⏰️ Only a few hours left until the ASEAN-Russia Young Diplomats Summit kicks off in Sochi, Russia 🇷🇺.

It is a great opportunity for the young participants to discuss achievements and prospects of the #ASEANRussia cooperation as well as to come up with fresh ideas that will pave the way for new creative initiatives to empower youth and increase their opportunities to be involved in the desicion-making for the benefit of the well-being of our nations.

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🎙 President Vladimir Putin's address to the participants in the opening ceremony of the World Youth Festival

💬 Our country has already held three of these large youth forums, and each time they confirmed that there are no borders or dividing lines for younger generations. Here you can interact with whomever you wish and find the knowledge and experience you need.

This was proven by the hundreds of thousands of applications to take part in the festival that we received from 190 countries. The only thing we regret is not being able to accept all of them.

Right now, representatives of almost 300 ethnic groups are gathered here, on this stage. Here in Russia, we know very well how valuable this diversity is, and what a powerful driver of progress and mutual spiritual enrichment it is. <...>

☝️ Multi-ethnic unity is our supreme value, and it has largely shaped the principles by which our state and society live and develop today.

I am speaking about equality and justice, traditions of a strong family and mutual assistance, about serving one’s Fatherland and feeling responsibility for its destiny. I know that these values are shared by the vast majority of the Earth’s inhabitants.

This is why we must take care of them and defend them together, fulfil our dreams together, and help each other to make the lives of billions of people better. We must work together for the generations to come, fight poverty and terrorism, diseases and drug trafficking, preserve the unique natural riches, cultural heritage, and all the beauty and diversity of the planet.

This world has no place for racism, dictatorship, double standards or lies, and people are free to speak their language and follow the beliefs and traditions of their ancestors. <...>

🤝 I am confident that you will get a colossal charge of positive emotion from the festival and return home with love for Russia.

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Proud to welcome #ASEAN friends in Sochi 🇷🇺 for the first ASEAN-Russia Young Diplomats Summit.

Great discussions and fresh look at further development of people-to-people contacts and youth cooperation between ASEAN and Russia.

📍 Sochi, March 2

#ASEANRussia #WYF2024

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks during a meeting with Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovakia Juraj Blanar (Antalya, March 2, 2024)

💬 It is a pleasure to meet you. We are observing the formation of Slovakia’s new government and the renewed emphasis on national interests in its foreign policy.

We prefer to collaborate with states where elected governments give top priority to national interests, as Slovakia, Hungary and many other countries do. We respect this.

We understand that, in addition to being a sovereign state, Slovakia is also a member of EU and NATO, which entails certain issues. In this regard, we appreciate even more the ability of Prime Minister Robert Fico and his government to form their own opinion on the global situation.

🤝 We are grateful for the invitation extended by Robert Fico to the descendants of the Slovak National Uprising participants to attend the 80th anniversary celebration of that event in August 2024. The President of Russia described it as a humane gesture, and we highly appreciate it.

We look forward to the resumption of interparliamentary relations. Both chambers of our parliament have always been open to such contacts. There is a group for cooperation with Slovak legislators. As far as I know, this work has been suspended or terminated altogether in your parliament.

State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin has a long-standing relationship with Deputy Speaker of the National Council of Slovakia Andrej Danko, including when he held other positions.

🎙 President Vladimir Putin's address to the participants in the opening ceremony of the World Youth Festival

💬 Our country has already held three of these large youth forums, and each time they confirmed that there are no borders or dividing lines for younger generations. Here you can interact with whomever you wish and find the knowledge and experience you need.

This was proven by the hundreds of thousands of applications to take part in the festival that we received from 190 countries. The only thing we regret is not being able to accept all of them.

Right now, representatives of almost 300 ethnic groups are gathered here, on this stage. Here in Russia, we know very well how valuable this diversity is, and what a powerful driver of progress and mutual spiritual enrichment it is. <...>

☝️ Multi-ethnic unity is our supreme value, and it has largely shaped the principles by which our state and society live and develop today.

I am speaking about equality and justice, traditions of a strong family and mutual assistance, about serving one’s Fatherland and feeling responsibility for its destiny. I know that these values are shared by the vast majority of the Earth’s inhabitants.

