🇷🇺 President Vladimir Putin sent greetings to participants and guests of the Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum.

💬 I am happy to welcome the participants and guests of the #RussiaAfrica Economic and Humanitarian Forum, which will take place in St. Petersburg.

The event will provide an opportunity for politicians, entrepreneurs, scientists and public figures to share their views on ways to strengthen multi-faceted partnership, discuss specific tasks which are vital to ensure the sustainable and progressive development of our countries.

🌍 Today, Africa is asserting itself more and more confidently as one of the poles of the emerging multipolar world. Progress is gaining momentum across a wide range of areas, including manufacturing, agriculture, transport infrastructure, fuel and energy, healthcare and education.

Russia supports the aspiration of African nations to secure socioeconomic stability and advancement. It is important that over the past few years, cooperation between Russia and Africa has reached new heights. We intend to continue moving in this direction, working to boost trade and investment, deepen cooperation and work together to address such pressing issues as the fight against poverty, training modern workforce, ensuring food security and tackling climate change.

And of course, we remain committed to assisting our African partners in every possible way to help them strengthen their national and cultural sovereignty, to play a more active role in resolving regional and global challenges.

🤝 I firmly believe that the Forum will provide a further boost to our political and humanitarian partnership for many years to come. It will serve as a crucial event for Russian-African relations, making them even more comprehensive and far-reaching.

I would like to express my gratitude to all colleagues from the African continent planning to travel to St. Petersburg for the Russia-Africa Forum and Summit.

I wish you a productive and successful event and peace and prosperity for all Africa.

🌍 Второй Саммит Россия-Африка и Экономический и гуманитарный форум Россия–Африка пройдут в г.Санкт-Петербурге в период с 27 по 28 июля. Участие в мероприятиях подтвердили 49 африканских стран, больше половины из них – 27 стран – будут представлены первыми и вторыми лицами государств.

🤝 Одновременно на Саммит приедут руководители региональных организаций континента, в том числе Африканского союза, Восточноафриканского сообщества, Нового партнерства для развития Африки и других.

В преддверии мероприятия Президент России В.В.Путин опубликовал статью под названием «Россия и Африка: объединяя усилия для мира, прогресса и успешного будущего».
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🌍 Det andet Rusland-Afrika-topmøde og Rusland-Afrikas økonomiske og humanitære forum afholdes i Skt. Petersborg fra 27. til 28. juli. 49 afrikanske lande har bekræftet deltagelsen, mere end halvdelen af dem - 27 lande - vil være repræsenteret af staternes ledere eller deres næstepersoner.

🤝 Samtidig vil lederne af regionale organisationer på kontinentet, herunder Den Afrikanske Union, Det Østafrikanske Fællesskab, Det Nye Partnerskab for Afrikas Udvikling og andre, komme til topmødet.

På tærsklen til begivenheden offentliggjorde den russiske præsident Vladimir Putin en artikel med titlen "Rusland and Africa: Joining Efforts for Peace, Progress and a Successful Future."

#РоссияАфрика

#SaintPetersburg is one of the most gorgeous cities in the world and THE place to be at this very moment.

All eyes are on the city as it hosts the 2nd #RussiaAfrica Summit - main events to begin soon.

Here is an appetizer for what the African leaders will see and what the "Northern Venice" has to offer to any who visits 👇

#RussiaAfrica

📹 RT ARABIC

🎥 President Vladimir Putin's remarks and address to the African leaders at the Second Russia–Africa Summit, Plenary Session of the Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum

Full video. Dubbed in English

⚓️ Russian Navy Day is celebrated today, on July 30, the last Sunday of this summer month! For 327 years the ships of the Russian Navy and their crews have been guarding the borders and national interests of our country - one of the world’s largest naval powers.

The true origin of Russian naval traditions was the October 30, 1696 decree of the Boyar Duma on the construction of a regular fleet, accepted upon the recommendation of Peter the Great.

The Navy Fleet of the Russian Federation is the successor of the Navy Fleet of Russia and the Navy Fleet of the Soviet Union. Structurally, the Russian Navy consists of five operational-strategic units: the Northern, the Pacific, the Baltic, and the Black Sea fleets and the Caspian Flotilla.

