🇷🇺🇨🇺 Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla hold talks.

📍 Havana, February 19, 2024

#RussiaCuba

🇷🇺🇻🇪 🛬 Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrives in #Venezuela as part of his Latin American tour

📍 Сaracas, February 20, 2024

#RussiaVenezuela

🇷🇺🇺🇳 Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN:

🎙 Statement by Deputy Permanent Representative Anna Evstigneeva at UNSC briefing on the situation in Somalia (February 19, 2024)

💬 We closely follow the development in the Federal Republic of Somalia. We note the generally positive dynamics of how Somalis pursue their national priorities. This applies both to strengthening internal political stability and to issues of national reconciliation and state-building.

This being said, the Islamists have been able to take advantage of the “vacuum” in a number of areas from where African peacekeepers had withdrawn. Of serious concern is the persisting potential of the militants, who have no problems with funding, recruiting young people and enjoying the support of the local population.

☝️ In the political area, the tasks of strengthening the foundations of Somalia's federal structure, establishing dialogue between the federal center and the regions, reforming the economy, the judicial system, combating corruption and amending the national constitution remain vital.

Helping to improve the effectiveness of the federal security institutions so they can effectively and independently control the whole country must remain the priority task of the international community with regard to Somalia.

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🇷🇺🤝🇸🇴 In order to overcome the severe consequences caused by natural disasters, Russia provided humanitarian assistance to our friendly East African country by donating 50,000 tonnes of grain.

We closely follow the developments in the region, where protracted conflicts are taking place and contradictions keep growing. We call on all countries in the region to search for common mutually beneficial solutions, engage in dialogue, uphold the principle "African problems - African solutions", and resolve the differences that have arisen through negotiations in accordance with international law and without external interference.

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🇷🇺🇺🇳 Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN:

🎙 Remarks to the press by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia with regard to the attack by Ukrainian forces against Belgorod, Russia (February 19, 2024)

💬 Vassily Nebenzia: Facing massive failures in the battlefield (namely the recent loss of a strategic town of Avdeevka), the Kiev regime is trying to make up by intensifying its terrorist attacks against civilians.

During the day on February 15, they launched another massive attack on peaceful areas of Belgorod. Seven people died, including a newborn. 19 local residents, four of whom were children, were injured.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, on the same day, air defense systems destroyed 14 Ukrainian Vampire Missile System shells over the territory of the Belgorod region.

❗️ This strike makes no sense from the military point of view. The military infrastructure was not located in the immediate vicinity of the shelling. Instead, rockets were launched on innocent people in a premeditated act of terror.

We call on the UN Secretariat and the agencies to condemn these heinous crimes against civilians and civilian infrastructure carried out by the Kiev regime in violation of the international humanitarian law.

Yet another terrorist attack by the Ukrainian armed forces against the city of Belgorod has once again highlighted the criminal role of the West led by the US, which continues to send the deadly weapons to the Kiev regime and thus is an accomplice in all its crimes. These weapons are used in a mass and indiscriminate killing of civilians.

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❌ Hypocrisy and cynicism of Western states become even more evident since they directly violate all the international agreements and commitments regarding the transfer of weapons and military equipment they are a party to.

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🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks during talks with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez (Havana, February 19, 2024)

💬 Sergey Lavrov: I would like to begin by thanking you for your traditional hospitality, as is customary between our countries. <...>

In September 2023, you and I met in New York on the sidelines of the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly. As always, we had a trust-based exchange concerning the unprecedented processes unfolding in the international arena, when the realities of the multi-polar world, objectively shaped and reflecting the unstoppable course of history, are not just being tested, but are eliciting an aggressive response from the US and other Global Minority countries. These countries are using every available avenue to preserve their dominance, hegemony and control. The means used by the American and other Western policymakers to get there include blackmail, ultimatums, threats, heavy-handed military force, and sanctions rather than diplomacy.

Cuba has firsthand experience of the unlawful pressure and total embargo that the US continues to enforce as a supposed legitimate course of action. Although the rest of the international community finds it intolerable, Washington persists in its actions.

We have global tasks at hand, including the mobilisation of the Global Majority to uphold their legitimate rights. We are working on it actively within the Group of Friends in Defence of the UN Charter established in 2021. The interest in this Group is steadily increasing. We will work to safeguard the fundamental principles of the UN Charter against attempts to rewrite international law and replace it with obscure rules.

☝️ The Charter explicitly states that the UN is based on the sovereign equality of states. It is imperative that we hold our Western colleagues accountable, as they have long ago disregarded that principle and continue to go about their affairs the way they did in colonial times.

