🗓 On 24 May, Russia and many other countries mark the Day of Slavic Writing and Culture — a solemn tribute to the origins of an alphabet that has not only shaped nations, but also given voice to the profound and enduring literary traditions of the Slavic world.

The date coincides with the feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius, two Byzantine brothers who devised the first Slavic alphabet in 863. Their pioneering efforts enabled entire peoples to access sacred texts in their own tongue and played a pivotal role in the Christianisation of Eastern Europe.

Today the Slavic linguistic family stretches across Eurasia, spanning over 400 million speakers. At its core stands Russian. It ranks among the world's ten most spoken languages and holds global significance as one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

But beyond its geopolitical stature, Russian is a literary colossus. It is the language of Pushkin, founder of modern Russian literature; of Tolstoy, whose moral epics reshaped the novel; and of Dostoevsky, whose psychological depth remains timeless. It carries the precision of Chekhov, the stark realism of Sholokhov, the philosophical weight of Platonov and the surreal brilliance of Bulgakov.

This day is a celebration of shared heritage and a reminder that language is more than words: it is memory, identity and the enduring vessel of human thought.

📰 Интервью Посла России в Великобритании Андрея Келина информагентству РИА Новости (25 мая 2025 года)

Основные тезисы:

• Если бы [британские власти] всё же научились, как это было раньше, говорить уважительно и слышать то, что им говорят, я думаю, что и наши двусторонние отношения были бы лучше, да и ситуация с безопасностью Европы изменилась бы к лучшему.

• Британия контролирует Зеленского в составе известного трио, которое включает в себя также президента Франции и канцлера ФРГ. Контроль осуществляется путём поддержки всех «хотелок» Зеленского. <...> Тем самым укрепляют воинственное настроение Зеленского, создавая у него ощущение безнаказанности за то, что он делает.

• Борис Джонсон, Лиз Трасс, Риши Сунак и Кир Стармер проявляют примерно одинаковую воинственность и безответственность в оценке международной ситуации и последствий своих действий. <...> Преемственность антироссийского курса и бессмысленной и безоглядной поддержки Украины сохраняется.

• Британские СМИ, даже самые уважаемые, сосредоточены на поисках российской угрозы. Бесконечные разговоры об этом ведутся каждый день.

• Механизм схемы регистрации иностранного влияния предусматривает предъявление особо суровых требований ко всем, кто захочет взаимодействовать с Россией. <...> Британские власти будут требовать письменно декларировать наличие связей с нашей страной. А в обстановке царящей здесь русофобии это равносильно своего рода «чёрной метке».

• Лондон пытается стреножить российский флот на Чёрном море, хотя соотношение сил в этом регионе значительно в нашу пользу.

• Фактор усталости британского общества от украинской темы есть. <...> Всё больше речь идёт о том, что британцы устали от украинских беженцев и не хотят их содержать.

• Будем настаивать, чтобы британское правительство раскрыло факты о произошедшем в Солсбери. Это было очевидной провокацией, с которой началось стремительное ухудшение отношений между нашими странами.

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❗️ Kemi Badenoch has finally called a spade a spade.

Ukraine is indeed fighting a proxy-war against Russia on behalf of Western interests. The illegitimate Kiev regime, created, financed and armed by the West, has been at it since 2014.

Remember, Kemi Badenoch hails from the same Conservative party, whose former leader and Prime-Minister Boris Johnson, when peace was at hand, went to Kiev and told the Ukrainians to "just fight".

The result has been an unmitigated disaster for Ukraine and its people, as well as an unprecedented security crisis in Europe.

☝️ The objective of Russia's Special Military Operation is to put an end to the proxy-war and restore peace.

⚡️ Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's statement on the second round of the resumed direct talks between Russia and Ukraine

💬 As is well known, the conditions have been created for direct negotiations to resume between Russia and Ukraine with the support of the United States, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

The first round of negotiations took place on 16 May in Istanbul. In accordance with the agreements reached there, the parties have exchanged 1,000 prisoners of war each. It was also agreed that Moscow and Kiev would prepare documents setting out their respective positions on achieving a sustainable settlement.

As agreed, the Russian side has promptly drafted a memorandum outlining our views on all essential aspects to reliably overcome the root causes of the crisis.

Our delegation, helmed by Vladimir Medinsky, stands ready to present this memorandum to Ukraine's delegation and to provide the necessary clarifications during the second round of resumed direct talks in Istanbul next Monday, 2 June.

I would like to once again express my gratitude to our Turkish partners for providing a hospitable venue for the talks, as confirmed yesterday by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan during his visit to Moscow.

☝️ We hope that all parties that are genuinely interested in the success of the peace process rather than just claim to be in favour of the initiative will support the new round of direct Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul.

🗓 29 May has been designated as Eurasian Economic Union Day - marking the foundation in 2014 of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), an international organisation for regional economic integration. The Union aims to support the economic development of its member states, improve living standards for their citizens and promote sustainable growth.

The EAEU comprises five countries: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. Together, they account for a combined GDP of approximately £2 trillion and a population of around 186 million people.