Following the tradition, this year St. Petersburg will again host the Main Naval Parade in honor of the holiday, which will be attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

👉 Read in full about Russian Navy Day

⚓️ President of Russia, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin took part in the Main Naval Parade, held in St Petersburg and Kronstadt on Russian Navy Day.

💬 Vladimir Putin: For centuries, our Fleet has been an indestructible guardian of the frontiers of the Fatherland, its pride and glory. This is why the whole of Russia, all the people celebrate festivities in its honour.

Since the time of Peter the Great, our Navy has served our country devotedly and whole-heartedly. Its chronicles include triumphant victories in sea battles, round-the-world cruises and great geographical discoveries, outstanding achievements in science and technology.

Time and again, the Russian fleet has stood in the way of the enemy as an unassailable fortress. We remember the heroic defence of Port-Arthur and of Sevastopol, Petropavlovsk and Leningrad, we recall the courage of the marines, the sailors defending Moscow, Stalingrad and the Arctic regions, storming bridgeheads on the Dnieper and the Danube rivers.

☝️ The history of development of our Russian Navy has formed its essence, its primary mission, which centers on protecting the Motherland.

This year, our heroic Fleet celebrates a whole range of memorable events, today’s parade is devoted to them: The Baltic Fleet is 320 years old, the Northern Fleet, – 290 years, and the Black Sea Fleet, – 240.

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Today, Russia confidently implements the ambitious objectives of the national marine policy, and steadily increases the power of its Fleet. This year alone, it will be supplemented by 30 ships of different classes.

🤝 I would like to thank the crew of the Russian Navy for their outstanding accomplishment of the tasks they have been set for their reliability, diligence, firmness and unfailing loyalty to the Motherland!

Glory to the Russian Navy!

Read in full

🎙 Russia’s President Vladimir Putin's answers to journalists’ questions following the Second #RussiaAfrica Summit

Key points

• The [Summit] atmosphere was very relaxed and friendly in every sense of the word. These people want to work with us. As for us, we must do everything to move in this direction, and this is what we will do.

• We have done a lot of good and useful things for Africa. When we contact African leaders and they say as much, we always have a feeling that we are good people. This is true in this case and it is very good.

• There is a lot of demand for working together on security matters. Africa still suffers from terrorism. This is a challenge for many regions and countries there. We know all too well that stability at home is a must in order to promote economic development, while there can be no stability without security. It is for this reason that they want to continue working with us and are sincere about it. This includes military-technical cooperation. Outside pressure has done nothing to scare them away.

• The African continent is extremely friendly and positive towards us. This is an important foundation we can use to build business relations as well.

#Ukraine

• Just like any peace initiative, this initiative is helpful because it is focused on finding a peaceful solution to the conflict. There are certain provisions of this peace initiative that are being implemented after our meeting in St Petersburg six weeks ago.

• You know this, I constantly speak about this. We have never rejected peace talks.

☝️ The conversation in general was long and constructive. I think we spoke for almost two hours. Every participant had a chance to share their opinion on the matter. I want to stress once again: we spoke from the position of friendship, trying to find realistic ways and opportunities to lower the tensions.

Read in full

🎥Полное видео выступления и.о. Постоянного представителя Д.А.Полянского на заседании Совета Безопасности ООН по вопросу о систематическом использовании Украиной террористических методов

⚡️ On the adoption of the second intermediate report by the Open-Ended Working Group on International Information Security

Following its fifth session, the UN Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on International Information Security (IIS; New York, July 24-28, 2023) adopted a second intermediate report.

The main achievement is the implementation of Russia’s initiative to establish an intergovernmental registry of contact points for the exchange of information on cyber attacks. This mechanism opens opportunities for the cooperation of national relevant authorities in preventing or resolving incidents in the information space.

The report reflects many of Russia’s key priorities, primarily the concept for a UN convention on ensuring IIS suggested by a group of countries (Belarus, Venezuela, the DPRK, Nicaragua, Russia and Syria) as a prototype of a universal legally binding instrument in the digital area.

