🎙️ Kommentar fra Russlands ambassadør i Norge Nikolay Korchunov til Svalbardposten (22. mars 2025)

❓I dag er det lite kontakt mellom det norske og det russiske samfunnet på Svalbard. Ser man fra russisk side dette som et problem som kan løses?

💬 Nikolay Korchunov: Russiske organisasjoner har alltid vært åpne for kontakt. Vi ønsker velkommen utvikling av kontakt, dialog og samarbeid som involverer hele Spitsbergens befolkning på alle områder, inkludert vitenskap, kultur og turisme. Vi er kritiske til den unaturlige oppdelingen av befolkningen på øygruppen på grunnlag av nasjonalitet. Samarbeidet mellom menneskene på Spitsbergen er objektivt sett nødvendig for å sikre en pålitelig livsopphold og velferdsvekst for alle innbyggerne, og for å skape forutsetninger for et trygt, komfortabelt og attraktivt liv og aktivitet på øygruppen.

❓På hvilket nivå befinner forholdet mellom Norge og Russland seg i dag?

💬 Nikolay Korchunov: Forholdet mellom Russland og Norge er praktisk talt redusert til null. Per i dag er Norge dessverre et uvennlig land for oss. <…>
Imidlertid opprettholdes de diplomatiske forholdene. Kommunikasjonskanaler forblir åpne – og det er viktig – blant annet for løsning av krisesituasjoner, kontakter mellom grense- og tollmyndigheter. Til tross for vanskelige tider er det viktig å huske at Russland og Norge er naboer, og å ha en pragmatisk tilnærming til å løse spørsmål av gjensidig interesse. <…>
Når det gjelder nordområder, er Russland interessert i et stabilt og forutsigbart Arktis med et lavt spenningsnivå. Til de som støtter økt militær aktivitet i regionen, inkludert på Spitsbergen, ønsker vi å svare følgende.
I henhold til Strategien for utvikling av Den Russiske Føderasjons arktiske sone og sikring av nasjonal sikkerhet for perioden frem til 2035 ønsker Russland å sikre sin tilstedeværelse på Spitsbergen på grunnlag av et likeverdig og gjensidig fordelaktig samarbeid med Norge og de andre stater som er parter i Spitsbergen-traktaten av 1920. Vi tar utgangspunkt i den prinsipielle linjen om å styrke det internasjonale samarbeidet i regionen og bevare Arktis som en fredssone.

❓Oppfatter man fra russisk side Sysselmesteren på Spitsbergen som «uvennlig»?

💬 Nikolay Korchunov: Vi har ikke noen grunn til å si at Sysselmesteren og hans kontor er uvennlige. Det russiske generalkonsulatet i Barentsburg og russiske organisasjoner på øygruppen er i konstant kontakt med ham, hvilket er pragmatisk og bidrar til å opprettholde driften av de russiske bosetningene på et skikkelig nivå.
Samtidig er det selvfølgelig umulig å ikke nevne de vanskelighetene som russiske virksomheter på Spirsbergen møter som følge av den politikken som norske myndigheter fra Oslo iverksetter på øygruppen. Det dreier seg blant annet om den kunstige utvidelsen av naturvernsonene, som begrenser den økonomiske aktiviteten, og bruk av ulovlige antirussiske sanksjoner på Spitsbergen, som blant annet gjør det mye vanskeligere å transportere last til russiske bosetninger gjennom norsk territorium, og forbud mot at russiske skip anløper norske havner. Disse restriksjonene gjør det vanskeligere for russiske selskaper å drive virksomhet og for russiske borgere å bo på øygruppen, noe som ikke er i samsvar med bestemmelsene i Spitsbergen-traktaten fra 1920.

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🕯 On March 22, 1943, at around this time Nazi invaders and their cronies - Ukrainian nationalist collaborators — destroyed the Belarusian village of #Khatyn, having burned alive & shot almost all of its inhabitants — 149 people, including 75 children... They were all gathered in a barn, locked and burned alive...

The blood and ashes of innocent civilians are on the hands of the Nazis from the Dirlewanger Waffen-SS special battalion & Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118 comprised of Ukrainian nationalists (now revered by the neo-Nazis in Kiev).

The memory of the victims is being dearly preserved in both Russian and Belarus.

☝️ #WeRemember how much grief Nazism brought to our peoples. The lessons of #WWII shall not be subject to oblivion! #LestWeForget

#NoStatuteOfLimitations

📺 NATO aggression against Yugoslavia of 1999 in a nutshell.

👉 Detailed recap of the atrocities by the North-Atlantic Treaty Organisation and its member-states. #NeverForget

🎙 Statement by Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN Anna Evstigneeva at a UNSC Open Debate on UN Peace Operations (March 24, 2025)

💬 Anna Evstigneeva: We ended up in a situation whereby [UN] missions have been present in countries for decades, incurring billions of dollars in expense for the international community. However, not all of them can boast of success: conflicts are spiraling out, people lose hope for positive change.

Moreover, the involvement of international players in domestic political processes may give rise to legitimate concerns among host governments about the risks of interference in their internal affairs. The flip side of the coin is the fear that those governments may lose their power as soon as such 'support' missions leave the country.