Over its ten-year history, the EAEU's member states have created a common internal market and implemented unified customs, tariff and non-tariff regulations.

They have developed mutually beneficial and equitable partnerships in energy, industry, agriculture and digital transformation.

🤝 The Union's success is reflected in the continuous expansion of its international ties, including free-trade agreements with Vietnam, Serbia and Iran, as well as a non-preferential agreement with China. Moldova, Cuba, Uzbekistan and Iran hold observer status.

❌ Озвученные 29 мая британским минобороны «амбициозные» планы в сфере ИКТ показали, что в Лондоне готовы поднимать ставки в борьбе с мифической «российской угрозой».

Бряцая собственным кибероружием, британский официоз заявляет о массовом наборе «хакеров» в ряды своих вооружённых сил и учреждении специализированной командной структуры для координации не только оборонительных, но и наступательных операций в сфере ИКТ. По сути, речь идёт о милитаризации информационного пространства с нескрываемым прицелом на осуществление наступательных замыслов против России.

Тем самым британцы косвенно признают свою роль в уже направленной на нашу страну цифровой агрессии. В создании, обучении и спонсировании группировок вроде прославляемой здешними СМИ «ІТ-армии Украины», которая задействуется против России в рамках прокси-войны Лондона и его партнёров. Подобные преступные объединения могут использоваться Западом и в отношении других «неугодных» государств.

Долгосрочные последствия этого провокационного курса, судя по всему, не беспокоят местные власти. И это напрасно.

❗️ Проводимая Лондоном подготовка наступательного киберпотенциала к применению против России чревата разжиганием крупномасштабного противостояния в пространстве ИКТ с трудно предсказуемыми, в т.ч. для самой Британии, итогами.

📰 Interview with Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova for 'Zapiski Sledovatelya' Journal No. 2/2025, published by Russia's Investigative Committee (May 30, 2025)

✍️ The Legal Front of Memory

Key talking points:

• Combating manifestations of racism, xenophobia, aggressive nationalism and neo-Nazism, and countering attempts to rewrite history and distort the outcomes of #WWII are among Russia’s priorities on the human rights track.

• Today we see increasingly frequent attempts to rewrite the history and results of WWII, to erase the memory of heroic anti-fascist fighters, to destroy monuments built in their honour, and to ban the wearing of military decorations that are strongly associated with Victory.

• History is being falsified in an openly hostile manner, which includes glorifying Nazi collaborators and disrespecting the memory of Soviet soldiers and civilians who died in the fight against fascism, questioning the Red Army’s liberation mission in Eastern Europe <...> The decisions of the Yalta and Potsdam conferences and the Nuremberg Tribunal verdicts are also being questioned.

• This tendency to rewrite history and glorify Nazi henchmen has become part of the Kiev regime’s state ideology and policy. The neo-Nazi elites are trying to cement Ukraine’s independence by denying its Soviet past, praising the Waffen-SS Galicia Division <...>

• In line with efforts to combat the glorification of Nazism and the distortion of history, every year since 2005, Russia has submitted a resolution on combatting glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, to the UN General Assembly. On December 17, 2024, during the plenary session of the 79th #UNGA in New York, 119 countries voted in support of this document.

• Russia and a group of like-minded countries submitted a draft resolution on the 80th Anniversary of the end of World War II to the ongoing 79th UN General Assembly, which was adopted on March 4. <...> Our partners’ unified stance on this matter constitutes a substantive contribution to countering the rewriting of history.

• It is a matter of principle for us that the international community recognise the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis in the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War as the genocide of the Soviet people.

• The actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and Nazi-affiliated armed groups reveal signs of genocidal intent. They wanted to eliminate Russians and Russian speakers in #Donbass <...>, adepts of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and people in this region in general as an ethnic, religious and national entity.

• Ukraine initiated proceedings in the UN International Court of Justice in February 2022, right after the start of the special military operation, as per the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. However, it turned to the Kiev regime’s disadvantage.

• The International Court of Justice issued its preliminary objections under this case on February 2, 2024. In this document, it rejected all the claims made by Ukraine alleging that Russia violated the Convention. The court went on to rule that further proceedings will focus on whether Ukraine itself committed acts of genocide in Donbass. Therefore, the Kiev regime filed the lawsuit only to become a defendant in this case.

• On November 18, 2024, Russia submitted its main pleading document, the Counter Memorandum, as part of these proceedings. In fact, this is the first time since the Nuremberg Trials that Russia de facto assumed the role of the prosecution in an international tribunal. But there are even more parallels with the Nuremberg Trials — just as during these trials, we are dealing with a Nazi regime which was targeting civilians with mass atrocities on racial, ethnic and national grounds.

Read the interview in full

Embassy comment on confrontational UK initiatives in the area of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

❌ The far-reaching ICT-related plans announced by the British Ministry of Defence on 29 May clearly indicate London's intent to further raise the stakes in its campaign against the mythical "Russian threat".

Rattling its cyber sabre, the British establishment has called for the mass recruitment of "hackers" into the ranks of its armed forces, along with the establishment of a specialised command structure for coordinating not only defensive but also offensive operations in the ICT domain. In essence, this is an open admission of the militarisation of the information space with the evident focus on carrying out offensive operations against Russia.

