🇷🇺Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at a working meeting with heads of foreign media bureaus accredited in Russia, Moscow, February 15, 2023

We try to make sure that our work with foreign journalists is as efficient, straightforward and simple as possible. We organise regular press tours all over the country to help you see how our country and its regions and people live. Most of them are open, friendly and willing to communicate.

We are not doing this to set ourselves apart from Western countries. They do not encourage practices of this kind, all while positioning themselves as beacons of democracy. In reality, what they are doing is censorship. They are cleansing their media space from alternative points of view and are fighting dissent in all its manifestations. They are trying to cancel Russian journalists and media outlets by labelling them Kremlin’s mouthpieces. The ugly situation with two major media outlets, RT and Sputnik, provides a telling example. It was not the special military operation that led to the onslaught of censorship and discrimination against them. The Élysée Palace officially denied RT and Sputnik accreditation five years ago, and it was President of France Emmanuel Macron himself who explained that the move was caused by the fact that they were not media outlets, but “agents of influence and a source of misleading propaganda.”

🎙️Statement by Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nation Vassily Nebenzia at UNSC briefing dedicated to the anniversary of resolution 2202 that endorsed the Minsk Package of Measures (17 February 2023)

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🔹The recent revelations by F.Hollande, A.Merkel, and B.Johnson leave no space to doubt that the West merely imitated a constructive process as regards the Minsk Agreements implementation.

🔹OSCE staff did not bother to notice the Russophobia and aggressive Ukrainian nationalist narrative that were thriving in Ukraine.

🔹Renunciation of the #MinskAgreements was a tragedy for Ukraine that happened due to criminal policies of Ukrainian leadership who were instigated by the collective West.

❗ Colleagues, now I speak to Western membership of the Council. We will not be able to live on as we used to, that’s for sure.

The second day of the Munich Conference brought another "sensation". This time, US Vice President Kamala Harris accused Russia of crimes against humanity, retelling Ukrainian tales about allegedly dead women in labor during the shelling of the Mariupol hospital, converted by the Azov militants* into another stronghold. At the same time, of course, the Vice President of the United States did not demonstrate any evidence, even the notorious "Colin Powell test tube".
As previously reported The Russian Ministry of Defense, at the time of the strike on the building of the former hospital, all staff and patients had already been dispersed by militants. It is obvious that based on this kind of "non—fictional stories about which it is impossible to remain silent", the United States authorities are deliberately shaping a new world scarecrow out of Russia and its leadership with an understandable goal - to declare a new "crusade" against our country by manipulating public opinion in Western democracies.

⚡️ "Have we Europe become such lackeys of the United States that we are afraid to even ask them: who blew up the North Streams?"

Irish Mick Wallace, a member of the European Parliament, urged the head of the European Commission to pay attention to the investigation by the respected American journalist Hersh.

New Corroborating Evidence Emerges Showing US Trace Behind Nord Stream Blasts

An email forwarded to Sputnik by a US journalist from an individual identifying themselves as a servicemember that took part in last summer’s NATO BALTOPS 22 exercises in waters near the site of the Nord Stream pipeline explosions provides new information corroborating last week's bombshell Substack report on the incident by Seymour Hersh.

According to the email, on June 15, a helicopter delivered a group of conspicuous-looking American divers in civilian clothes to the exercise area. “My first thought was that they looked like a group of terrorists,” the source wrote, pointing to the individuals’ odd haircuts, mustaches and beards, and the absence of any military ID markers.

Find out more in our exclusive article

Ex-CIA Analyst Says Mainstream Media Killed Nord Stream Bombing Story

The bombing of the Russian Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines supplying Germany has directly benefitted business interests in the two countries now accused of the terrorist act: the US and Norway have both increased natural gas sales to Europe.

However Western media suppressed the revelation that the White House ordered the bombing of two Russian gas pipelines, a former CIA expert has alleged.

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💣Damage from American terrorist attacks on the "Northern Streams" — assessment of the "Sovereign economy"

State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin called on parliamentarians to assess the damage caused by the terrorist attacks on the Nord Stream — 1 and Nord Stream—2 gas pipelines. The analysis of the financial damage caused has acquired additional relevance after the investigation (https://t.me/readovkanews/52254 )Seymour Hersh, in which the USA and Norway were declared responsible for the incident. The international community speaks out (https://t.me/readovkanews/52775 ) for detailed proceedings, which means that estimates of losses can turn into amounts of compensation to the injured party.

