❗️ Joint Statement of the BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs/International Relations (Nizhny Novgorod, June 10, 2024)

📄 Full Statement

1. The BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs/International Relations met on 10 June 2024 in Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Federation. They exchanged views on major global and regional trends and issues. They reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening the framework of #BRICS Strategic Partnership under the three pillars of cooperation – politics and security, economy and finance, cultural and people-to-people exchanges. They reaffirmed their commitment to the BRICS spirit featuring mutual respect and understanding, equality, solidarity, openness, inclusiveness, and consensus.

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5. Mindful of the 2023 Johannesburg II Declaration the Ministers voiced their support for a comprehensive reform of the #UnitedNations, including its Security Council, with a view to making it more democratic, representative, effective and efficient, and to increase the representation of developing countries in the Council’s memberships so that it can adequately respond to prevailing global challenges and support the legitimate aspirations of emerging and developing countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America, including BRICS countries, to play a greater role in international affairs, in particular in the United Nations, including its Security Council. They also recognized the legitimate aspirations of African countries, reflected in the Ezulwini Consensus and Sirte Declaration.

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15. The Ministers recognised the negative impact on the world economy and sustainable development from unilateral approaches in breach of international law. They expressed concern about the use of unilateral coercive measures, which are incompatible with the principles of the Charter of the UN and produce negative effects on economic growth, trade, energy, health and food security notably in the developing world.

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32. The Ministers recalled their national positions concerning the situation in and around #Ukraine as expressed in the appropriate fora, including the UN Security Council and UN General Assembly. They noted with appreciation relevant proposals of mediation and good offices aimed at peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.

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34. The Ministers expressed grave concern at the deterioration of the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in particular the unprecedented escalation of violence in the #Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli military operation that led to mass civilian displacement, death and casualties, and destruction of civilian infrastructure. In this regard they called for the effective implementation of the relevant UNGA resolutions and UNSC resolution 2720 and for immediate safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale directly to the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip <…>

36. The Ministers reiterated that the principle “African solutions to African problems” should continue to serve as the basis for conflict resolution on the African continent. In this regard they reiterated their support for African peace efforts on the continent, including those undertaken by the African Union, and African sub-regional organisations.

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40. The Ministers expressed strong condemnation of any acts of #terrorism as criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, whenever, wherever and by whomsoever committed. They strongly condemned the inhumane terrorist attack on 22 March 2024 at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow <…>

54. The Ministers expressed their full support to the Russian Federation’s BRICS Chairship in 2024 under the theme “Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security”. They expressed their commitment to working together to ensure the success of the XVI BRICS Summit. The Ministers looked forward to the next BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs/International Relations meeting to be held on the margins of UNGA79 and hosted by Brazil as incoming Chair of BRICS in 2025.

🇷🇺 Happy Russia Day!

#RussiaDay #Russia1Love #IloveRussia #WeAreRussia #RussiaDay2024

📹 Video address by Russia's President Vladimir Putin to participants in the opening ceremony of #BRICSSportsGames

💬 Vladimir Putin: I am delighted to welcome participants and guests of the #BRICS Sports Games in Russia.

For two weeks, the competitions will bring together over 3,000 athletes from almost 100 states. I am confident that this large-scale sports festival will demonstrate the triumph of universal values of sport, equal opportunities and an honest and uncompromising struggle.

The hospitable, distinctive and unique Kazan and Moscow are hosting the BRICS Sports Games. These cities boast a rich history, a multi-ethnic culture and traditions. At the same time, these modern cities are gearing for the future.

All this aligns with the spirit and nature of BRICS, an association of sovereign countries which are developing dynamically, yet retain their identity. They jointly address large-scale objectives and provide an example of truly partner-like and equitable relations, based on trust, strong friendship and respect for each other’s interests.

☝️ I would like to note that the Sports Games, held under the auspices of our organisation, are an important part of multilateral political, economic and humanitarian interaction. The role of BRICS in global affairs continues to increase rapidly. I am therefore confident that the Games, as a competition free from political interference and pressure that truly unites athletes from around the world, will become more popular and attractive. All the more so as they will be held in an open format for the first time this year.

