🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's answer to a question from the "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" programme on August 27, 2023

❓ Is it true that BRICS could become an alternative to the G20 in the future?

💬 Sergey Lavrov: I don't think that's necessary right now. That is not our goal. President Vladimir Putin, referring to today's meeting of BRICS members with their partners, emphasised that we are not going to disadvantage anyone. We don’t want others to prevent us from implementing projects that are mutually beneficial and not aimed against anyone.

The position of the already enlarged BRICS in the G20 will be strengthened. Saudi Arabia and Argentina are part of the G20 already. The formal division of the G20 into the G7 plus and BRICS+ is now taking shape in practice. We will coordinate our approaches with the new members at the UN, the G20 and other international platforms.

🎙 Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s comment on the Ukrainian crisis

💬 In an effort to distract the attention of its Western handlers from problems on the frontline, including the fiasco of the so-called counteroffensive, the neo-Nazi Kiev regime continues to launch pointless strikes against civilian facilities in Russia, with the Ukrainian and foreign media actively covering them.

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Work continues on exposing and punishing the Ukrainian neo-Nazis guilty of shelling the civilian population, mistreating civilians, attempted murders and murders, including murders committed in a way that jeopardises the local population based on political and ideological hatred and enmity.

In the past week, Russian courts studied the evidence collected by the Russian Investigative Committee and sentenced 11 Ukrainian servicemen.

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Despite the suffering of the civilians in Russia and Ukraine, the United States and its satellites continue to flood the neo-Nazi Kiev regime with weapons. <...> Meanwhile, multibillion-dollar arms supplies to the criminal Kiev regime are raising an increasing number of questions among the Western public.
<…>

The increasing calls for the Ukraine conflict to be resolved through talks once again raise the issue of the impossibility of trusting Kiev and its Western handlers. We must not forget the way they treated the Minsk agreements, which gave a real chance for a peaceful settlement of the Donbass conflict.

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❗️ Now, we are witnessing the Westerners and their Kiev underlings using a new trick. They are actively promoting Zelensky's so-called peace formula which in reality has nothing to do with peace and contains only a set of ultimatums that are unacceptable to Russia. In reality, they are cobbling up an anti-Russia coalition, and are trying to draw our Global South partners into it.

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🇷🇺🇺🇳 Russia's position at the seventy-eighth session of the UN General Assembly

The primary objective of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly is to reaffirm the central and coordinating role of the universal Organization in global affairs and to strengthen the multipolar system of international relations.

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👉 We have consistently advocated strengthening the multilateral framework of international relations and world economy based on the universal norms of international law, first and foremost the provisions of the UN Charter, focusing on the unconditional respect for the sovereign equality of states and non-interference in their internal affairs.

❗️ It is pivotal to prevent a small group of Western countries from taking control of the UN by striving to substitute generally recognized principles of cooperation between the states with non-consensual constructs.

#UN

The UN Security Council reform should aim to strengthen the representation of developing states from Africa, Asia and Latin America in the Security Council without prejudice to the UNSC's effectiveness and operational efficiency. Low twenties seems the optimum number of members of the reformed Council.

We support realistic initiatives to revitalize the work of the UN General Assembly within the relevant Ad Hoc Working Group. It is of paramount importance to fine-tune UNGA working methods, streamline its overloaded agenda and strengthen multilingualism.

#Sanctions

Sanctions are an important auxiliary tool for the UNSC to suppress activities threatening international peace and security. They must not be used as a means of punishment. They should be carefully measured, targeted and time-limited and take into account political, socio-economic, human rights and humanitarian consequences.

❗️It is unacceptable to introduce, in addition to UNSC sanctions, further unilateral coercive measures, especially those with extraterritorial effect. We advocate for including this requirement in relevant SC resolutions.

#UNGA78

🎙 Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s answer to a question from The International Affairs about the so-called Athens Declaration adopted by a number of European countries

❓ Question: What is your comment on the Athens Declaration adopted by the leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, and Ukraine, as well as the “premier” of Kosovo, following their meeting in Athens on August 21?

💬 The Athens Declaration provides new graphic evidence that the current EU leadership persists with its policy designed to Ukrainise the agenda of all multilateral cooperation formats.

☝️ They select participants for each event of this sort, thus revealing for the umpteenth time the hidden designs behind any EU agenda.

