Russian MFA 🇷🇺

2023-03-04 09:25:14 Ambassador Anatoly Antonov’s answer to a media question

: Dear Ambassador, how would you comment on the administration's decision to allocate another "package" of military aid to the Kiev regime?

Anatoly Antonov: All of Washington's efforts aimed at inflicting a strategic defeat on us are doomed to fail. The Russian Federation is making strong progress in achieving its goals. Our troops are defending the Fatherland from an unprecedented threat, suppressing the Nazis raised in Ukraine by the collective West led by the United States.

With every further batch of American weapons Kiev criminals increasingly feel their license. Inspired by the support of the United States, they engage in inhumane actions such as the terrorist attack in the Bryansk region. Washington stands behind those who shot peaceful civilians and therefore bears responsibility for these atrocities. The blood of the victims is already on the hands of the US.

The more actively the administration helps Kiev, the more often the Ukrainian regime will resort to terrorist tactics, aiming NATO guns at women, the elderly, and children. Russia will continue to harshly suppress any attempts to attack the civilian population. We will not be intimidated.

The American support will prolong the agony of the Kiev regime. The threat it poses will be pushed back to the necessary distance from our borders, and all foreign weapons that fall into Ukrainian hands will be ground to dust and destroyed. Open / Comment

2023-03-03 23:50:02 Open / Comment

2023-03-03 23:30:54 Ambassador Andrei Kelin's interview to Neave Barker on Al Jazeera English, 02 February, 2023

Watch the interview:





Main topics:

- Ukrainian conflict
- Special military operation
- Weapons supply to Ukraine
- Minsk Agreements
- Opposition in Russia and Ukraine
- Russia-NATO relations
- Prospects of the New START treaty
- Prospects for Peace talks btw Russia and Ukraine

Key statements:

The Ukrainian conflict didn’t start a year ago, but in 2014 when extremely nationalistic government came to power as a result of the Maidan Revolution.

The major policy of the Kiev regime was to exterminate Russians, our culture and our language, kill Russians especially in Donbass.

Now we have a clear view that Minsk Agreements were an imitation of diplomacy. Germany, France, the US and the UK didn’t intent to resolve the internal Ukrainian crisis by Minsk Agreements.

The Minsk Agreements were for the West just a way to win time to reinforce the regime in Kiev and turn Ukraine into an adversary state towards Russia.

NATO refused to listen to Russia’s objective security concerns and warnings. This resulted in the current Ukraine crisis.

According to the official statistic of the UN 12 thousand people were killed in Ukraine from 2014 to 2022, the most part of them - in Donbass.

The longer will be the reach of weapons received by Ukraine from the West, the further we would need to push back the frontline in order to protect our security and ensure safety of our citizens.

What has happened in Bucha was staged by Ukrainian special forces, this is a fact.

Opposition is totally exterminated in Ukraine.

We had been trying to establish good relations btw Russia and NATO until it has started to bomb Yugoslavia.

NATO destroyed Iraq under absolutely false pretext and Libya, which still struggle.

We have seen seven waves of NATO enlargement towards Russian borders.

NATO countries, with UK among the leaders, are getting deeper and deeper involved into the Ukraine conflict.

It is an illusion that Ukraine can prevail in the conflict, the Russian industrial potential is incomparable.

There are no circumstances in the current Ukraine conflict in which Russia might use nuclear weapons.

Russia has not withdrawn but suspended participation in New START. Treaty’s main elements, incl info exchange on launches and keeping to warhead limits, remain in force. Reversal is possible but first we need to see reversal of the US anti-Russia policy.

Ukraine is now totally dependent on Western assistance and losing its potential.

Russia is ready for peace talks at any time. However it was Ukraine who, on a legislative basis, made talks impossible upon orders from the West which wants Ukraine to continue fighting.


#Kelin #NATO #UK #Russia #Ukraine #MinskAgreements #Kiev #SpecialMilitaryOperation #NewStart Open / Comment

2023-03-03 21:55:04 On the Istanbul food and fertiliser agreements

There are mounting speculations on further developments as the expiration date of the second 120-day term of the Black Sea Initiative on exporting Ukrainian grain draws nearer. At Kiev and Washington’s instigation, it is being insinuated that the initiative should be both preserved in its existing parameters (the three ports – Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny – for 120 days with the possibility of another 120-day extension, if none of the three parties – Russia, Türkiye or Ukraine – have any objections) and expanded in terms of time and space (for one year with the addition of more seaports). This is being accompanied by clumsy attempts to invoke UN efforts to ensure global food security.

