✍️ President Vladimir Putin sent a message of greetings to the participants and guests of the Primakov Readings International Forum.

✉️ This international expert forum, named after an outstanding statesman and diplomat, Academician Yevgeny Primakov, has rightfully received wide recognition. During constructive and openminded discussions, its participants not only thoroughly analyse today’s key international issues, but also consider long-term trends in developments at the regional and global levels, based on a system-wide, scientific approach and objective facts.

The theme of this year’s forum – Postglobalisation Horizons – is very relevant. It is clear that the model of globalisation, which was formed largely by Western states, naturally, in their own interests, has outlived its usefulness and is now in deep crisis.

❗️ A new, fairer and more democratic system of international relations is emerging, meeting the needs of the world majority.

However, a certain group of countries, used to dominating the world, will go to any length to maintain their waning influence, practicing outright blackmail and forceful pressure, replacing the system of international law with a kind of “rules-based order.” This destabilising line has provoked both the crisis around Ukraine and the tragic escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

In general, considering the current extremely difficult, turbulent international situation, the participants in the Primakov Readings have something to think about, to discuss and to argue about.

🕯 On November 29, 1941, Soviet partisan Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was executed by Nazi invaders. The young partisan became the first woman to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously) during the Great Patriotic War. She was only 18 years old when she was killed.

Zoya volunteered for the front immediately after having graduated from school. In October 1941, in the heat of the Battle of Moscow, she was enlisted as a private in reconnaissance and sabotage military unit No 9903.

Zoya’s group operated near Volokolamsk, mining roads and destroying enemy wire lines. During a combat mission in the village of Petrishchevo, the young woman was captured by the Nazis.

Despite brutal torture, Zoya did not betray either her comrades or the location of the partisans. Desperate to get information, the enraged fascists decided to publicly hang her in one of the villages occupied by the Nazis.

💬 Zoya’s famous last words were: “Comrades, I’m not afraid to die! It’s a blessing to die for my people.”

👉 Zoya’s courageous feat became a symbol of perseverance during the Great Patriotic War, inspiring hundreds of thousands of her peers to resist the enemy.

The heroine’s younger brother, Alexander Kosmodemyansky, joined the front at 17, after the death of his sister. He gained fame for his exploits during the assault on Koenigsberg and was fatally wounded in battle. Like his sister, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

🎙 President Vladimir Putin addressed, via videoconference, the plenary session of the World Russian People’s Council. The key topic of the forum, dedicated to the 30th Anniversary of the organisation’s establishment, is the Present and Future of the Russian World.

💬 Our fight for sovereignty and justice is, without exaggeration, one of national liberation, because we are upholding the security and well-being of our people, and our supreme historical right to be Russia – a strong independent power, a civilisation state.

It is our country, it is the Russian world that has blocked the way of those who aspired to world domination and exceptionalism, as it has happened many times in history.

We are now fighting not just for Russia's freedom but for the freedom of the whole world. We can frankly say that the dictatorship of one hegemon is becoming decrepit. We see it, and everyone sees it now. <...> This is now clear to the global majority.

☝️ I would like to stress this: without a sovereign and strong Russia, no lasting and stable international system is possible.

We know the threat we are opposing. Russophobia and other forms of racism and neo-Nazism have almost become the official ideology of Western ruling elites. They are directed not only against ethnic Russians, but against all groups living in Russia

The West has no need for such a large and multi-ethnic country as Russia as a matter of principle. Our diversity and unity of cultures, traditions, languages, and ethnicities simply do not fit into the logic of Western racists and colonisers, into their cruel plans for total depersonalisation, separation, suppression, and exploitation.

👉 They want to dismember and plunder Russia. If they cannot do it by force, they sow discord.

❗️We view any outside interference or provocations to incite ethnic or religious conflict as acts of aggression against our country, and an attempt to once again wield terrorism and extremism as a weapon against us, and we will respond accordingly.

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🎙Выступление Президента Российской Федерации В.В.Путина на пленарной сессии Всемирного русского народного собора

28 ноября 2023 г.

🔗http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/72863

🎙President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin's speech at the plenary session of the World Russian People's Council

November 28, 2023

🔗http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/72863

📹 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov 🤝 greeted by Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia Bujar Osmani, Chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe ahead of the Plenary Session of the OSCE Ministerial Council.

📸 Heads of delegations take part in the photo ceremony ahead of the OSCE Ministerial Council

📍 Skopje, November 30, 2023

🗓 On November 30 and December 1, the OSCE Ministerial Council will meet in Skopje, North Macedonia, for its 30th regular meeting, which Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov plans to attend.

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The main theme at the upcoming meeting will be the crisis situation within the OSCE. We hope to be able to discuss all the outstanding issues

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👉 The current profound crisis within the OSCE is the result of destructive actions by certain Western countries, which are using the organisation in their own interests and violating its fundamental principles. The OSCE agenda has been focused on Ukraine since 2022.