The EU uses political and economic pressure and blackmail to induce Western Balkan countries to join its aggressive political line towards Russia. They want the accession countries to share collective responsibility. <...>

❗️ The EU does not take into consideration the real problems and aspirations of people living in Western Balkan countries.

To continue its confrontation with Russia, the EU is ready to sacrifice the Western Balkan region’s true development and security interests in violation of one of the fundamental principles of the UN Charter: respect for sovereignty and the right to independent development. They hypocritically refer in their final document to Russia’s violation of the European security principles, which they, along with the United States, made null and void by their interventions in Yugoslavia in 1999, Iraq in 2003, Libya in 2011, and Syria in 2014.

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🇷🇺🇰🇬 President Vladimir Putin sent a message of congratulations to President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov on the country’s national holiday, Independence Day.

✉️ Relations between our states hinge on the principles of strategic partnership and alliance. Bilateral cooperation continues to develop successfully in various spheres. We collaborate constructively within the Eurasian Economic Union, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and other multilateral associations.

I am confident that strengthening diverse Russian-Kyrgyzstani ties fully meets the interests of our friendly nations and helps enhance security and stability in the Eurasian region.

#RussiaKyrgyzstan

🇷🇺🇹🇷 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov hold talks with Foreign Minister of Türkiye Hakan Fidan

📍 Moscow, August 31, 2023

#RussiaTürkiye 🤝

🇷🇺🇿🇦 President Vladimir Putin conveyed his condolences to President of the Republic of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa on the tragic consequences of the fire in Johannesburg.

✉️ The President of Russia requested that his sympathy and support be conveyed to the families and friends of the victims, as well as wishes for a speedy recovery to all the injured.

#RussiaSouthAfrica

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

Ukraine

📃 The unending eight-year-long war waged by the Kiev regime against the people of Donbass and the intentional sabotage of the Package of measures for the Implementation of the Minsk agreements by Ukraine forced Russia to take measures to protect the region's civilians.

☝️ The Special Military Operation that began in 2022 is conducted in strict compliance with Article 51 of the UN Charter and will continue till the threats to Russia's security are eliminated.

• Ukraine's Western allies contribute to the escalation and perpetuation of the conflict by providing Kiev with heavy weapons, financial and technical assistance, and recruiting and supplying mercenaries. NATO countries' weapons are used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to mount strikes against civilian infrastructure and peaceful citizens of Donbass. Thus, the West has virtually become a party in the hostilities responsible for the crimes of the Kiev regime.

• Violations of international humanitarian law and terrorist attacks carried out by Ukraine are carefully recorded, and all the perpetrators will face their punishment.

🗳 The Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, as well as the Zaporozhye and Kherson Oblasts became part of Russia after their population freely expressed its will in September 2022 in accordance with the UN Charter and the 1970 Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among states.

❗️ The recognition of the referendums held in the Zaporozhye and Kherson Oblasts, the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, and the accession of Crimea to Russia after the expression of the free will by its citizens in 2014, is a key precondition for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive settlement of the situation in Ukraine.

#UNGA78

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

💬 UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has resigned after four years in office after sending a letter of resignation to the prime minister.

Let's say goodbye to the person responsible for contaminating Ukrainian soil with radiation by supplying the Kiev regime with depleted uranium shells. Agent 006 has ignominiously fled the battlefield.

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks during talks with Foreign Minister of Türkiye Hakan Fidan

📍 Moscow, August 31, 2023

💬 We are happy to welcome you in Moscow and believe that this meeting is quite well-timed. This is our first full-fledged contact since the appointment of Mr Hakan Fidan as Foreign Minister of the Republic of Türkiye. On that note, we extend our congratulations to him again.

Considering your record of service, we believe that our relations will maintain continuity as regards foreign ministries. The more so since it proceeds from the fundamental agreements made by our Presidents. Given that President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan are preparing for a regular meeting, I believe that today we should take a close look at all the issues included for their discussion.

Naturally, in addition to the bilateral agenda, we have a wide-ranging dialogue and practical cooperation in regional and international affairs. All of this requires regular coordination. I am sure that today’s meeting will be useful and will make it possible to submit constructive recommendations to our leaders.

