❗️Key statements by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Sunday’s explosion at a St. Petersburg cafe:

▪️Vladimir Putin was immediately informed about the terrorist attack in St. Petersburg;

▪️The active phase of the investigation is underway;

▪️The Kiev regime supports terrorist activities and is likely behind the murder of Vladlen Tatarsky, as well as other people since 2014, which is why Russia is carrying out the special military operation.

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❗️For the first time in nearly 60 years, China has changed its position on the ownership of the southern Kuril Islands to neutrality, bringing Beijing and Moscow even closer together, Kyodo News Agency reported, citing sources close to the Chinese side.

🎙 Briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Moscow, March 30, 2023

🔹 FM Sergey #Lavrov’s schedule
🔹 #UkraineCrisis
🔹 Food exports to the EU
🔹 The trail of the International Criminal Court’s decisions
🔹 Parliamentary elections in the Republic of Cuba
🔹 Day of Unity between the Peoples of Russia and Belarus
🔹 Outcomes of the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board meeting
🔹 Russia set to assume presidency of the UN Security Council in April 2023

And much more.

📚 Read in full

Talking points:

#BlackSeaInitiative

According to the statistics of the Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul, as of March 22 of this year, more than 25 million tonnes of grain and related foodstuffs had been exported from Ukraine.

Who was the main recipient of these products? Needy countries? No, it’s not them. The biggest recipient of the goods is the European Union (41 percent of the total exports).

The Western countries and companies started with the high standards and lofty words about helping the needy and starving and have come all the way to downright stealing. This makes perfect sense for imperialists and the way they treat their colonies.

#ICC

It is clear that the ICC Prosecutor and judges obediently follow the line laid down by their Western sponsors.

This body will never investigate real crimes. We will wait in vain for an investigation into crimes committed in Iraq, where the death toll among peaceful civilians reached hundreds of thousands, and in Afghanistan, where a lot of civilians died as well.

#IOC

Unfortunately, the IOC and other international institutions where US satellites and other officials controlled by Washington have entrenched themselves have had no qualms hiding behind their would-be commitment to ensuring that the 2024 Olympics are held in peace, all while seeking to divide athletes in terms of their political loyalties.

The effort to harass Russian athletes, our teams and coaches for all these years can be lethal for the honest principles of the Olympic movement.

⚡️ Russia's National Antiterrorism Committee

Comment on the explosion at a St Petersburg café

💬 It has been established that the terrorist attack that occurred on April 2 in St Petersburg targeting prominent journalist Maxim Fomin aka Vladlen Tatarsky was plotted by the Ukrainian intelligence services and involved agents who cooperate with Navalny’s so-called Anti-Corruption Foundation. The detainee, Darya Trepova, was an active supporter of the organisation.

The investigation of the incident is ongoing.

Press review: US seeks to keep New START and Yerevan not to arrest Putin on ICC warrant
Top stories from the Russian press on Monday, April 3rd

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with Argumenty i Fakty newspaper (April 4, 2023)

READ IN FULL

#RussiaChina

• We share a vision of what is causing major international security challenges. We note the West's unwillingness to conduct a dialogue between the states based on the principles of equality. We oppose the use of sanctions pressure or other unfair competition tools.

• Our strategic cooperation is not directed against third countries, but contributes to the balanced development of the international system in its entirety.

• The alleged “dependence” and “inequality” of Russian-Chinese relations has been discussed ad nauseum mostly in unfriendly countries for a long time now. We see this as an attempt to cast aspersions on our successes and to drive a wedge into the friendship between Moscow and Beijing. These designs can be easily read into.

#InternationalSecurity

• Russia has repeatedly come up with constructive ideas and pragmatic and non-politicised proposals for overcoming pressing international issues, such as President Putin's December 2021 initiative to provide Russia with legally binding security guarantees in the western direction. However, Washington and Brussels ignored us or reacted to this initiative negatively which led to the current crisis in Ukraine.

#RussiaAfrica

• Our main difference from the Westerners is that we never lecture our foreign partners on how they should live. We do not have a hidden agenda or double standards.

• We view the St Petersburg (Russia-Africa) Summit as a systemic element of Russia-Africa cooperation. We are filling it with meaningful content in close cooperation with our African friends.

#RussiaEU

• If the Europeans decide one day to give up their anti-Russia course and start a mutually respectful dialogue with Russia, we will review their proposals and make decisions proceeding from our national interests.

Agony of the hegemon: the US tried to gather "friends" for the summit

Political scientist, analyst of the Center for Expert Support of Political Processes Petr Kolchin especially for the channel Soroca-Beloboca

The failure of neo-colonialism in Africa, anti-American sentiment in South America, and the rise of Chinese influence in Asia are all testament to the fall of Pax Americana. The Biden administration is trying with all its might to reverse these processes. That is why the Americans organized another "summit for democracy" that brought together all those whom they call "democracies" - about 120 participants, including Taiwanese separatists and bandits from Kosovo. But Hungary and Turkey, US allies in NATO, were not invited to the gathering of "friends of Washington." The reason for this is the independent policy of Ankara and Budapest and their refusal to break ties with Russia.