The Games will become yet another symbol of expanding inter-cultural dialogue, making a weighty contribution to strengthening friendship among nations and facilitating interstate interaction in the interests of people and universal development.

I wish successful starts and brilliant victories to athletes and their mentors, and bright and unforgettable impressions to spectators and fans.

I hereby declare the 2024 BRICS Sport Games open!

🎙 Briefing by MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (June 7, 2024)

🔹 FM Sergey Lavrov’s schedule
🔹 St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region’s international and interregional ties
🔹 Ukrainian crisis
🔹 Foreign Minister of Cuba Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla’s visit to Russia
🔹 Situation in Moldova
🔹 Korean Peninsula
🔹 A Western “journalistic” investigation into the activities of the Fund to Support and Protect the Rights of Compatriots
🔹 Plundering Crimea’s cultural heritage by the West during the Crimean War of 1853-1856

📰 Read
📺 Watch

***

#Ukraine

On May 31, Washington, following a number of European countries, gave the Kiev regime a green light to use the supplied weapons for strikes at the Russian areas bordering on the Kharkov Region. Declaring this decision, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the strikes will reach deeper inside Russia and the West will keep on adjusting its strategy.

Fire (not the West’s stance) adjustment has been carried out by Washington for all these years, not only starting from 2022. The involvement of Western countries in destroying Ukrainian statehood and in direct hostilities against peaceful civilian population in Donbass is not a secret.

#KoreanPeninsula

The negative trends in the subregion are caused by the actions of the US. They consistently engage in military manoeuvres with their allies. These actions are attempts at intimidation under the guise of addressing the “North Korean threat.”

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Washington forges a tripartite military alliance with Seoul and Tokyo, not only to target the DPRK but also to strategically constrain Moscow and Beijing.

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions following the meeting of Foreign Ministers from BRICS and Global South and Global East countries (Nizhny Novgorod, June 11, 2024)

💬 We have just completed our two-day programme. Yesterday, we worked with the #BRICS countries, and continued our discussions today with the invited countries which have yet to join BRICS. They expressed their firm commitment to forging closer ties with this association. Apart from the ten BRICS countries, another 12 nations of the Global Majority representing Asia, Africa and Latin America joined us today.

We discussed the most pressing and relevant international issues and challenges which all countries face today, as well as the present-day international environment and the role the Global Majority plays in shaping the global agenda.

During the BRICS segment of our meeting and today, in the presence of the invited countries, all delegations spoke out in favour of reforming the existing global governance framework by focusing on enabling the Global South to play a bigger role in it. We noted the need to undertake collective efforts in order to achieve the sustainable development goals, ensure security and foster economic growth.

Most of the delegations emphasised the destructive nature of protectionism in trade. The US and its allies have been sticking to this destructive policy.

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❗️ All meeting participants without exception paid special attention to the developments in the Gaza Strip where the death toll stands at 37,000, while about 100,000 people were wounded. The military operation continues there, resulting in more and more casualties among innocent people.

We emphasised that there is no alternative to undertaking consistent efforts designed to support the emergence of a multipolar world order based on the sovereign equality of states as set forth in the UN Charter, as well as an equitable interstate dialogue free from any hidden agendas and aimed at coming up with collective solutions for addressing the objectives and issues the world faces today.

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Following the BRICS meeting held yesterday, we have adopted an in-depth and explicit Joint Statement, which reflects the group countries’ stands on current international issues in the spirit of the assessments I have mentioned here.

🤝 It is highly satisfying that our work in the expanded format went smoothly. All participants tried to reach consensus even on the most complicated issues reflected in the text.

Read in full

🎙 On June 14, President of Russia Vladimir Putin held a meeting with the senior officials of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

💬 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov: Mr President! <...> Let me welcome you to this meeting on behalf of the entire staff. <...> I am confident that today’s meeting will enable us to specify all the areas of our practical work on the international stage.

💬 President Vladimir Putin: <...> I think it is important to assess the current situation in global and regional affairs, as well as set the appropriate tasks for the Foreign Ministry. Learn more

***

⚡️ Today, we are presenting another concrete and genuine peace proposal.