#RussiaTürkiye

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

💬 Last Friday, Pope Francis addressed Catholic youth in St Petersburg via videoconference. He blessed young Russian Catholics before the new academic year, offered some words of guidance and concluded his address with the words: “Do not forget your heritage. You are heirs of a great Russia. The great Russia of saints, of kings. The great Russia of Peter the Great, Catherine II, that great and enlightened Russian Empire of great culture and much humanity. Never deny this heritage, you are the heirs of the great Mother Russia, carry on with it. And thank you. Thank you for your way of being, for your way of being Russians.”

Kiev neo-Nazis reacted the Pontiff's speech in their own way. “Official Foreign Ministry spokesman” of the Kiev regime Oleg Nikolenko described the Pontiff’s words as “imperialist propaganda” and “unfortunate Russian great-power ideas.” And, for good measure, he went on to lecture the head of the Roman Catholic Church, which includes more than a billion believers around the world, on what he should say to his flock.

But there was more to come. That is, a new low to be reached. Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of Zelensky's office, called Pope Francis a “Russian propaganda tool” in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, where he also referred to what the Pope said about Russia as “a destructive discourse for modern humanism.”

First off… humanism? Do Podolyak and the rest of the microbes in the Kiev regime even know what the word means?

Humanism is about wanting to do greater good for humanity. It is about cultural evolution and the highest level of moral capabilities based on humane thinking. The Encyclopaedists – French thinkers in the 18th century – saw humanism as philanthropy, or love for humanity, “a gentle, patient and selfless virtue, which endures evil without approving it.” It would seem that Bandera-style torch processions are a far cry from gentle and patient humanism. The irrational hatred of everything Russian is a far cry from the tolerance of humanism. Rampant corruption is a far cry from the selflessness of humanism. The Kiev regime is an anti-human and anti-humanistic neoplasm by definition.

And secondly, whose heirs are now in power in Kiev? The heirs of the Great Ukrs? In better times, those who claimed that the Ukrs were descended from ancient Aryans were locked up in Pavlovka – the main psychiatric asylum in Ukraine – next door to Napoleons and agents of distant galaxies.

These days, the Kiev regime is trying hard to emphasise that the unfortunate population of Ukraine are the heirs of Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevich, who were nurtured by Hitler and visited immeasurable evil on Ukraine and other nations. There is no doubt that this bubble will burst in time, too.

Doesn’t this suggest that those ancient Ukrs and Nazi collaborators are the best the Kiev regime can muster as its heritage? Because Gogol, Khmelnitsky, and anyone else they still allow people to be proud of were directly linked to Russia. But the Kiev regime has erased Russia from its ancestors.

And if anyone in Kiev wants to see whose heritage is being squandered by the criminal and his gangs that seized power on Bankovaya Street, they should visit Ukraine’s National Art Museum in Kiev to look at Forever with Moscow, Forever with the Russian People by Ukrainian painter Mikhail Khmelko.

Or has it been sold already?

🎙 Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s interview with ANSA Italian news agency

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(Telegraph)

Key talking points:

🔹 For Western officials, diplomatically resolving the Ukrainian crisis is not a priority. They plan to drag out the conflict so that the Kiev regime engages in a war of attrition against Russia. Losses among Ukrainians hold no sway for NATO; they are mere expendable assets in achieving NATO’s geopolitical goals.

🔹 Our requirements for resolving the European security crisis provoked by Washington and Brussels are well-known. First, the parameters of security guarantees provided by both Russia and the West must be agreed upon in line with the proposals that we made to the United States and NATO in December 2021.

🔹 The special military operation’s goal is not to seize Ukraine's territory, but to denazify and demilitarise it and ensure its non-bloc status. Only then can we talk about eliminating threats to Russia and its citizens’ security.

🇻🇦 Russia has repeatedly emphasised that it highly values the Vatican's balanced stance on the Ukrainian conflict and the efforts of the Holy See and Pope Francis in seeking a peaceful settlement, which unfortunately have been openly turned down by the Kiev regime.

🇮🇹 Following the lead of the United States, Italy has chosen a course aimed at the deliberate dismantling of the decades-old complex of Russian-Italian cooperation in various fields. Italy is supplying increasingly heavy and lethal weaponry and military equipment to Ukraine

🔹 At the same time, many good things connect us with Italy and its wonderful people, who - we are well aware of it - despite the Russophobic exercises by the paid-up mainstream media, maintain a deep sympathy for and interest in Russia, its culture and people.

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the Knowledge Day ceremony at Primakov School (Moscow, September 1, 2023)

💬 This is not the first time that we are marking Knowledge Day and the start of the new academic year together at this school; it has become a good tradition. I am pleased to note that the Primakov School’s prestige, reputation and popularity has been growing every year, and an increasing number of parents want their children to join this excellent educational institution.