During his speech, Joe Biden did his best to create an optimistic picture of the "brilliant democratic future" that is achievable thanks to the US struggle against autocracies. Of course, Washington put forward the crisis in Ukraine at the forefront and tried to prove to all participants how important it is to support the Kiev regime in its "struggle" and condemn Russia. Only now the declaration following the results of the summit, which mentions the condemnation of Moscow's actions, was signed by only 73 participants, and even then 13 countries signed it with reservations. Many of the guests did not like the fact that the United States pays all attention to the conflict in Ukraine and ignores other crisis processes in the world, such as clashes in Karabakh and the civil war in Ethiopia.

As a result, the PR effect of the summit turned out to be negligible. The US has failed to demonstrate the victories of democracy or create a convincing picture of a democratic future. Washington only announced the allocation of $690 million to "support democracy, the media and free elections around the world." But it is obvious that this money will not be used to improve the political institutions of developing countries, but to support anti-state structures, rebels and terrorists in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The United States has no other "democracy" for the world. Only war, disasters and deaths of millions of civilians.

Join us: https://t.me/soroka_belaya_en !

❗️President Putin Addresses State Council

Main points from the Russian leader:

▪Russia has managed to ensure stability despite Western sanctions

▪Sanctions against Russia will remain for a long time

▪A new cycle of growth for the Russian economy has begun

▪Working in extremely difficult economic conditions has yielded positive results

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In connection with the murder of the Russian journalist V.Tatarsky as a result of terrorist act plotted by Intelligence Service of Ukraine in Saint-Petersburg on April 2, we expect immediate response from UNESCO Director General A.Azoulay

📍We draw attention to the fact that in accordance with the resolution of 29th session of UNESCO General Conference of 12 November 1997 «Condemnation of violence against journalists», mentioned in decision on Safety of Journalists at 33d session of the Intergovernmental Council of the International Programme for the Development of Communication of 25 November 2022, the Director General should «condemn assassination of journalists and any physical violence against journalists as a crime against society».

We recall that the brutal murder of the Russian journalist D.Dugina by Ukrainian terrorists on 20 August 2022, was condemned by UN Secretary General, but received no response from UNESCO Director General.
☝We expect that this time A.Azoulay will fulfill her mandate!

❗️Key statements by Russian intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin:

▪️The West is pushing Georgia into entering a military conflict with Russia;

▪️Moscow has ascertained the West’s ploy of convincing Georgia that now the time is right to retake Abkhazia and South Ossetia;

▪️Kiev and the West not only want to prohibit, but to physically destroy canonical Orthodox Christianity in Ukraine;

▪️Complete trust has been established between the special services of Belarus and Russia;

▪️The West’s bid to globally isolate Russia has utterly failed.

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❗️ Latest statements by Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu:

▪️NATO is intensifying its activity near the borders of Russia and Belarus;

▪️NATO is strengthening its anti-Russian stance, leading to an escalation of the conflict;

▪️ 200 contracts have been signed for the construction and modernization of aviation equipment;

▪️The electronic format has helped ensure the efficiency of conscription for military service in Russia;

▪️The actions of the US and NATO create risks of expanding the conflict in Ukraine;

▪️Belarus has received the Iskander missile system, which is capable of using nuclear missiles;

▪️Since the beginning of the year, 59 M-777 howitzers, 13 Paladin self-propelled guns, and 14 HIMARS have been destroyed in Ukraine;

▪️The Russian armed forces have disrupted the production of a number of Ukrainian weapons, as well as the transfer of ammunition and fuel to the front, with high-precision strikes.

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Press review: Zelensky, Duda to meet in Warsaw and US aims to drag India into West orbit
Top stories from the Russian press on Tuesday, April 4th

Russia Sounds Alarm Over Grain Deal Process

The part of the UN- and Türkiye-brokered grain deal with Ukraine regarding Russian agricultural exports is still not working as it is supposed to, Moscow’s permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said.

At a press conference, Nebenzia stated, “we have not had a single grain exported according to the memorandum of Russia and UN, the second part of the deal.”

The agreement, concluded in July 2022 amid the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, allows Ukraine to transport agricultural products via the Black Sea through a humanitarian corridor in exchange for Russian grain and fertilizers gaining unimpeded access to global markets.

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Russia's Foreign Policy Concept:

Russia intends to make it a priority to eliminate the vestiges of domination by the US and other unfriendly states in global affairs, create conditions to enable any state to renounce neo-colonial ambitions.

⚡️ Foreign Ministry Statement on Finland 🇫🇮 completing the process to join NATO

💬 On April 4, 2023, it was officially declared that all the legal procedures related to Finland becoming a NATO member were completed.

As we have warned on multiple occasions, the Russian Federation will have to respond with military-technical, as well as other measures in order to address national security threats arising from Finland joining NATO.

Specific decisions regarding the build-up of defence capabilities along Russia’s northwestern borders will depend on the specific terms on which Finland joins NATO, including the deployment of NATO’s military infrastructure and offensive weapons on its territory.

