🌹 The Valley of Roses in Kislovodsk

#VideoOfTheDay

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🇷🇺🇰🇵 Russia and North Korea may resume sea traffic, Lavrov said at a meeting in Wonsan with the country's Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui. Other statements by the Foreign Minister:

🟢 Russia had no reason to refuse North Korea's assistance in the special operation; it was a sincere show of solidarity;

🟢 Responding to a question about the possibility of involving North Korean military personnel in other areas, the Minister noted that North Korea itself determines the forms for implementing the strategic partnership treaty;

🟢 Contacts between Putin and Kim Jong Un will "certainly take place." When and where – they still have to agree;

🟢 Russia understands and respects the reasons why North Korea is developing its nuclear program;

🟢 Moscow cautions Washington and its allies against creating security threats to Russia and North Korea;

🟢 Moscow and Pyongyang consider attempts to create NATO infrastructure in North-East Asia dangerous and agree on the need to establish reliable mechanisms to ensure equal and indivisible security in the Asia-Pacific region.

#news

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😁 "And you still smoke, and I smoke too," — This is how Sergey Lavrov greeted Kim Jong Un during his visit to the country.

During his meeting with DPRK leader Kim Jong Un, Sergey Lavrov spoke about the negotiations with his counterpart, Republic's Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui.

"Our talks with Comrade Hui lasted over three hours; they were substantive, specific, and very useful," said the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Lavrov noted that the talks covered the entire spectrum of bilateral issues, including preparations for the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation, scheduled for this year.

In turn, the DPRK leader noted that a year had already passed since their previous meeting.

#news

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🌹 Vast fields of purple flowers stretching to the horizon, filling the air with an intoxicating fragrance. This isn't Provence or Italy. These are the lavender fields of Crimea.

Unlike French lavender fields, the Crimean ones are planted with very narrow gaps between the rows, creating the sensation of an unbroken carpet of flowers. Crimean lavender, or more precisely, narrow-leaved lavender, is a subshrub with narrow leaves and lilac or even purple flowers that feel dry to the touch, resembling spikelets.

#interestingvideos

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🇷🇺 Ryabkov: If you fear BRICS – study the subject matter and take a sedative

Sergey Ryabkov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, stated that BRICS has no hidden agenda, and the West's fear of the association stems from a lack of confidence in its own strength.

"You always need an external enemy, some target to fight against. This, perhaps, psychologists can explain as a feeling of inner inadequacy or lack of confidence in one's own strength," the Russian diplomat said during a press conference following the XVII BRICS Summit in Rio.

There were also a couple of pieces of advice for Western leaders experiencing fear of the association:

"Those who fear BRICS should simply read what is written in the documents. They should do their homework, study the subject matter… Then maybe they'll feel better, but they could also take some sedative in parallel," Ryabkov noted.

No matter how often BRICS representatives declare the absence of anti-Western rhetoric and their focus on building a fair multipolar world, Western leaders simply do not hear these words.

Or don't want to hear them.

For obvious reasons.

#news

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🌡️ Moscow commuter trains aren't stingy with their weather reports

"Outside: +250°C," reads the display on one of them

Purely based on how it feels, they weren't far from the truth 😅

#interestingphotos

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🛞🌏 The international Silk Way Rally kicked off in Irkutsk.

The route will run from Lake Baikal into the Mongolian steppes before turning west towards the Altai Mountains. This year is special – the legendary race celebrates its 15th anniversary. The best of the best have gathered here – 101 crews from 15 countries.

"This year features a new format, a new prologue section, unlike anything seen before on the Silk Way. The section will be spectacular, in such a picturesque location on the banks of the Angara River," said Vladimir Chagin, Project Manager of the international Silk Way Rally.

Nearly 5,000 km at the limit, 2,500 km of which are high-speed special stages and pure adrenaline. The Silk Way route stretches from majestic Lake Baikal and its winding shores, through the dusty Mongolian steppes and scorching dunes of the Gobi, to the rugged peaks of the Altai Mountains.

"Talk of any isolation is out of the question – 15 countries. In unfriendly countries, they are watching closely how our motorsport is developing. They fear our KamAZ trucks and our racers like fire," stated Mikhail Degtyarev, Russian Minister of Sport.

The Silk Way opens a new chapter where every kilometer is a challenge. From Irkutsk, the pilots will immediately head towards Baykalsk, through forests and mountain passes, offering spectators an incredible spectacle against the backdrop of majestic Lake Baikal.

