🎙 Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the UN Security Council’s open debates “Effective multilateralism through the Defence of the Principles of the UN Charter” (New York, April 24, 2023)

Key points:

🔹 Today, our UN-centric system is going through a deep crisis. The main reason is a striving by some UN members to replace international law and the UN Charter with a certain “rules-based” order.

🔹 The collective West has set out to reshape the processes of multilateralism at the regional level to suit its needs.

🔹 The United States and its allies have deployed significant forces to undermine multilateralism in the Asia-Pacific region where an ASEAN-centered successful and open economic and security cooperation system has been taking shape for decades.

🔹 Since World War II, Washington has pulled off dozens of reckless criminal military operations without even trying to secure multilateral legitimacy.

🔹 Multilateral efforts were made to stop the war unleashed in the east of Ukraine as a result of a government coup. These efforts towards peaceful settlement were embodied in a UN Security Council resolution that unanimously approved the Minsk agreements. Kiev and its Western bosses trampled these agreements underfoot.

🔹 There should be no such thing as double standards. Both multilateralism and democracy should be respected within the member countries and in their relations with one another.

🔹 It is imperative to expedite Security Council reform by expanding the representation of countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

🔹 It is our common duty to preserve the United Nations as the hard-won epitome of multilateralism and coordination of international politics. The key to success lies in working together and showing respect for the sovereign equality of states.

🔹 The Russian media were not allowed to come [to the US]. Please see to it that worldwide audiences can use your reports to glean every angle of the comments and assessments.

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#UNCharterIsOurRules

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the UN Security Council open debate on the Situation in the Middle East, Including the Palestinian Question

📍 New York, April 25, 2023

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Key talking points:

🌐 The Middle East is currently going through a profound transformation that is unfolding in a way that is rather contradictory.

🔹 We attribute priority importance to building a sustainable and inclusive security and cooperation architecture in the Middle East and promoting interfaith and intercultural dialogue.

☝️ We welcome the positive changes that even a short time ago seemed so difficult to achieve. I am referring, first and foremost, to the restoration of relations between Saudi Arabia and Islamic Republic of Iran with the mediation of the People’s Republic of China, the plans to bring Syria back into the Arab family – something we have been working on for a long time – and the normalisation of relations between Damascus and Ankara, which has begun with Russia’s assistance using the advantages offered by the Astana format.

🔹 We have to state with deep regret and concern that these positive changes have left the Palestinian issue on the sidelines.

🔹 The absolute imperative, however, is for all leading actors to reaffirm the lack of any alternatives to the two-state solution as one ensuring the right of Palestinians to their own independent state with the capital in East Jerusalem and the right of Israelis to safe and peaceful coexistence with their neighbours and the region as a whole.

🇺🇸🇪🇺 The US and the EU continue their destructive attempts to substitute genuine peace with some economic half measures and promote the Arab-Israeli normalisation bypassing the just solution to the Palestinian problem and the Arab Peace Initiative.

🇷🇺 Russia will continue to contribute to stabilisation in the Middle East and North Africa, and to promote the Middle East peace process together will the countries in the region and in coordination with other mediators acting in good faith.

Pressemelding fra Russlands Utenriksministerium i forbindelse med svartiltak på utnevnelse av ansatte ved Russlands Ambassade i Norge til "persona non grata"

26. april ble Kongeriket Norges Ambassadør Robert Kvile innkalt til Russlands Utenriksministerium. Til ham utrykte man en resolutt protest i forbindelse med Oslo sin beslutning om å utvise 15 diplomater og ansatte i forsvarsattacheens stab fra Russlands Ambassade i Norge. Dette fiendtlige skrittet har forverret videre situasjonen i bilaterale forhold som allerede ligger på et kritisk lavt nivå.

Robert Kvile fikk overlevert en note om erklæringen til "persona non grata" av 10 representanter av Norges Ambassade i Moskva og forsvarsattacheens kontor.