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Russia will continue upholding the need to create a fair IIS system based on the principles of equality, mutual respect, trust and regard for the interests of all states. We will focus on elaborating an international legal regime to regulate the information space.

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🇷🇺🇺🇸 Russian Embassy in the USA:

🎙 Ambassador Anatoly Antonov’s answer to a media question

❓ Question: How would you comment on the State Department’s report on the reasons that continued implementation of the New START Treaty is in the national security interests of the United States?

💬 Anatoly Antonov: This report – as well as other previous State Department’s documents on New START and arms control – is empty tub-thumping.

Washington has long been violating the letter and the spirit of the agreement. It has not only abandoned the principles embedded in the Preamble to New START, but also breached the central limits of the Treaty that restrict the number of strategic weapons. It illegitimately removed from accountability under the Treaty about a hundred strategic offensive arms: SLBM launchers and heavy bombers. Russia’s repeated demands to resolve the problem have been ignored.

☝️ Even more important factor that has led to the current crisis over the agreement is the Administration’s hybrid war against our country aimed at imposing on us a strategic defeat. Washington’s calls for addressing the New START issues separately from the overall geopolitical situation do not stand up to criticism. The real goal of the United States is to gain access to Russia’s nuclear weapons bases in order to obtain information about the development of our strategic arsenal.

🎙 Briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (Moscow, August 2, 2023)

🔷 FM Sergey Lavrov’s schedule
🔷 #RussiaAfrica Summit
🔷 Ukrainian crisis
🔷 Kiev regime’s crimes and use of terrorist methods
🔷 Actions against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
🔷 Developments in Niger
🔷 New evidence of militarist Japan’s crimes

And more...

📚 Read in full

#Ukraine

Сriminal activity involving the open use of terrorist methods has long become routine for the Kiev regime. Its representatives are no longer afraid to admit this openly, assuming responsibility for attacks on civilian facilities and acts of terrorism against civilians.

<...>

Western countries are not only verbally encouraging the terrorist methods of the Kiev regime, but are also directly involved in the organisation of terrorist acts by supplying weapons and passing on the necessary intelligence.

<...>

With the Ukraine conflict moving into a more intensive phase, we are witnessing major violations of the OSCE Document on Small Arms and Light Weapons by the United States (2000) and the Principles Governing Conventional Arms Transfers (1993). By supplying all these weapons to the neo-Nazis in Kiev, the West encourages human rights violations by the receiving state, escalates the armed confrontation and becomes an accomplice in the war crimes perpetrated by the Ukrainian Armed Forces against civilians.

📰 Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova's article Colonial Pressure for Izvestia MIC (August 4, 2023)

💬 Articles 73 and 74 of the UN Charter deal with “non-self-governing territories,” a rare term that officially means “territories whose peoples have not yet attained a full measure of self-government.”

Essentially, they deal with colonies.

This is clear from the tentative list of such territories approved by the UN Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, also known as the Special Committee on Decolonisation or C-24.

The UN is also authorised to regularly update and publish the list of non-self-governing territories whose people remain in colonial dependence on their metropoles.

The last time that list was updated was three months ago, on May 10. The C-24 list includes 17 colonies. Can you imagine this in the 21st century, in 2023? Here they are:

🇺🇸 three US colonies (United States Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam);

🇫🇷 two French colonies (French Polynesia and New Caledonia);

🇬🇧 ten British colonies (Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands/Malvinas, Monserrat, Saint Helena, Turks and Caicos Islands, Gibraltar and Pitcairn).

When the British monarch “apologises” for the colonial crimes his predecessors committed in Africa and other parts of the world, he knows very well that according to the UN, he is the head of a colonial power, even though the UK has the right of veto at the UN Security Council. Moreover, his government is ready to kill and die for these colonies – I am referring to the 1982 Falklands War.

There is more.