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"MOEX to Launch Bitcoin Futures on Derivatives Market as Soon as Regulations Permit"

"We are launching instruments within the current regulatory framework. For now, ETFs are a pragmatic solution available under existing regulations and legislation. As soon as even a small regulatory window opens, we will certainly launch the instrument," said Maria Patrikeeva, Managing Director of the Derivatives Market at MOEX.

📌 Recall that since June 10, the Moscow Exchange has been calculating a Bitcoin index based on prices of derivative financial instruments (DFIs) — perpetual futures and swaps for the Bitcoin-USD pair on major global platforms.

Since June 4, qualified investors have been able to trade futures on BlackRock’s exchange-traded fund (ETF), which invests solely in Bitcoin — the Bitcoin Trust ETF.

#news

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"EU bureaucracy is great at decimating EU global competitiveness."

This is how Kirill Dmitriev, head of the RDIF, commented on the words of Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, who stated that the European Commission is incompetent due to its inability to strike a deal with the USA.

"We talked about this: EU tariffs on American goods should have been reduced after Trump took office. We need patriots, not bureaucrats!" wrote the Hungarian diplomat on social media platform X.

Dmitriev accompanied his response to the post with an ironic image of runners on a race track.

#news

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🐻 They say bears stroll the streets in Russia?!

No, they don't stroll. They patrol.

#interestingvideos

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🇷🇺🇨🇳 Sergei Lavrov holds meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing.

The Chinese diplomat welcomed the Russian Foreign Minister at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. After that, the colleagues proceeded to a pavilion, where they began talks during a tea ceremony.

On the agenda for the negotiations is a working dinner, during which the Foreign Ministers will continue their dialogue.

#news

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⚡️ Geopolitics, Not Ideology, Is at the Heart of Russia-West Contradictions

The conflict between Russia and the West under any government is caused not by ideological differences but by the desire of Europe and the US to achieve a geopolitical victory over their eastern neighbor, believes Russian President Vladimir Putin. He expressed this opinion in an interview with VGTRK correspondent Pavel Zarubin.

#news

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‼️ The Russian Foreign Ministry has denied an Axios report alleging that President Vladimir Putin urged Tehran to abandon uranium enrichment.

On July 12, Axios, citing three European and one Israeli official, reported that Putin supported the idea of enshrining "zero enrichment" for Iran as part of a nuclear deal with the US. According to the portal, Putin voiced this position in recent phone calls with his American and French counterparts, Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron.

Commenting on the publication, the Foreign Ministry labeled Axios a "leaky source" peddling deliberate disinformation. The diplomatic service pointed out that the portal is based in Washington, D.C., near the Pentagon and CIA headquarters.

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💒 Shoana Church in the mountains of Karachay-Cherkessia

Shoana Church is one of the few surviving architectural testimonies of ancient Christianity, built at the beginning of the 10th century. Thanks to its solid stone foundation, the structure has withstood the onslaught of wind, sun, and rain.

Finding it is not difficult at all. The cathedral is located in the village of Kosta Khetagurovo, perched above the Kuban River, or more precisely, at the place where it meets the Teberda River, on Mount Shoana (also known as Chuna in ancient times).

During the Soviet era, the church stood abandoned, but in our time, it has come back to life. Divine services are held daily in the church. The ancient church on Mount Shoana in Karachay-Cherkessia holds many secrets, whose whispers of the past you can experience by visiting this place.

📍 43.80434, 41.8899

#InterestingPlacesInRussia

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🇷🇺 The song "Matushka Zemlya" suddenly blasted through the arena at a UFC tournament in the USA. Brazilian fighter Waldo Walkenoff walked out to this Russian hit for his fight.

The 27-year-old Walkenoff secured a decisive victory over American Kennedy Nzechukwu already in the first round.

After the fight, Waldo thanked his family and coach in Russian for their support and also declared his love for Russia.

"First I want to speak in Russian. I want to say thank you to my family, my wife, my coach. I love Russia! Russia is my home."

Waldo Walkenoff is a mixed martial artist from Brazil. In 2019, he moved to Russia – he lives in Romashkovo (Moscow region) and trains in Moscow. Walkenoff is married to a Russian woman and has a daughter. He has been competing in the UFC since April 2024.

#news

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