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Russian delegates at OSCE governing body meetings consistently draw attention to the most pressing issues within the organisation's zone of responsibility:

• combating terrorism and drug trafficking,
• safeguarding traditional values,
• countering neo-Nazism, preventing the distortion of history, and addressing Christianophobia and Islamophobia.

The Russian delegation to the OSCE regularly updates the delegations of other member states on progress towards the objectives of the special military operation and provides objective information regarding war crimes committed by the Kiev regime, attacks on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the extensive campaign in Ukraine to "cancel" the Russian language and culture, and the persecution of Russian media.

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🇷🇺🇦🇹 Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Foreign Minister of Austria Alexander Schallenberg on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council

🤝 Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov takes part in the first Plenary Session of the OSCE Ministerial Council

📍 Skopje, November 30, 2023

Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova:

💬 This here, on these very desks, is a clear manifestation of what Sergey Lavrov mentioned in his statement at the plenary session of the OSCE Ministerial Council: under the pressure from the US the logic of the OSCE is being replaced by the aggressive ideology of NATO.

📷 © Maria Zakharova

🇷🇺🇰🇿 Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Murat Nurtleu hold talks on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council

📍 Skopje, November 30, 2023

Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova:

💬 This is the first time in our history that instead of closing its airspace to a plane, a government has... prohibited a person from being on board this plane while it crosses its airspace. This is how far Russia haters have gone in their malicious stupidity. But this is what we read in an official statement from the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry: Yes, you can cross Bulgaria’s airspace, but Maria Zakharova cannot be aboard that plane.

However, it does not say whether I can fly over Bulgaria in any other way other than by boarding a plane or whether I can travel through outer space for that purpose.

On a more serious note, there is more than just stupidity here. In fact, this constitutes a dangerous and stupid move by some wire-puller within the Bulgarian government.

After all, it is the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation that governs air travel. It defines state territory as “the land areas and territorial waters adjacent thereto.” Air space is not covered by this definition. Therefore, the already illegal European Union sanctions cannot be applied to a person who is banned from entering a country’s territory while this person is on a plane during a non-stop flight over that state’s territory.

Have Bulgarian officials considered the fact that we could retaliate by giving the same treatment to thousands of NATO officials designated on our retaliatory stop lists? Have they thought about the dangerous international precedent this could set? I don’t think so.

Who gave these illiterate officials in Sofia the authority to discredit the people of Bulgaria this way?

PS. By the way, we are in Skopje 👋

🇷🇺🇦🇲 On November 30, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov had a brief conversation with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, Ararat Mirzoyan, on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Skopje.

The Foreign Ministers discussed topical issues on the bilateral agenda, as well as cooperation on international platforms and in common integration associations.

There was an exchange of views on regional issues. The Russian side reaffirmed its readiness to vigorously promote Armenian-Azerbaijani normalisation on the basis of the set of trilateral agreements signed by the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia in 2020-2022, including efforts to conclude a peace treaty between Yerevan and Baku.

The Ministers confirmed the need for further contacts at various levels.

🇷🇺🇭🇺 On November 30, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov met with Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto as part of the 30th Meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Skopje.

The Ministers compared positions on a wide range of practical issues of bilateral cooperation with a focus on the implementation of the agreements confirmed in Beijing on October 17, 2023 during the meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban.

They exchanged views on key issues related to OSCE activities and topical international problems, including the situation in Ukraine.

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks during the 30th meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council (November 30, 2023)

Key points:

• In just over a year, the Helsinki Final Act will mark its 50th anniversary. Regrettably, the OSCE is approaching this milestone in a lamentable condition, and its prospects remain uncertain.

• Unfortunately, Western political elites appropriated the role of rulers of humanity’s destiny and made a shortsighted choice in favour of NATO rather than the OSCE. They embraced a philosophy of containment, geopolitical zero-sum games, and the leader-follower logic. The bloc’s reckless expansion to the East, which started after the dissolution of the Warsaw Treaty Organisation, was a key component of this approach.

• The genuine intentions of the Western politicians again revealed themselves when Washington and Brussels rejected Russia’s December 2021 proposals on legally binding security guarantees in Europe.

• In a bid to crush the Russian economy, the United States and its European satellites have introduced thousands of anti-Russia sanctions, thereby making impossible any significant East-West practical cooperation in what was once our common region.

• The Kiev regime is Washington’s investment into its egoistic interests of deterring Russia and resolving its own problems at the expense of others. This applies to the removal of economic competitors, primarily the EU.

• The current situation is a direct consequence of the persistent attempts by our Western neighbours to ensure their dominance, as they shamelessly use the OSCE to aggressively push through their self-serving interests and consciously undermine the fundamental principle of consensus and the culture of diplomacy.

• There are no particular reasons to be optimistic now. Essentially, the OSCE is being reformatted to become an appendage of NATO and the EU. This organisation (let’s face it) is on the brink of the abyss.

❓ Hence, a simple question: Does it make any sense to invest in any effort to revive it?

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