Norges ambassadør fikk også beskjed om at det skal følge videre tiltak knyttet til Oslo sine uvennlige handlinger, inkludert at det skal innføres restriksjoner som gjelder ansettelse av russiske statsborgere som lokalansatte ved norske utenriksstasjoner.

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Об ответных мерах в связи с объявлением сотрудников Посольства России в Норвегии «persona non grata»

26 апреля в МИД России был вызван Посол Королевства Норвегия Р.Квиле. Ему выражен решительный протест в связи с решением Осло о высылке пятнадцати дипломатов Посольства России в Норвегии и сотрудников аппарата Военного атташе. Этот враждебный шаг еще более усугубил ситуацию в двусторонних отношениях, находящихся и без того на критически низком уровне.

Р.Квиле была вручена нота об объявлении в качестве ответной меры «persona non grata» десяти представителей Посольства Норвегии в Москве и аппарата Атташе по вопросам обороны.

Послу Норвегии также было заявлено, что последуют другие меры в связи с недружественными действиями Осло, включая введение ограничений на найм норвежскими дипмиссиями принятого на месте персонала из числа российских граждан.

Kommentar fra Ambassaden til NRK om russisk tilstedeværelse på Spitsbergen

Når det gjelder russiske generalkonsulen på Spitsbergen så før å bli utstasjonert der var han i løpet av en lang tid ansatt ved Utenriksministeriet og jobbet i mange år ved Konsulæravdelingen der han har vist seg som en riktig proff. På generalkonsulatet ufører han vanlig diplomatisk og konsulær jobb akkurat som hans forgjengere.

Mytene som er spredt blant norske journalister og såkalte eksperter om noen «krigsscenarioer» og «planer å etablerere kontroll over Spitsbergen» (som du riktig kaller øygruppa i din mail) er godt kjent for oss og ble flere ganger tilbakevist av oss siden det ikke finnes reelt grunnlag for dem.

Vi har ved flere anledninger, også under det russiske formannskapet i Arktisk råd, uttalt på forskjellige nivåer om våre bekymringer angående uttalelser i Vesten som kan føre til militariseringen av Arktis og Spitsbergen som er en naturlig del av den arktiske regionen.

Alle teknologier som utnyttes i den russiske gruvebyen inkludert basestasjoner, brukes etter tillatelse fra norske myndigheter, mens uttalelser om angivelige forfølgelse av byens befolkning er bare tull.

Samtidig dekker ikke norske medier programvirksomheten av det russiske selskapet Arktikugol som bl.a. planlegger å utvide sin reiselivsbransje innenfor grønn omstilling. Men slike planer boikotteres, noe som kan bekreftes av sysselmesteren som har fått flere henvendelser fra ledelsen i Arktikugol og generalkonsulen.

Комментарий Посольства норвежской гостелерадиокомпании «НРК» о российском присутствии на Шпицбергене

Касательно Генерального консула России на Шпицбергене, то до приезда туда он длительное время являлся сотрудником МИД России, много лет проработал в Консульском департаменте, где зарекомендовал себя как настоящий профессионал. В генконсульстве он занимается нормальной дипломатической и консульской работой, так же, как и его предшественники.

Расхожие байки в среде норвежских журналистов и т.н. экспертов о неких «военных сценариях» и «планах установить контроль над Шпицбергеном» нам хорошо известны и неоднократно нами опровергались, поскольку не имеют под собой никаких реальных оснований.

Мы неоднократно, в т.ч. в период российского председательства в Арктическом совете, заявляли на всех уровнях о своих озабоченностях по поводу звучащих на Западе заявлений, которые могут привести к милитаризации Арктики – и Шпицбергена как неотъемлемой части арктического региона.

Все используемые в российском посёлке технологии, в т.ч. станция сотовой связи, эксплуатируются с разрешения норвежских властей, а заявления о якобы преследовании его жителей – абсолютная чушь.

Вместе с тем в норвежских СМИ практически не освещается программная деятельность российской компании «Арктикуголь», которая в т.ч. планирует расширять туристическое направление своей деятельности в духе «зелёного перехода». Однако такие планы бойкотируются, что может подтвердить губернатор Шпицбергена, к которому неоднократно обращались и руководство «Арктикугля», и генконсул.