If Kiev and Western capitals reject it again, as they have done before, then ultimately, it becomes their responsibility, both political and moral, for the ongoing bloodshed. <...>

❗️I repeat our firm stance: Ukraine should adopt a neutral, non-aligned status, be nuclear-free, and undergo demilitarisation and denazification <...>.

Certainly, the rights, freedoms, and interests of Russian-speaking citizens in Ukraine must be fully protected. The new territorial realities, including the status of Crimea, Sevastopol, Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, Kherson, and Zaporozhye regions as parts of the Russian Federation, should be acknowledged.

These foundational principles need to be formalised through fundamental international agreements in the future. Naturally, this entails the removal of all Western sanctions against Russia as well.

***

💬 In May 2014, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine ruled that, quote – “The president is elected for a term of five years, no matter whether the election is regular or early.” Furthermore, the Constitutional Court noted that “the president’s constitutional status implies no norms setting any other office term than that of five years” – end of quote, period.

What does this mean in relation to today’s situation? The presidential term of the previously elected head of Ukraine has expired along with his legitimacy, which cannot be reinstated by any tricks.

Read in full: 1, 2, 3

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions following President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with senior Foreign Ministry officials (Moscow, June 14, 2024)

Key points

• Europe lost its independence. In this sense, the idea of achieving security within the Euro-Atlantic context is no longer relevant for us. Just as President Vladimir Putin has said, our goal is to ensure Eurasian security. This makes sense. After all, we share the same continent and there are no oceans or English channels, or what have you, separating us.

• In order to achieve these objectives, we must start by specifying what the Greater Eurasian Partnership concept and Eurasian security in all its dimensions stand for, including in military and political terms, economic and humanitarian affairs.

• As for Ukraine, I have nothing to add on this topic. President of Russia Vladimir Putin listed the gestures of good will (to an extent they can be viewed as partial concessions) we undertook after the Maidan uprisings and the February 2014 government coup. Russia took so many steps in its constructive approach and demonstrated its commitment to preserving the Ukrainian state and remaining on friendly terms with it, only to be rejected in a consistent, firm and categorical manner.

• President Vladimir Putin covered the legitimacy issue in all its aspects. This was not the first time he mentioned this topic. Everything is abundantly clear in this regard. In his previous statements on this topic, the President said that Ukraine’s political and legal framework must define the final decisions. Any legal experts will come to the same conclusion after reading the Ukrainian constitution. If everyone once again turnes a blind eye to this signal, this would be yet another disappointing experience for us regarding our Western partners.

• As for expectations, as far as I am concerned, for a long time already I do not expect anything from any place, especially from the leading European countries. I am sorry for them – that is what I can say, because they, as President of Russia Vladimir Putin confirmed today in his speech, are not independent.

📄 Read in full

🎙Exceprts from President of Russia Vladimir Putin's remarks at the meeting with the senior officials of the Russian Foreign Ministry (June 14, 2024)

💬 President Putin: This is the task <...>: to outline a vision for equal and indivisible security, mutually beneficial and equitable cooperation, and development on the Eurasian continent in the foreseeable future.

What needs to be done to achieve this and on what principles?

👉 First, it is important to establish dialogue with all potential participants in this future security system. <...>

👉 Second, it is crucial to recognise that the future security architecture should be open to all Eurasian countries that wish to participate in its creation.

The threat to Europe does not come from Russia.

The main threat to Europeans is their critical and ever-increasing dependence on the United States <...>.

If Europe wants to continue being an independent centre of global development and a cultural and civilisational pole on our planet, it should definitely maintain good and friendly relations with Russia. Most importantly, we are ready for this. <...>

👉 Third, it is necessary to significantly intensify the dialogue process between multilateral organisations already operating in Eurasia to promote the idea of a Eurasian security system <...>.

👉 Fourth, we believe that the time has come to start a broad discussion of a new system of bilateral and multilateral guarantees of collective security in Eurasia. At the same time, it is necessary, in the long term, to gradually phase out the military presence of external powers in the Eurasian region. <...>

👉 Fifth, an crucial part of the Eurasian security and development system should definitely be the issues of the economy, social well-being, integration, and mutually beneficial cooperation <...>.

Through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I instruct you to assist as much as possible in developing international agreements in all these areas.