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🇷🇺🇨🇺 #RussiaCuba

🇷🇺🇻🇪 On Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

On February 20, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will visit Venezuela.

During the visit, he will:
• meet with President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro,
• Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez,
• hold talks with Foreign Minister Yván Gil.

The Parties will discuss key issues of bilateral cooperation and interaction on the global stage, as well as regional and global developments.

🤝 Venezuela is Russia’s strategic partner and ally. These bilateral relations, based on strong friendship and solidarity, are on the rise and are actively developing in all key areas.

The political dialogue between Russia and Venezuela is very intensive. Last year, President Vladimir Putin and President Nicolás Maduro had two telephone conversations (on May 4 and December 21). Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Caracas on February 28 and on April 18, respectively. Executive Vice President and Minister of the Economy, Finance and Foreign Trade Delcy Rodríguez visited Moscow on October 11-13, President of the National Assembly of Venezuela Jorge Rodríguez on September 29 – October 3, and Foreign Minister Yván Gil on November 15-17.

At various multilateral platforms, Russia and Venezuela consistently support the establishment of a more equitable multi-polar world order.

Moscow and Caracas share a unanimous stance on the unacceptability of interfering in internal affairs and using unilateral coercive measures as instruments of pressure.

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☝️ Russia will continue to provide all possible assistance to the government and people of Venezuela as regards protecting their national sovereignty and right to choose their own development path, including as a country that helps maintain national dialogue among the political forces in Venezuela.

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#RussiaVenezuela

🇷🇺 Russia's Arms Control Delegation in Vienna:

❗️ Commentary on the 10th anniversary of the Euromaidan events

💬 10 years ago, the Euromaidan with the participation of the West reached its apex.

Provocateurs trained by American and European instructors led people to protests under the slogans of a "better European" life.

After clashes in the centre of Kiev on February 18-19, 2014, former Ukrainian President Yanukovych and the opposition agreed on a "ceasefire". In parallel, the bloody events were forced by Euromaidan activists.

The office of the Prosecutor-General of Ukraine admitted that there were no Russian snipers on the Maidan.

The February 21 agreement on resolving the political crisis in Ukraine between President Yanukovych and the opposition was trampled on, and its guarantors - Germany, Poland and France - did nothing to stop the tragic development of events. 10 years later, they figure among the main sponsors of the Kiev regime.

🎞 The documentary video "History of Tragedy" reveals the essence of the events of Euromaidan.

🇷🇺🇺🇳 Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN:

🎙 Explanation of vote by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia during UNSC voting on the situation in Gaza (February 20, 2024)

Before the vote on the Algerian draft:

💬 On October 16, 2023, when Russia proposed the very first draft resolution calling for a ceasefire, the number of Palestinian casualties was about 1,000. At that time, the Western delegations in the Council chose to abstain en masse in order not to incur the wrath of Washington.

❗️More than 28,000 deaths that occurred since then were the price of that first shameful inaction, the collective irresponsibility of Western delegations to the Security Council, whose NATO solidarity outweighs any national declarations of commitment to international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians and humanitarian personnel.

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On behalf of the Arab Group, the delegation of Algeria proposed a solid, well-balanced draft resolution centered around the long-awaited ceasefire. <…> However, the US delegation issued an ultimatum from the outset, demanding that work on the document be halted.

👉 I call on the members of the Council to demonstrate solidarity in confronting the arbitrariness of Washington, who is ready to make any sacrifice in any region in pursuit of its geopolitical ambitions.

Remarks following the vote:

💬 Today we have seen yet another black page in the history of the UN Security Council. It was written again by the US delegation, whose goal remains unchanged – to cover for its closest Middle Eastern ally and drag out time for as long as possible so that it can complete its inhumane plans for Gaza, namely to expel the Palestinians from the Strip and completely "clean up" the enclave, literally turning it into an uninhabited land.

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☝️ However bitter the "aftertaste" of today's vote may be, we are in no mood to give up. The UNSC's demand to the parties for an immediate ceasefire remains an imperative. Without it, any "product" of the Council will be meaningless.

💬 Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria #Zakharova:

I read the South Korean Foreign Ministry’s comment regarding “Russian cars in the DPRK.”

If Seoul has questions about “compliance with UN sanctions” on the DPRK, then it should contact the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee instead of running to the microphones. By the way, the whole committee should also discuss the over 12,000 illegal sanctions against Russia and the West’s sanctions wars that are killing international law.

It would also be interesting to know what pressure Washington is putting on Seoul to disrupt lawfully existing trade relations with other countries.

I think these advocates of purity in international law should be asked what damage the illegal sanctions are causing to people around the world when they cannot access food, medicine, and vaccines because of the Western sanctions wars.