ArtMasters — это масштабные соревнования для специалистов в сфере backstage и цифрового искусства, которые реализуют самые крупные креативные проекты под руководством ведущих экспертов.

ArtMasters – это специализированная авторитетная площадка, направленная на поиск и поддержку кадров в сфере креативных индустрий. Участники Чемпионата – это тысячи молодых специалистов со всей страны, без которых невозможно создание фильма, клипа, спектакля или компьютерной игры.

С 2022 г. в Чемпионате могут принимать участие граждане других стран, владеющие русским языком. По итогам конкурса участники приобретают новые знания, возможность представить свои проекты широкой аудитории вместе с лидерами индустрии и получают шанс найти работу мечты.

https://artmasters.ru

🎙 FM Sergey Lavrov’s news conference following his visit to the US within the framework of Russia’s presidency of the UN Security Council

Key topics:

🔹 On non-issuance of visas to Russian journalists
🔹 Situation in Sudan
🔹 Realization of Black Sea Initiative
🔹 US Presidential Election
🔹 Expansion of NATO to the East
🔹 On detained US citizens in Russia
🔹 On Russia's President visit to Türkiye
🔹 Situation in Ukraine
🔹 Middle East settlement process
🔹 On supplies to Kiev regime depleted uranium shells for Challenger 2 tanks
🔹 On sanctions against Russia imposed by collective West
🔹 Situation in Afghanistan
🔹 On Iran nuclear deal

💬 Sergey Lavrov: Our wish is that no security threats come from the territory of Ukraine. These threats have accumulated there for years, especially after the state coup in February 2014. Another wish of ours is that people who consider themselves Russian speakers, members of the Russian culture and faith, which they have always practiced through the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, will not be subjected to discrimination, persecution and threats of extermination.

• We have long come to the conclusion that we can only rely on ourselves and those who honour their agreements. We will never again rely on those who lie, who constantly deceive others and who try to gain illegitimate unilateral advantage.

• The sanctions against Russia are indeed something that nobody has ever seen or been able to imagine. But for us it is a resolved issue. We have all the capacities to be independent from this sort of behaviour by our Western colleagues who have proven their complete inability to negotiate.

• There are those in the EU who do want to allow Ukraine to join on an expedited basis. That will just show that it has nothing to do with meeting the criteria but that it’s just a geopolitical game of laying paws on as much territory as possible which will belong to no one.

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🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's video address to the participants and organisers of the World Online Conference on Multipolarity (Moscow, April 29, 2023)

Key talking points:

🌐 Today, the movement towards global multipolarity is a fact, a geopolitical reality.

☝️ We see new global centres, primarily in Eurasia, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, grow and achieve impressive success in various fields relying on their independence, state sovereignty and cultural and civilisational identity.

• We are witnessing the continued transformation of the structure of international relations. A striking example of multipolar diplomacy is the work of multilateral associations of a new type such as the SCO and BRICS.

❗️ It makes perfect sense that Washington and its satellites’ efforts to reverse the course of history and make the international community live according to the “rules-based order” they invented are failing. I will mention only one of them, the Westerners’ policy to isolate Russia.

• In today's multipolar world, in the face of cross-border challenges and threats, the only reasonable alternative to confrontation (those who initiate confrontations will lose, too) is to combine the efforts of key global centres on the principles of the UN Charter, including respect for the sovereign equality of states ensured in practice. Everyone needs to recognise the irreversibility of the emergence of a more equitable polycentric international system.

🇷🇺 Russia remains at the forefront of international efforts to strengthen the multipolar, legal and democratic principles of interstate communication. <...> We will certainly continue to closely coordinate our steps with our numerous friends, allies and countries that share our views, including our partners in the #CSTO, the #EAEU, the #CIS, #BRICS, the #SCO and other regional associations of the developing world.

#UNCharterIsOurRules