This is why we must take care of them and defend them together, fulfil our dreams together, and help each other to make the lives of billions of people better. We must work together for the generations to come, fight poverty and terrorism, diseases and drug trafficking, preserve the unique natural riches, cultural heritage, and all the beauty and diversity of the planet.

This world has no place for racism, dictatorship, double standards or lies, and people are free to speak their language and follow the beliefs and traditions of their ancestors. <...>

🤝 I am confident that you will get a colossal charge of positive emotion from the festival and return home with love for Russia.

Read in full

#Opinion by Russian MFA Spox Maria Zakharova

💬 Take note that comments from Germany’s government agencies regarding the scandalous audio do not come through their official spokespersons or written statements posted on their verified internet resources. Instead, they are reported by the media, quoting unnamed sources or are monstrously multidirectional.

Thus, Olaf Scholz promises to sort things out, whereas Roderich Kiesewetter, deputy chair of Bundestag’s committee that supervises intelligence, does not see anything problematic in the failure of German counterintelligence and the military.

Now the German Defence Ministry leaked to the DPA information agency and the Tagesschau news service that the German military’s discussion of plans to attack the Crimean bridge had been intercepted. And all this is done anonymously again, which means there’s no need to take responsibility.

Is this surprising? Not at all. What does it reveal?

1. The absence of a single authority in Germany. The elites, authorities and the people do not hold each other responsible, nor is there any feedback. This is a clear indication of the lack of democracy.

2. The sole purpose of media outlets in Germany is to maintain the illusion of a popular democracy. All information is distorted, and its presentation is carefully curated, while the authorities evade responsibility.

3. There is a power within Germany’s state apparatus which remains invisible and unknown to German voters. It has nothing to do with the electoral system and currently governs Germany. Germans write about Schattenstaat – a shadow state. But all materials on this topic are ridiculed, deleted and censored, while the authors are labelled as conspiracy theorists.

☝️ I think the German people have an unprecedented opportunity to save themselves now – to pull at this thread and get government officials to engage in a direct discussion about what is going on in Germany, what the leaked conversation is all about, who is running the country and where they are taking it.

💬 Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova:

US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy stated the significance of developing humanitarian connections between the US and the Russian people, adding that acquiring proficiency in English does not compromise one’s sense of patriotism.

However, she refrained from discussing the extent to which the United States supports the so-called NGOs involved in subversive activities in our country.

Additionally, there was no mention of Washington’s openly declared objective to achieve Russia’s “strategic defeat”. Exactly. There can be no country without a people. So, what the Americans want is to inflict a strategic defeat on our people.

She also refrained from acknowledging that the US is providing long-range weapons to the neo-Nazi Kiev regime, enabling it to carry out terrorist attacks against the Russian people.

Moreover, there was no acknowledgment of the fact that the US is allocating billions for the bloodshed it has provoked and organised for many years.

She did not say any of that. But I will. I will also add: Lynne, stop lying; instead, support your fellow citizens.

At the World Youth Festival in Sochi, young people from America expressed their desire to foster friendship with Russia (see the video). Perhaps it is time for the Embassy to personally welcome not those who are against Russia but those who support it, especially considering they are American citizens. Are you up to the challenge?

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to questions at the special session of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Antalya (March 1, 2024)

Key talking points:

• Multipolarity is today’s reality. Not by design to challenge the West, but as a natural progression driven primarily by economic advancement.

• The centre of global development has shifted to the Asia-Pacific region, primarily to South and East Asia. In general, Eurasia is now the engine of the world's development. The Euro-Atlantic has already lost this role.

• A draft treaty that we prepared jointly with China, which prohibits the introduction of any weapons in outer space and aims to prevent an arms race in outer space, has been on the table at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva for 15 years or even longer. The Americans are blocking it. Now they have decided to blame us for it.

🤷‍♂️ We are not anticipating any changes that the US elections will bring.

• Russia is actively engaged in restoring Palestinian unity. The division between the Palestinians (Fatah and Hamas, the West Bank and Gaza) weakens their position and hampers their ability to have meaningful conversations with the international community.

❗️ Our Western colleagues must abandon colonial thinking, stop living at the expense of others, and refrain from adopting arrogant, essentially racist, approaches to international relations.

• Chisinau regime, which is following in the footsteps of the Kiev regime: cancelling everything Russian, discriminating against the Russian language in all spheres and, together with the Ukrainians, putting serious economic pressure on Transnistria.

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