis trends in the financial sector are intensifying. According to UNCTAD estimates, the average budget deficit in the EU in 2023 was 4.5% (the maximum allowed by EU fiscal standards is 3%), which may force financial regulators to resort to fiscal consolidation and reduce targeted social support measures associated with rising prices for energy. The debt problem is getting worse. In the third quarter In 2023, the total size of the EU public debt was 82.6% of GDP (according to EU standards, it should not exceed 60%).

The total external trade turnover of the EU, according to Eurostat, in January-November 2023 amounted to 4679.5 billion euros, which is 8.7% less than the figure for the same period in 2022. Exports increased by only 0.1% to 2,352.5 billion euros, while imports decreased significantly - by 16.1% to 2,327 billion euros.

According to international experts, incl. UN system, the global economy will continue to remain structurally vulnerable over the next two years.

The main risks are tight monetary policies of central banks of developed countries, rising borrowing costs in addition to high levels of public debt, low volumes of direct investment and weak trade dynamics. And the West’s efforts to isolate Russia from the world economic system are making things still worse…

Уважаемые соотечественники,

В связи с предстоящими выборами Президента Российской Федерации и в целях реализации избирательных прав российских граждан, проживающих в Сингапуре, в Посольстве Российской Федерации образован избирательный участок № 8268, который будет открыт 17 марта с.г. (с 8:00 до 20:00) по адресу г.Сингапур, ул. Нассим Роуд, 53 (53 Nassim Road, Singapore 258464).

Embassy Remark

We have read an article "Removal of Ukraine's 'Iron General' more than just a military reboot" by Jonathan Eyal, published in the Straits Times on February 13, 2024.

Both boring and sad.

The same groundless accusations of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the same hackneyed praises of the authorities and their patriotic “iron generals”.

Meanwhile, and this directly follows from the article, the vaunted “iron generals” are locked in a struggle for power and influence, the treasury of the overseas sponsors of the Nazi regime is emptying, and discontent is growing in society.

So why not choose sound human logic and admit that the leadership is confused, society is disappointed, and creditors are stingy.

But in this case there will be no one to blame but themselves...

Apparently, this is where the whole answer lies.

⚡️ Foreign Ministry statement on personal sanctions on members of the UK military and political establishment as well as scientific and academic community

❗️ In response to the confrontational policy that London maintains, working to demonise our country, fabricating anti-Russia narratives to reduce Moscow’s influence in the international arena, and further pumping the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev full of weapons, a decision has been made to extend Russia’s stop-list to include members of Great Britain’s military and political establishment, as well as its scientific and academic community.

It is impossible not to acknowledge how eagerly British representatives, driven by pure Russophobia, work to discredit our country’s constitutional system and socio-political processes. A substantial share of London’s subversive anti-Russia efforts is undertaken by the so-called brain trusts that operate out of major British and Western educational institutions.

Great Britain’s strategy for Ukraine, which promises only further escalation and loss of live, is regularly reflected in impudent statements by British politicians and military officials who speak with a sense of total impunity. The British must understand that by pushing the Zelensky regime to continue the bloodshed they bear responsibility for crimes against civilians along with the Ukrainian neo-Nazis.

👉 The list of British nationals who will be denied entry to the Russian Federation - http://tiny.cc/wonrwz

🎙 Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova answer to a media question about the European Parliament’s latest anti-Russia resolution

❓ Question: On February 8, the European Parliament (EP) approved yet another anti-Russia resolution that contains a number of charges against Russia, including a claim that it is meddling in the “democratic processes in the EU.” What is your comment?

💬 Maria #Zakharova: The Foreign Ministry of Russia usually refrains from commenting on resolutions adopted by the EP. Nevertheless, we find it difficult to ignore the document you mentioned, since it is the latest example of unprecedented hypocrisy and double standards to permeate this European institution.

Bogged down in corruption scandals, the EP has invented a true “manifesto of neo-liberal dictatorship.” It includes “sentences in absentia” with calls to vet all those disagreeing with the self-destructive course pursued by Brussels, endless far-fetched speculations about Russia’s influence, spy hysteria, and other Russophobic paranoid trash. Any dissent is automatically interpreted as a sign of “pro-Kremlin sentiment.” Looks like the Ministry of Truth, doesn’t it?

☝️ At the same time, it is quite clear that the resolution is mostly intended to impose the terms of what is in fact a “cartel agreement” among representatives of the liberal pro-American political mainstream, designed to prevent nationally oriented parties and movements from gaining a stronger foothold in the EP in the future.