In this connection, a reminder of the UN Secretary-General’s grain deal concept in general and of how the Istanbul Agreements of July 22, 2022 were signed in particular, is in order. As is common knowledge, Antonio Guterres suggested a package deal to normalise food and fertiliser supplies from Russia and Ukraine as a response to the worsening food crisis against the background of the Covid-19 pandemic, uncontrolled Western money printing, and an accelerated transition to the green economy. This suggestion was formalised in Istanbul on July 22, 2022, in the form of the simultaneous signing of two mutually complementary agreements – the above-mentioned Black Sea Initiative and the Russia-UN Memorandum on promoting Russian agricultural products.

Their synchronised and interconnected implementation is designed to reduce the threat of hunger and provide assistance to needy countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

But in practice, eight months after the signing, just one part of the package – the exportation of Ukrainian food – is being implemented. Moreover, the mode of its implementation is far from the announced humanitarian aims. <...>

Progress in implementing the Russia-UN Memorandum on promoting Russian agricultural exports is tending towards zero. The reason is the West’s stubborn unwillingness to recognise the second part of the Guterres package and their continued application of sanctions, which, despite all the empty declarations by Washington, Brussels and London, still extend to food and fertilisers. In fact, UN officials are trying to lift restrictions on Russian agricultural products; these restrictions must be null and void in a situation where global food security is at stake. But the UN efforts are futile. <...>

Thus, we have to state that the package of agreements proposed by Antonio Guterres and signed in Istanbul on July 22, 2022 is not working. The main problem is that the Western countries are sabotaging the implementation of the Russia-UN Memorandum. As is obvious, the Americans and Europeans are totally unconcerned with either the needs of destitute countries or the efforts of the United Nations, which they have long and persistently attempted to turn into an obedient tool for serving their political interests.

It is high time they stopped playing the food card. The lion’s share of Ukrainian grain is sold at dumping prices for fodder in the EU rather than in the poorest countries. At the same time, they openly put obstacles in the way of Russian agricultural exports, no matter what the Europeans and Americans say to the contrary. After all, they are not strangers to telling lies.

The West is shamelessly burying the humanitarian package initiated by the UN Secretary-General. Open / Comment

2023-03-03 21:01:43 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the Plenary Session of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on countering terrorism, digital transformation, humanitarian assistance and disaster risk reduction

New Delhi, March 2, 2023

Since 2014, a new and ever-growing hotbed of extremism has emerged in Ukraine.

We are convinced that renouncing double standards and hidden agendas is critical for responding to the terrorist threat. Efforts to eradicate this absolute evil cannot be made hostage to momentary considerations and bloc-based approaches.

The global economy currently finds itself at the nexus of several major challenges. Many of them are geopolitical in nature or are exacerbated by international confrontation. In particular, this concerns the pressing topics on the agenda of the Indian Presidency: terrorism, drug trafficking and natural disasters.

The surge in terrorism has been largely attributable to Western interference in the domestic affairs of sovereign states. Iraq, Libya, Syria and Afghanistan suffered from armed ventures and neo-colonial aspirations, which undermined their statehood, with terrorist groups on the loose, the growing threat of drug trafficking, impoverishment of the people and the deterioration of human rights.

Over the past years, Russia helped more than 110 countries, primarily in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, to overcome natural disasters. We also provided over $270 million to international humanitarian structures to this effect.

The rapid development of ICT and the accelerating pace of digital transformation create substantial risks. Russia was the first country to suggest drafting an international convention on fighting cybercrime within the UN. In 2019, Russia initiated and co-sponsored with 47 other countries a UN General Assembly resolution to launch the relevant negotiating process, which is now entering a practical phase.

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2023-03-03 21:01:00 Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov at the Conference on Disarmament on the suspension of the New START and the destructive actions of the US and its allies:

The global situation has further degraded following the US attempts to "probe" the security of the Russian strategic facilities declared under the New START by assisting the Kiev regime in conducting attacks against them.