⚠️ This gap between the actual results and the cost of missions is becoming an increasingly stronger irritant.

All this attests to the fact that the UN's peacekeeping and political activities need to be reconsidered, improved and brought back to realistic scenarios.

However, what we’ve mainly observed so far is attempts at self-justification – it is being said that host countries are misbehaving, that the contingents are not properly trained, that the geopolitical context is hindering all the efforts, or that it is misinformation that we should blame for everything. <...>

For our part, we are convinced that progress here is possible not until we honestly analyze why host Member-States are questioning the need to host missions, and opting for other (more effective) forms of assistance.

👉 Only based on such assessment can we find political, rather than technical, solutions to the problems that arise.

<...>

We believe that the Organization, for nearly 80 years of its existence, has accumulated sufficient expertise and tools to assist Member-States in preventing conflicts, reaching peace deals, creating conditions for implementing these deals or in peacebuilding. And each situation should be addressed using a tailor-made solution worked out precisely for it. In this regard, much can and should be gleaned from the past.

And yet, we are convinced that advancing the continuity in providing peacekeeping assistance may result in creating a category of countries that would be permanent recipients of UN assistance. Such countries will not only become dependent on the UN but they will also be limited in their sovereignty.

There is no need to automatically transform one form of UN presence into another, such as transforming PKOs into SPMs and the like.

It is important to bear in mind that the best option here is to make sure that as soon as the mandate is fully fulfilled, all responsibility for conflict prevention and conflict management is transferred to Member-States themselves.

☝️ This is the goal we need to be focused on.

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⚡️ Russia's Foreign Ministry Statement in connection with media reports on the future of Zaporozhye NPP

In view of media speculations about possible transfer of the Zaporozhye NPP (ZNPP) to Ukraine or establishment of some kind of joint control over the plant with Ukraine, the United States or representatives of international organisations, we would like to make the following clarifications.

☝️ The ZNPP is a Russian nuclear facility. As a result of the referendums held at the end of September 2022, the Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions joined the Russian Federation as full-fledged subjects. On October 5, 2022, President of Russia signed Executive Order No. 711 On the Specifics of Legal Regulation for the Use of Nuclear Energy in the Zaporozhye Region, which secured the status of the ZNPP as a facility under Russian jurisdiction.

The return of the plant to the Russian nuclear industry is a long-established fact that the international community only needs to recognise. The transfer of the ZNPP itself or control over it to Ukraine or any other country is impossible.

All employees of the station are citizens of the Russian Federation, one cannot play with their lives, especially given the atrocities that the Ukrainians have committed and continue to commit in our country.

❗️ Joint operation of the ZNPP with any state is not acceptable either. There are no such precedents in the world practice.

In this case, for example, it would be impossible to properly ensure nuclear and physical nuclear safety and settle issues of civil liability for nuclear damage. An important aspect is that close cooperation between Ukraine and NATO countries' intelligence agencies, which have an impressive sabotage potential, makes even a temporary admission of these states to the ZNPP impossible.

The idea of any international organisations participating in the plant's operation also seems absurd, since neither the mandate nor the competence of any of them allows them to engage in the operation of nuclear facilities.

Pursuant to international law, including key respective conventions, the primary responsibility for ensuring nuclear safety and security on their territory rests with the states themselves.

In the case of the ZNPP, it is the Russian Federation with no other option.

⚡️ Main outcomes of the Russia and United States expert groups meeting (March 25, 2025)

1. In line with the agreement reached by the presidents of Russia and the United States, the Russian and American sides agreed to provide for the implementation of the Black Sea Initiative, which includes ensuring safe navigation, eliminating the use of force, and preventing the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea, while adopting appropriate control measures by inspecting such vessels.

2. The United States will help restore Russia's access to the world market for agricultural and fertiliser exports, lower maritime insurance costs, and enhance access to ports and payment systems for such transactions.

Note:

Clauses 1 & 2 will come into force following:

the removal of sanctions imposed on Rosselkhozbank (Russian Agricultural Bank) and other financial institutions involved in ensuring international food trade (including fish and fish products) and fertilisers, their reconnection to SWIFT, and opening of relevant correspondent accounts;

the removal of restrictions imposed on trade finance operations;

the removal of sanctions imposed on companies producing and exporting food (including fish and fish products) and fertilisers, as well as restrictions banning insurance companies from working with food cargoes (including fish and fish products) and fertilisers;

the removal of restrictions on servicing ships in ports and sanctions against ships flying the flag of Russia, if they are involved in food trade (including fish and fish products) and fertilisers;

the removal of restrictions on supplies to the Russian Federation of agricultural machinery and other goods used in the production of food (including fish and fish products) and fertilisers.

3. Russia and the United States agreed to develop measures for implementing the agreement between the two countries' presidents to ban strikes against energy facilities of Russia and Ukraine for 30 days starting on March 18, 2025, with an option to extend the agreement or to withdraw from it in the event of non-compliance by either party.

4. Russia and the United States welcome the good offices of third countries with a view toward supporting the implementation of the energy and maritime agreements.

5. Russia and the United States will continue working toward achieving a durable and lasting peace.

#RussiaUnitedStates