Their fears have some merit. The socioeconomic situation in the EU is clearly unsatisfactory <...> This is the reason alternative political forces are gaining strength, as is evident from numerous European opinion polls.

👉 Thus, they are using the alleged “Russian threat” as a pretext to mop up the political landscape and cleanse it of unnerving and increasingly dangerous rivals.

❗️ As for their accusations that Russia is meddling in “democratic processes,” they are absurd by definition.

📄 Read in full - http://tiny.cc/ni4swz

1️⃣3️⃣February - World Radio Day.
It was proclaimed by UNESCO General Conference in 2011 to "encourage decision-makers... to establish and provide access to information through radio... in order that all may enjoy the benefit".

☝OTD we draw UNESCO's attention to supression of Russian 🇷🇺 media, including radio journalists and outlets broadcast in radio format, in the West. In addition to recent sanctions against Russian journalists and news agencies in the EU, USA, Canada, UK and several other countries,

📍On September 13, 2023, employees of the Moldavian Migration Service broke into the house of the head of the Sputnik Moldova news agency V. Denisov, detained and deported him;

📍On October 5, 2023, in Cyprus, the correspondent of the “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” A. Gasyuk was beaten, detained, and deported, despite valid accreditation;

📍On October 31, 2023, the Bulgarian authorities canceled accreditation and announced extradition of the "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" correspondent A. Gatsak.

📢We expect UNESCO Director General to give assesment to the punitive actions against Russian media in the West that are aimed at limiting citizens’ access to information.

#WorldRadioDay

📻 February 13 is World Radio Day, proclaimed by the UNESCO General Conference in 2011 and endorsed by the UN General Assembly in 2012. It commemorates the first broadcast of UN Radio in 1946. This year's theme for World Radio Day is “Radio: A Century Informing, Entertaining and Educating.”

Radio continues to be a highly sought-after and popular means of mass communication. Although radio stations today are introducing new formats to engage with their audience and digitalising the airwaves, the core objective remains the same: to provide prompt and honest information to their listeners.

❗️ Unfortunately, the countries of the collective West have forgotten the true meaning of freedom of the press means. Anything that contradicts that contradicts the modern "Anglo-Saxon" and EU mainstream is subjected to censorship. Russian media, including radio stations and publications with radio broadcasting, have been banned and blocked. For example, Sputnik is banned in the European Union, and access to the websites of many Russian radio stations is restricted.

☝️ We hope that World Radio Day will serve as an opportunity for genuine discussion within the professional community, focusing on challenges faced by radio broadcasters and the prospects for the industry’s development. It is essential to adhere to high standards of quality and impartial journalism during this dialogue, rather than engaging in further political speculation.

📆21-22 February 2014, ten years ago, the #Maidan protests in Kiev led to a bloody coup d’état that had tragic consequences for Ukraine. Remarkably, the overtly nationalistic mass riots that preceded this event were held under the slogans of European values, freedom and democracy. That's why it was also called "#Euromaidan".

The activists of Maidan never concealed their hateful Russophobic views, and after the anti-constitutional coup of 2014 Ukraine completely turned into an “anti-Russia”, and Russophobia was elevated to the rank of state policy.

More details about these events and their consequences are available in a presentation "Euromaidan: essence and consequences of the 2013-2014 anti-constitutional coup d’état" prepared by the Foundation for the Study of Democracy.

📂READ here: vk.cc/cuBMCO

#NoStatuteOfLimitations

📆10 years ago, on 21-22 February 2014, the bloody unconstitutional coup d’état took place in Kiev as a result of the "Euromaidan" which stopped being a peaceful protest as far-right militants interfered.

⚡️The coup led to the rise to power of a neo-Nazi clique in Ukraine and the subsequent armed operation by Kiev against its own citizens, accompanied by the banning of the Russian language, killings of journalists, censorship of the media, demolition of monuments, and promotion of Nazism.

The nationalist movement in Ukraine didn’t just happen. It’s been nurtured by western curators and supported by western funds. For example, children are taught to honour those who used to be considered traitors - collaborators and members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (recognized as an extremist organization in Russia). There are also children’s camps in Ukraine where nationalists teach. What do they teach there? Watch an excerpt from the RT documentary "Fast Forward to Fascism".

📽 WATCH the documentary in full: https://rtd.rt.com/films/fast-forward-to-fascism/