Against this background, we perceived Washington’s demands to regain access to Russia's nuclear facilities for inspections under the Treaty as highly cynical. Especially in the current circumstances, when the US, together with other Western countries, have set their goal to, as they say, “strategically defeat" Russia in a total hybrid war unleashed against us.

Under these circumstances, we were forced to announce the suspension of the New START. At the same time, as it has already been stated, we will continue to comply with the quantitative limits on strategic offensive arms. Open / Comment

2023-03-03 17:01:33 On March 1-2, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attended the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in New Delhi.

We consider the G20 to be a key global governance forum and a major representative platform for discussing a wide range of socioeconomic issues. We are confident that this association must play a significant role in building a polycentric global economic system. <...>

In his remarks, Sergey Lavrov expanded on Russia’s principled approaches to building up international cooperation based on equality and the UN Charter, without double standards or arbitrary rules. He stressed the value of the G20’s constructive and de-politicised efforts, overcoming confrontational sentiments, and the strengthening of emerging markets' position on this platform. The minister pointed out that Russia was among the first countries to positively respond to the African Union’s application to become a member of the G20.

In this context, Sergey Lavrov noted the illegitimacy of unilateral sanctions, any forms of discrimination when it comes to food and fertiliser supplies, dishonest competition by establishing price caps and other attempts to appropriate other countries’ natural resources.

<...>

The G20 succeeded in reaching consensus on the majority of the issues raised by the Indian presidency. <...> However, the parties failed to approve the final collective document, due the United States, the EU and other parties dogmatically demanding that their subjective views concerning the widely promoted geopolitical crisis around Ukraine be reflected in the document. It is regrettable that the Western countries continue to hold the G20 hostage to its confrontational course.

The minister noted the unprecedented nature of the sabotage at the Nord Stream gas pipeline system that requires an impartial investigation with Russia’s involvement.

On the sidelines of the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, Mr Lavrov had multiple bilateral contacts with his colleagues from the G20.

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2023-03-03 16:30:21 The Western notion of a "rules-based" world order is indefensible, because its leading proponents continuously twist basic principles on international law, like self-determination of peoples, to conform to their narrow interests, while denying the same to others. Open / Comment

2023-03-03 15:08:52 Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov speaks on the deplorable human rights situation in Ukraine at the UN HRC:

Western-supplied weapons are actively used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to strike residential buildings, schools and hospitals, killing civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure.

These are all war crimes, violations of the international humanitarian law, in which NATO countries are entangled, whose representatives very much like to moralize and make hypocritical statements on the human rights from the HRC rostrum.

Meanwhile, the Kiev regime systematically violates  fundamental human rights and freedoms. In breach of the Ukrainian Constitution and its international obligations, a number of laws on total “Ukrainization” was adopted, which affected education, science, culture, media, radio, television, the Internet, advertising, and the service industry.

The Russian language, a mother tongue to millions of Ukrainian residents, has been targeted the greatest. Open / Comment

2023-03-03 14:02:10 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statement and answers to media questions following the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting

New Delhi, March 2, 2023

It was agreed that from now on the African Union will be a full-fledged member of the G20, just as the EU that has been working in this capacity for several years now.

We reaffirmed Russia’s position on the importance of this by expanding the representation of the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

All multilateral institutions are being tested for compliance with the new geopolitical realities. Given the new circumstances, the associations (this includes the UN and the G20 alike) which act as platforms to find a balance of interests rather than to present their approaches or to make claims to justify their alleged entitlement to hegemony, will remain in high demand.

Like any document adopted by the entire international community, the UN Charter cannot be fulfilled selectively. It is not a menu to choose from.

The West continues to advance its interests by other means and methods in the new environment without taking into account the opinion of the vast majority of the world community. Developing countries see it all perfectly well.

We always support the right of any country to choose its own priorities. We don’t just proceed from understanding, but we know that our neighbours, partners and allies in the CSTO, the EAEU and the CIS confirm, in all of their contacts, their commitment to the obligations assumed in these integration structures.

We will continue fighting for justice for the Ukrainian people, protect the interests of ethnic Russians in Ukraine, and ensure the interests of the Ukrainian republics and regions that spoke out at the referendum in favour of reuniting with the Russian Federation.

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