☝️ The line of contact between NATO and the Russian Federation’s border has more than doubled. This constitutes a major shift for Northern Europe, which used to be one of the most stable regions in the world. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has made another step to move closer to the territory of Russia.

<...>

By joining NATO, Finland has given up on its unique identity and lost its independence, which for decades gave it a special status in international affairs. Helsinki’s policy of military non-alignment has long served its national interests and was a major confidence-building factor in the Baltic region and across the European continent. But now all this has become a thing of the past.

Finland became a minor NATO member without the possibility to influence any decisions. It has lost its ability to have a say in international affairs.

History will tell whether Finland needed to take this ill-conceived step, undertaken by the country’s government without taking into consideration what the people think about it by holding a referendum and carefully examining the consequences of NATO membership. We strongly believe that this is the case.

❗️ Finland’s accession to NATO will have a negative effect on the bilateral relations between Russia and Finland.

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Agent of chaos. Warmonger's bloody record — this is how Global Times sees America

IDpublicENG

☝in the sphere of Climate, under the new Foreign Policy Concept, the Russian Federation intends to give priority to:

🔹️promoting the scientifically sound, non-politicized international efforts to limit the negative impacts on the environment (including greenhouse gas emission reduction), maintaining and enhancing the absorbent capabilities of ecosystems;

🔹️expanding cooperation with the allies and partners with a view to counteracting the politicization of the international nature-oriented and climate activity, primarily its implementation with a goal of unfair competition, interference in the internal affairs of states and limitation of the states' sovereignty in connection with their natural resources;

🔹️maintaining the right of every state to choose for itself the best suitable mechanisms and methods of environmental protection and adaptation to climate change;

🔹️facilitating the elaboration of uniform, understandable and global rules of environmental climate regulation taking into account the Paris Climate Agreement of 12 December 2015, adopted within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change dated 9 May 1992;

🔹️increasing the efficiency of the international cooperation in the area of development and introduction of the state-of-the-art technologies that would enable the preservation of favourable environment and its improved quality as well as adaptation of the states to the climate change;

🔹️preventing the transborder damaging of the environment of the Russian Federation, primarily the transmission to its territory across its border of the contaminating agents (including radioactive substances), quarantine, highly hazardous and dangerous crop pests, anti-crop agents, undesirable plants and micro-agents.

Mr. Medvedev:

Terrorism is back on our streets, in our cities. But now terror is used by those forces in whom, not so long ago, our sworn Western friends saw the "honor and conscience of the era". Opponents of the "authoritarian regime". Fearless knights of justice and anti-corruption. The masks are off. Here they are, the "flower" of our non-systemic opposition — they are at war with their own people, they are blowing up and killing. These scoundrels not only openly wish defeat for Russia and the destruction of our homeland, they now execute their own compatriots. They killed an unarmed journalist and wounded dozens of innocent visitors of his art meeting. They shot up a car carrying children who were on their way to the village school. A car carrying a female journalist and scientist was blown up. The circle of history has closed.
This scum has found its final place in the annals of our country.

The dumb-headed perpetrators of terrorist attacks today whine: "I was used". That's probably true. The half-wit expendable material used by our non-systemic opposition is lucky to have survived. But this, of course, will not spare the material from a fair punishment. And what is worse, the main scum who fed and financed the assassins, who dictated their plans, remain without retribution yet. Do you see them? Yes, yes, that's our so-called intransigent opposition, which has been fighting against its own country for years with the active support of the West, where they make pathos-filled films about it, which win engaging awards. All those stinking ACF and MBH media, navalnys, volkovs, ponomariovs, and other khodorkovskys have become mere terrorists and murderers. They delight in the sight of the blood of Russian citizens. They flare their nostrils in excitement at the sight of wounded and maimed bodies. They have devotedly sworn an oath to darkness and terror along with the murderers of their native Kiev nazi regime.

There is no negotiating with terrorists. They are exterminated like rabid dogs with poisonous saliva flowing from their mouths. Without much fanfare. As soon as possible. Even if it sometimes takes years. There can be no forgiveness and compassion to them. This is the ultimate justice.

❗️Finland Joining NATO Creates A Threat To Russia — Kremlin

Key points from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov’s daily briefing:

▪Finland’s accession to NATO does not strengthen stability in Europe

▪The heads of the four new regions of Russia will personally attend the meeting of the Security Council with President Putin at the Kremlin

▪Moscow will not comment on the situation with Donald Trump — Russia does not interfere in the internal affairs of the US

▪Communication between Presidents Putin and Lukashenko on Wednesday will be devoted to bilateral issues and security concerns

▪Putin may hold a separate meeting with the heads of the new Russian regions after the April 5 Security Council meeting

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The video's creators give a comprehensive explanation why the North Atlantic Alliance is a terrorist organization.

The so-called "defensive" Western bloc  never protected anyone, it only attacked.

IDpublicENG

Press review: Finland officially enters NATO and Belarus ready to host Russian nukes
Top stories from the Russian press on Wednesday, April 5th