Read in full

⚡️ Comment by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on the Ukraine conference in Switzerland

💬 The other day, Burgenstock, Switzerland, hosted the so-called Ukraine peace summit.

Kiev and Western capitals did their best to present it as a universal event. However, this wishful thinking has ended in a complete fiasco. Contrary to the attempts of Zelensky and his Anglo-Saxon masters, almost half of the 160 invited guests refused to engage in political tourism. A striving to involve as many countries of the Global South as possible has failed. <...>

The failure of the Swiss “gathering” was quite predictable. This was bound to happen because the Nazi Kiev regime and its Western masters did not intend to search for ways of resolving the Ukraine crisis by peaceful means from the very beginning. They are not interested in peace in Ukraine, they need further confrontation, escalation and expanded hostilities to implement their unrealisable dream of inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Russia. According to well-informed sources, Andrey Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, discussed with foreign delegations in Burgenstock additional weapons deliveries for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The Anglo-Saxons and their Ukrainian puppets are trying to camouflage their aggressive intentions by using the completely bankrupt “Zelensky formula.” Its authors in the United States and on Bankovaya Street are trying to portray it as the only foundation for a peace settlement. They are insistently imposing it on the international community, while disregarding the opinion of other parties and their desire to make their own contribution to resolving the crisis. The same happened in Switzerland.

Cynical manipulations with seemingly nice-sounding (but absolutely inappropriate for the Burgenstock meeting) provisions of the “Zelensky formula,” including nuclear security, for obtaining support from Asian, African and Latin American countries, failed to help the organisers of the “summit.” This substandard ploy and open quackery highlight the real intentions of the West and the pro-Bandera regime in Kiev once again.

The lack of consensus among participants also confirms the zero result of the Alpine “get-together.” Far from all delegates agreed to support the openly anti-Russia concluding communique. At first, 12 delegations refused to sign it, and later their number reached 14 [now 15], including India, Indonesia, Jordan, Iraq, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, the Republic of South Africa and other influential states. Quite possibly, the number of these countries will increase.

❗️ It has become completely obvious that the Global Majority rejects the options of Kiev and the West for resolving the Ukraine crisis. It perceives their far from peaceful essence and does not want to be guided by the United States and its satellites.

We are confident that the world will continue to realise more clearly that the peace initiative, voiced by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin in his June 14 remarks at the Russian Foreign Ministry, shows a real way towards a sustainable peace settlement.

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The West and Kiev should stop their eyewash and trickery that aim to channel the discussion along false lines by misleading the international public and tampering with and misplacing the cause and effect of the Ukraine crisis. They have to understand that there is no reasonable alternative to the Russian President’s peace plan. The sooner they comprehend this, the faster the real process of resolving the conflict and ending hostilities will begin.

☝️ Otherwise, the terms for launching talks will be much worse for them.

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Events similar to the Burgenstock “gathering” cannot create favourable conditions for truly serious dialogue to attain a truly comprehensive, sustainable and equitable peace; nor can they serve as a platform for such dialogue.

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🎙 Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Chairman of State Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Kim Jong-un made press statements following Russia-DPRK talks (Pyongyang, June 19, 2024)

💬 We prioritise strengthening the traditionally friendly and neighbourly relations between Russia and the DPRK that are rooted in the glorious traditions of our shared history. Allow me to remind you that the Soviet Union played an essential role in liberating Korea from the Japanese colonial rule. This year, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea marks 75 years since concluding its first international agreement – and it was a treaty with our country.

Key talking points:

• Today, we held constructive talks covering the entire scope of our practical cooperation. We signed a new interstate treaty, the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which outlines large-scale objectives and guidelines for deepening Russia-DPRK links for the long term. This is a truly breakthrough document

• Our countries are genuinely interested in continuing most active cooperation between the senior officials of our economic agencies, parliaments, law enforcement, security, foreign policy agencies, and between our public organisations and citizens.

• The Treaty on Comprehensive Partnership signed today contemplates, among other things, mutual assistance in the event of aggression against one of the parties thereto.

• Our countries consistently defend the ideas of creating a more just and democratic multipolar world order.