Some forces in the United States are fighting for the recognition of Alaskan tribes as people without self-government. For example, 227 Alaskan tribes were federally recognised as recently as 1994, thanks to the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council. It is a very slow process, but it is ongoing. In 2001, the federally recognised tribes established a government-to-government relationship with the federal authorities. It looks like a good solution for a country that began its history with a bloody genocide of indigenous peoples.

The colonial powers will not endlessly suppress the independence and sovereignty of peoples, although their desire to have more colonies fits their logic. Just look at how Paris is suffering when things in Africa go off the course chartered in France.

☝️ But freedom will prevail, and the process of decolonisation will not stop until the last non-self-governing territory attains independence, as it has happened in New Hebrides (Vanuatu), Fernando Po (Equatorial Guinea), British Honduras (Belize), Basutoland (Lesotho), Bechuanaland (Botswana), Gambia, Fiji and many other countries. They were once non-self-governing territories but have now attained full self-government.

❗️Debunking the myths spread by the EU leadership

Myths:

❌ The war against Ukraine has been sending shockwaves around the globe. By attacking one of the world’s major exporters of grain, especially to Africa, Russia has triggered a sharp rise in food prices globally.

❌ We have always been clear that our sanctions do not target the trade in agricultural products, including grain and fertiliser, between Russia and third countries.

❌ The European Union organised ‘solidarity lanes’ to evacuate Ukrainian grain by land… so that food prices could be brought down.

Facts:

✅ The “shockwaves” were sent long before the Ukrainian crisis by the unwise financial and economic policy of the West and its ill-considered decision to accelerate the transition to a “green economy” so soon after the pandemic.

The exaggerated potential of Ukraine’s agricultural sector mislead the international community. Russia alone accounts for 20% of the global wheat market, while Ukraine’s share is below 5%.

✅ EU sanctions aggravated the situation, because the blocking of Russian and Belarusian exports had an immediate and lasting shock effect on the global food and fertiliser market.

Russia is the world’s largest producer of nitrogen fertilisers and second largest producer of phosphate fertilisers. Russia and Belarus together account for nearly 25% of the mineral nutrients market.

✅ The projects to export agricultural products from Ukraine, including through EU’s so-called solidarity corridors, proved to be a humanitarian sham. Fodder corn, not wheat, became the main export in this scheme. It is the EU that needs this commodity more than others, and became the main recipient of these shipments.

Read in full

📄 Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova's article for Rossiyskaya Gazeta (August 7, 2023)

The world leader of black transplants: In Ukraine, organs are traded online and offline

💬 Ukraine has long been known as a world leader in organ trafficking. Scandals involving the illegal removal of organs from corpses began to appear in the late 1990s. The problem began to mount in the early 2000s.

Organ trafficking increased in scale after the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, following the Kiev regime’s passage of laws that drastically simplified the work of transplant specialists in the country.

It has been reported in the media that organs of killed soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were available for sale in one of the biggest shops of the darknet. A heart, liver, kidneys & other body parts with price tags starting at 5,000 euros are on offer. There is information to the effect that people involved in the Kosovo Liberation Army may own or at least deal with this shop.

In June of 2023, a man was detained at the Ukraine-Slovakia border. An employee of a charity organisation, it was discovered that he was involved in trafficking Ukrainian children abroad, in part, for transplants. A court released him on bail set at a suspiciously low 1 million hryvnias despite the grievous nature of his crime, & he disappeared. That said, an astronomical sum of 33 million hryvnias was assigned as collateral to Metropolitan Pavel, the father superior of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

👉 This is conclusive evidence that the Ukrainian state is covering up and encouraging this bloody business. There is information pointing to the involvement of Zelensky’s entourage.

In Ukraine, organs are traded not only on the darknet but also offline. There is information indicating that in June 2023, representatives of the health ministry of a NATO country agreed with the Ukrainians on the delivery of a refrigerated train car with human organs & body parts that are most often used for transplants.