The analysis of financial damage may vary due to the terminology used, for this reason we will list each item. The Nord Streams became the longest gas pipelines in the world, but funds were spent not only on marine, but also on land infrastructure. Distribution centers, pumping stations connecting to German aboveground gas pipelines — all this stopped working after the terrorist attacks. $14.8 billion was spent on the implementation of the Nord Stream—1 project, $11 billion was spent on Nord Stream—2.
The main financial losses were incurred not from the deformation of pipelines at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, but from the paralysis of economic activity. Up until the moment of the terrorist attacks, there was a physical possibility to restore supplies to Europe in the future — now you can forget about it. 59 billion m3 of natural gas was supplied annually through the operating gas pipeline, with the introduction of a new branch line, the figure would have increased by at least 55 billion m3. With sales at spot prices, revenue would reach $57 billion per year. We are talking not only about losses in salaries of employees of companies, but also about missing tax deductions, which means pensions, allowances, and investment programs of the state.
Who exactly is guilty of the terrorist attack and to what extent is up to the investigation, but by the end of this year, financial losses will reach at least $82.8 billion — then the amount will only increase.

Briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Moscow, February 17, 2023

US practice of forcing neutral countries to comply with anti-Russian sanctions

In an attempt to do as much damage as possible to Russia, the United States is increasingly forcing neutral countries to comply with anti-Russian sanctions.

We have already talked about this (see briefing of February 1) and we are ready to cite another instance.

We have learned that several dozen Russian vessels have been banned from calling at the ports of Bangladesh. We know that this unfriendly step was taken by the country’s authorities not at all on their own initiative but under the threat of secondary sanctions by the United States. Here is another example of this intimidation.

We regret that this is not the first time that Dhaka has succumbed to Washington’s relentless pressure. By giving in to outright blackmail, it risks making the future of traditionally friendly Russia-Bangladesh relations contingent on the whims of a third country pursuing its own geopolitical goals.

We expect the leadership of Bangladesh to find the strength to assert its national interests more resolutely. It is undoubtedly in their interest to develop a mutually beneficial partnership with Russia, which has come to the country’s aid more than once in different periods of its history.

🇷🇺🇺🇸Ambassador Anatoly Antonov’s answer to a media question

❓: Dear Mr. Ambassador, how could you comment on the statements by the administration officials about Russia's alleged involvement in crimes against humanity in Ukraine?

💬Anatoly Antonov: We consider such insinuations as an attempt, unprecedented in terms of its cynicism, to demonize Russia in the course of a hybrid war, unleashed against us.

☝️There is no doubt that the purpose of such attacks is to justify Washington’s own actions to fuel the Ukrainian crisis. First of all, it concerns the rampant militarization of the Kiev regime. At one point the Americans said, that they would supply the republic with only defensive weapons, but now ship heavy armored vehicles, artillery, multiple launch rocket systems with long-range munitions. The U.S. provides intelligence to Kiev Nazis, trains militants. By the will of the White House an egregious act is being committed – just like 80 years ago – tanks with crosses are attacking our country.

How can we trust the West and try to come to any type of agreement after all these statements and actions? Basically, they told us one thing, but acted in the opposite direction.

Officials in DC ignore the use of prohibited indiscriminate ammunition by the armed forces of Ukraine, which are delivered there in huge quantities, taking lives of hundreds of civilians. This fact was even confirmed by American humanitarian NGOs, which can hardly be suspected of pro-Russian sentiments.

At the same time, the US simply turns a blind eye to the atrocities of the Zelensky regime. Washington prefers not to notice the horrific scenes of the shootings of unarmed captured Russian soldiers. It forgot about the bloodcurdling burning of people at the Trade Union Building in Odessa in 2014.

The United States completely ignores the attacks that have been going on for many years on settlements in Donbass - kindergartens, schools, hospitals and residential buildings. Although it should be clear to any sober-minded person that no threats come from there.

❓Washington's two-facedness is outrageous. Why is the State Department silent about the atrocities of Ukrainian cutthroats? What are the American human rights organizations thinking? Why is no one calling for the punishment of fascist thugs?

⚡️Ahead of the Eleventh Emergency Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Kiev regime continues preparing for a major provocation to accuse the Russian Federation of allegedly ‘gravely violating’ the obligations of the Convention on Nuclear Safety during the special military operation.

To implement this provocation, several containers with radioactive substances were delivered to Ukraine from the territory of a European country without passing through customs inspection. These containers will be used to stage local contamination of a region close to one of the radiation-hazardous facilities controlled by the Kiev regime.

The provocation is aimed at accusing the Russian Armed Forces of allegedly launching indiscriminate strikes on radiation-hazardous facilities in Ukraine, leading to the leakage of radioactive substances and terrain contamination.

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