• Both Russia and Korea conduct an independent and autonomous foreign policy and do not accept the language of blackmail and dictate. We are against the practice of applying politically motivated sanctions and restrictions.

• Notwithstanding the external pressure, our countries are successfully developing on a sovereign and independent basis, they have rendered and will continue to render each other an all-round support as genuine friends and good neighbours.

• The propaganda cliches reproduced time after time by the Westerners are no longer able to disguise their aggressive geopolitical designs, including in Northeast Asia. Our opinions regarding the root causes of escalation of the military-political tension coincide. They include the US confrontational policy of expanding its military infrastructure in the sub-region, which is accompanied by a substantial increase in the scope and intensity of various military exercises involving the Republic of Korea and Japan, which have a hostile nature towards the DPRK.

• Russia is ready to continue its political and diplomatic efforts to eliminate the threat of the recurrence of an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula and to build an architecture of long-term peace and stability there based on the principle of the indivisible security.

• I am confident that today’s talks will contribute to further development of friendship and partnership between Russia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and to strengthening of security across the entire region.

📄 Read in full

#RussiaDPRK 🇷🇺🇰🇵

🇷🇺🇻🇳 Russia's President Vladimir Putin and President of Vietnam To Lam made statements to the media (June 20, 2024)

💬 Vladimir Putin: Russia places great emphasis on further strengthening the Russian-Vietnamese comprehensive, long-standing and friendly relations, our strategic partnership. Our ties continue to expand and progress in the spirit of equality, mutual respect and consideration of each other’s interests. Our countries are linked by a strong bond of shared history. Next year will mark 75 years of diplomatic relations between Russia and Vietnam. <...>

Today, Comrade President and I have adopted a statement that supports the principles of the Russian-Vietnamese comprehensive strategic partnership and announces new guidelines for our joint work in the future.

☝️ I would like to mention the tangible benefits our friends have derived from the Free Trade Agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union. Enacted in 2016, it has since then vastly promoted growth in Russian-Vietnamese trade through favourable conditions for access of goods and services to each other’s markets, also fostering investment, technology exchange and innovation.

Equally important is that our countries are consistently pursuing the transition to settlements in national currencies and striving to create sustainable channels of cooperation in lending activities and banking.

⚛️ A strategic point of our bilateral cooperation is the energy sector. <...> Russia and Vietnam have excellent opportunities for cooperation in renewable energy. <...> Another promising area for expanding bilateral cooperation is nuclear energy.

We consider our cooperation on the Vladivostok – Ho Chi Minh City maritime transport corridor, a large-scale infrastructure project, to be highly promising. Since its opening in 2022, this corridor has facilitated regular cargo shipments with container ships operating on a weekly basis.

Currently, more than 3,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students from Vietnam are studying in Russian universities.

🤝 Russia's and Vietnam's respective stances on these issues are largely in accord or closely aligned. Our countries remain committed to the principles of the rule of international law, sovereignty, and non-interference in countries' domestic affairs. They coordinate their efforts on key international platforms, including the UN, as well as within the #RussiaASEAN dialogue and at summits in East Asia.

During our discussion on the situation in the Asia-Pacific region, we expressed mutual interest in building a strong and reliable security architecture in the Asia-Pacific region based on the principles of the non-use of force and peaceful settlement of disputes, with no room for closed military-political blocs.

Read in full

#RussiaVietnam

🎙 Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s comment on NATO countries’ defence expenditure report (June 20, 2024)

💬 On June 17, the North Atlantic Alliance published an updated version of collected defence expenditure data from its member states. According to the report, the number of states that expect to meet the alliance’s target of allocating at least 2 percent of GDP to defence will reach 23, with a cumulative total of $1.474 trillion this year.

In simple words, the champions of democratic values, which the members of the bloc consider themselves to be, have been inflating financial resources they channel to destabilise global security for ten years now. And all along, NATO governments continued to lie to their own citizens while using their taxes to escalate the military situation in Europe and beyond. They have been indoctrinating taxpayers for years, maintaining the myth of an alleged threat posed by Russia and China just to remove handsome amounts from their wallets. This disinformation underlies NATO military plans, and armies are being prepared for an eventual confrontation with their “major enemy.”