I would like to wish the first-graders good luck in this new stage in their lives. You will be crossing the school threshold for the first time today. Here, you will make new friends, you will experience success, difficulties, and trials. I have no doubt that you will overcome every challenge if you listen to your teachers who will help you learn and think independently.

I would like to especially address the 11th graders. You have already received the extensive knowledge that the Primakov School provides; this will be your last year before the final exams. You will also face the choice of your future path in life. I wish that you make a choice which will meet your interests and help you become an independent and successful person. I hope that some of you will consider enrolling at MGIMO. We could only welcome that. Our university draws on the most talented school graduates’ pool from all over our Motherland, but above all, from Moscow and the Moscow Region.

I would like to remind you that the name of Yevgeny Primakov, the man your school was named after, is associated with numerous great events in our country’s past, with the evolution of the Russian Federation as a sovereign, independent state, and the development of its foreign policy, which remains fully relevant today. Yevgeny Primakov will forever remain in our memory as a great diplomat, scholar and statesman.

I wish you to be worthy of his memory, in your studies and deeds. Good luck and all the very best.

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

Middle East settlement

📃 We believe that reviving the Middle East settlement process, while placing the efforts to address the Palestinian problem at its core, is a prerequisite for bringing peace and security to the Middle East.

🇮🇱🇵🇸 We attach key importance to preventing the escalation of violence between Palestinians and Israelis and to providing extensive humanitarian assistance to those affected and in need in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

We call on the sides to show restraint, refrain from unilateral steps and provocative actions, and respect the special status and integrity of the Holy Sites in Jerusalem.

☝️ We support the resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on all issues concerning the final status based on a universally acknowledged international legal framework, including the two-state formula.

#UNGA78

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

Africa

📃 We believe that efforts to prevent crises and solve conflicts in Africa should be African-led and supported by the international community. We stand for strengthening the UN's partnership with the African Union and the continent's sub-regional organizations.

We intend to further actively contribute to the political resolution of the crises in the CAR, the DR Congo, South Sudan, Somalia, Mali and the Sahara-Sahel region as a whole, as well as in other hotspots across Africa. We oppose attempts to defame our cooperation with African countries.

🇨🇫 As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a bilateral partner of Bangui, we continue to facilitate the stabilization and national reconciliation process in the CAR based on the Political Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation of 6 February 2019 to ensure a lasting solution to the protracted conflict in the heart of Africa. In line with international law, we assist the country's authorities in building national security capabilities.

🇲🇱 We are closely following the security situation in Mali against the backdrop of the UNSC decision to withdraw the UN Stabilization Mission in the country (30 June 2023). <...> Russia will continue to provide support to Bamako on a bilateral basis, including in building the combat capability of the armed forces, training military and law enforcement personnel, and providing humanitarian assistance.

🇸🇩 We support regional efforts to resolve the ongoing armed conflict between the regular army and the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, which broke out on 15 April 2023. We strongly oppose attempts to impose politicized solutions on the parties to the conflict and exert pressure on them from outside, including through illegitimate unilateral sanctions measures. We are convinced that a sustainable solution can only be achieved by political and diplomatic means with the participation of all Sudanese parties concerned.

#UNGA78

🇷🇺🇺🇳 Russia's position at the seventy-eighth session of the UN General Assembly:

Climate change

We attach great importance to international cooperation in addressing climate change. We regard the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Paris Agreement as the main international legal mechanisms to achieve a durable solution to the climate issue. We consider it important to strictly adhere to the provisions of the Paris Agreement in terms of keeping the average global temperature increase within the range of 2–1.5° C and achieving carbon neutrality in the second half of the century rather than by 2050.

We oppose the "blurring" of the mandate of the UNFCCC and the establishment of a system of treaty obligations duplicating it. The division of labour between environmental mechanisms should be respected while avoiding the creation of artificial overlaps making it harder to pursue common goals and interests.

❗️ We are convinced that climate action should build on non-discriminatory international cooperation with due regard for economic realities and interests of all the countries concerned.

We oppose linking climate and security agendas and vesting peacekeeping missions with unnatural climate-monitoring functions. By doing so, major donor states are seeking to shrug off the responsibility for economic problems faced by least developed countries.

#UNGA78