Read in full

❗️ Debunking the myths spread by the EU leadership

From the book “The Year That War Returned to Europe,” which brings together a collection of blog posts, op-eds and speeches by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell:

✍️ 07.04.2022. The way we address the global food insecurity crisis today will be decisive for Europe’s geopolitical position in the world tomorrow. (p.71)

✍️ 24.06.2022. Russia is blocking 20 million tonnes of grains in Ukrainian storage facilities. Because of that, people at the other end of the planet risk suffer from hunger. This is a deliberate attempt to create political instability. Russia’s war of aggression poses a direct challenge to the rules-based world order. (p.95)

👉 For the EU, food security is a subset of geopolitics.

The poorest countries are actually being held hostage to the EU’s political ambitions. For the EU, food security problems are a side effect of anti-Russia policies and Western attempts to protect its self-serving “rules-based order.”

Read in full

🕯 August 8 marks the 15th anniversary of the Saakashvili regime's military aggression against the people of South Ossetia and Russian peacekeepers from the Joint Peacekeeping Forces in the zone of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict.

In the early hours of August 8, 2008, on the orders of the then President of Georgia, the Georgian armed forces launched the so-called "operation to impose constitutional order on the territory of South Ossetia," which resulted in numerous casualties, including among Russian citizens.

❗️ Georgia’s actions were a flagrant violation of international agreements on the peaceful settlement of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict. The fact that those actions were deliberate was documented in the report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in the Caucasus established under the auspices of the European Union.

Russia’s involvement prevented the conflict from escalating further. The criminal military escapade undertaken by the Saakashvili regime met with an adequate response: in those extreme circumstances, Russia first conducted a successful operation to force the aggressor to peace, and then recognised South Ossetia, as well as Abkhazia, which was destined to the same fate as the neighbouring republic, as sovereign independent states, taking them under its protection.

#NoStatuteOfLimitations

🎙 Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova's answer to a media question concerning statements by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell

❓ Question: How would you comment on the recent article by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, Russia Must Stop Using Food as a Weapon, published by a number of international media? Reacting to Russia's refusal to extend the Black Sea deal, the chief of European diplomacy insists that EU sanctions have no negative impact on global food security.

💬 Maria Zakharova: This is misinformation, a fake narrative. The termination of the Black Sea Initiative limits Europe’s ability to replenish its own coffers and strips the EU of a plausible pretext to do so while tacitly abusing the most vulnerable states with impunity, profiting at their expense by reselling cheap Ukrainian grain and other goods. <...>

We have repeatedly commented on the EU's true priorities when it comes to food security and explained exactly which Brussels decisions on sanctions have affected Russia's trade with third countries in agricultural products and fertilisers, and how. The Foreign Ministry website includes a permanent section on Debunking the myths spread by the EU leadership. <...>

We are confident that the countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America this article targets are well aware what Brussels’ irresponsible behaviour is leading to: the EU is ready to disrupt good and reliable supply chains of Russian agricultural products to countries in need without hesitation just to “inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.”

❗️ The European Union, which still desperately claims to be a responsible international player, has only a simple choice in this situation: either to stop purposefully destabilising global food markets by introducing more and more restrictions on Russian and Belarusian agricultural products, or to stop posing as a champion of global food security.

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💬 Комментарий Посла России в Дании В.Барбина, опубликованный 10 августа 2023 г. в газете «Политикен»:

«Стремление обвинить Россию в умышленных попытках внести разлад в отношения между Данией и исламским миром абсурдно. Исключение из датского уголовного кодекса статьи о наказании за богохульство – самостоятельное решение датских политиков. Наличие в Дании условий для возможности безнаказанно и беспрепятственно публично глумиться над Кораном – это заслуга датских властей, а не внешних сил.

❗ Россия, как и государства-члены Организации исламского содружества, осуждает акции по сожжению Корана и рассматривает их как подстрекательство к ненависти и вражде на основе религии. Оправдание подобных варварских акций правом на свободу слова и самовыражения неприемлемо.

☝ Будучи многоконфессиональной страной, где более 20% населения исповедует ислам, Россия выступает за то, чтобы права верующих во всех страна были надежно защищены. Такая позиция России подверглась критике, в том числе со стороны представителя Дании при ООН, поскольку наглядно демонстрирует провал датской политики по этому вопросу».