❗️ It has long become clear to many representatives of the international community, including our country, that the main beneficiary of these policies is the United States and its defence companies. Most of the funds allocated by other NATO members will be used to pay for their products.

Unfortunately, the European members of the alliance continue to obediently adopt policies dictated by Washington, while undermining their own economic and social progress, inducing an even deeper crisis. In this context, it is symbolic that the NATO defence expenditure update was published on the same day when outgoing Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met with US President Joe Biden. The idea was for Stoltenberg to deliver a performance report to his “boss” in the hope that his accomplishments would be considered for his future employment.

🕯 June 22 marks the Day of Memory and Sorrow in Russia.

At dawn on June 2️⃣2️⃣, 1941, enemy aviation launched massive attacks on airfields, railway stations, Soviet naval bases and numerous cities along the entire western state border to a depth of up to 250-300 km.

This opened one of the most tragic chapters in our country’s history. The Great Patriotic War broke out.

Hitler had a lightning war in mind. Operation Barbarossa implied a crushing defeat of the Red Army and the defeat of the Soviet Union within a few months with the help of the hitherto faultless blitzkrieg tactics.

Romania, Italy and other countries joined Germany to form a united front against the Soviet Union.

However, the Red Army’s fierce resistance and the efforts of all Soviet people foiled the Third Reich’s plans.

🎙 The news about German invasion and the beginning of the war was announced over the radio. At noon on June 22 the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs V.Molotov addressed the Soviet citizens with a phrase that went down in history:

“Ours is a righteous cause. The enemy shall be defeated. Victory will be ours”.

The Great Patriotic War lasted 1418 days and nights and ended on May 9, 1945 with the victory of the Soviet Union and the complete rout of the Nazi bloc.

❗️ The Soviet people perished amounts to 40% of all human losses in WWII, i.e. 26.6 million people! Of them, more than 8.7 million died in combat, 7.42 million were intentionally exterminated by the Nazis in the occupied territories, and over 4.1 million died from the atrocious conditions of the occupation regime.

• Since 2009, the day marked by the Candle of Memory nationwide action. Candles are lit throughout Russia in the silence of the night in memory of all those who died during the Great Patriotic War protecting our peaceful life.

Since 2020, an annual nationwide minute of silence has been held at 12:15 Moscow time the exact time when the Soviet government announced Nazi Germany’s invasion.

🔗 Read our full material for more information

#Victory79 #WeRemember

🗓️ On June 23, 1944, 80 years ago, one of the most large scale & successful strategic offensives of the World War II began — Operation Bagration. In two months of fighting along a front line of more than 1100 km the Red Army reached the Elgava — Dobele — Siauliai — Suwalki — Prague (suburb of Warsaw) — Vistula River line by August 29, liberating the Belarusian SSR, parts of the Lithuanian & Latvian SSRs, and eastern areas of Poland from the Nazi invaders.

By the summer of 1944, the Red Army had managed to push German forces away from Leningrad, liberate Crimea & right-bank Ukraine, and reach the Romanian border. However, the Nazi occupiers still controlled a significant part of Belarus, where they had spent three years committing atrocities: burning entire villages with their inhabitants, systematically exterminating millions of civilians & prisoners of war.

🔴 From June 23 to 28, 1944, Soviet Army began an offensive along the front line from Polotsk to Mozyr. It was carried out simultaneously in six sectors.

🔴 Red Army units successfully broke through the German defences and began rapid advances. By July 3, Minsk and Vitebsk were liberated.

🔴 By the end of July, almost all of Belarus was liberated.

⚔️ Several large German groups were surrounded and destroyed: Vitebsk & Bobruisk, then Orsha & Mogilev troops, causing enormous irreparable losses to the enemy.

☝️ As a result of the operation, Army Group Centre was defeated, major rivers Berezina, Neman, & Vistula were crossed, and important bridgeheads on their western banks were captured. The front line moved westwards up to 550–600 km.

🎖 Soviet soldiers and commanders who took part in the operation demonstrated mass heroism, brilliant preparation, & the highest level of military art. Over 1,500 Red Army soldiers of various nationalities were awarded the noscript of Hero of the Soviet Union, and hundreds of thousands received orders and medals.

#Victory79