In doing so, the British side has indirectly acknowledged its role in the digital aggression already being waged against our country – via the creation, training, and sponsorship of groups such as the so-called "IT Army of Ukraine", openly praised in local media and deployed against Russia as part of London's proxy war alongside its partners. Such criminal associations may also be used by the West against other "uncooperative" states.

The long-term costs of this provocative course do not seem to bother the UK authorities. Yet this is a mistake.

❗️ The offensive cyber potential being prepared by London for use against Russia is fraught with the risk of triggering a large-scale confrontation in the ICT domain which may lead to unpredictable consequences, including for the United Kingdom itself.

🎙 Интервью Посла России в Великобритании Андрея Келина ведущему телеканала «Россия 24» Александру Кареевскому

Основные темы:
• Российско-украинские переговоры в Стамбуле
• Размещение европейского контингента на Украине
• Снятие ограничений на дальность поставляемого Киеву оружия
• Отношения Британии и Евросоюза
• Состояние британской экономики
• Поджог дома британского премьера
• Возможное возвращение Б.Джонсона в политику


💬 А.В.Келин: Мы знаем, что британский политсоветник [Джонатан] Пауэлл будет присутствовать там, в Стамбуле, во время [российско-украинских] переговоров где-то на заднем плане. Это всё [делается] с тем, чтобы влиять на позицию Украины, контролировать её, чтобы она не вышла из-под установленных Западом рамок для переговоров. Вот в этом, собственно, и состоит [британская] позиция – держать [Киев] на коротком поводке.

Смотрите интервью на YouTube-канале Посольства

🤦 Публикацию стратегического оборонного обзора британские власти сопровождают ударной дозой антироссийских заявлений.

Премьер-министр Кир Стармер невпопад попытался списать продолжающиеся при лейбористах экономические провалы на «растущую агрессию» Москвы. Оказывается, мирный проход наших кораблей через Ла-Манш ухудшает положение британских трудящихся. А министр обороны Джон Хили умудрился даже где-то разглядеть какие-то совершаемые Россией «ежедневные атаки» на Великобританию.

Посольство категорически отвергает эти подложные и нелепые обвинения.

Очень жаль, что, сменив во власти консерваторов, лейбористы продолжают высасывать из пальца всё те же русофобские небылицы, дабы списать на них свою беспомощность в экономике и обосновать «не по карману» растущие военные затраты. <...>

❗️ Россия не представляет угрозы для Соединённого Королевства и его населения. Мы не вынашиваем агрессивных планов и не собираемся нападать на Альбион. Нам это абсолютно не интересно и не нужно. <...>

Если бы британское правительство действительно стремилось к укреплению национальной и международной безопасности, то ему вместо нагнетания военной истерии следовало бы в кратчайшие сроки прекратить «войну по доверенности», развязанную против России руками подконтрольного киевского режима и встать на путь содействия всеобъемлющему мирному урегулированию.

Заодно следовало бы отменить введённые против нашей страны нелегитимные односторонние торгово-финансовые ограничения – ведь именно они, а вовсе не мифические российские «атаки», причиняют, как выразился К.Стармер, «экономические страдания» британскому населению.

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⚡️ Statement by Head of the Russian delegation Vladimir Medinsky following the second round of resumed Russia-Ukraine direct talks in Istanbul (June 2, 2025)

Read in full

💬 We handed our two-part memorandum to the Turkish side.

• The first part concerns ways to achieve a durable and sustainable peace.

• The second part outlines the steps towards making a genuine ceasefire possible.

<...> The Ukrainian side took it for further review. They will study it and tell us what they think about it, and we will take it from there.

In addition to that, we resolved several practical matters.

Firstly, we will unilaterally hand over 6'000 frozen bodies of Ukrainian soldiers to the Ukrainian side. <...> Next week, we will return these bodies to the Ukrainian side so they may be laid to rest with dignity. <...>

We have agreed on the largest prisoner swap to date. All gravely wounded and seriously ill soldiers will be exchanged all for all. This is a humanitarian gesture on our part. The same approach — all for all — will be used to exchange young soldiers under the age of 25. The overall exchange quota will be at least 1'000 people from each side, possibly more. These numbers are being finalised.

Furthermore, we agreed to create permanent medical commissions that will compile reports which the parties will use to draw up exchange lists of severely wounded soldiers without having to wait for major political decisions. These exchanges will be conducted regularly as part of routine operations.

❗️ We proposed imposing a short-term ceasefire for two to three days on several stretches of the line of contact. Our military experts will work on it in coordination with the Ukrainians. <...>

The Russian army is advancing, and there are significantly more bodies of the Ukrainian soldiers in the grey zone. For this reason, we propose collecting the bodies of their fallen soldiers and transferring them immediately on-site to the opposing side for proper burial under Christian traditions. We let them know about this proposal. The Ukrainian military promised to review it promptly. <...>

Children are central to us, and I would like to say a few words about them. We’ve been hearing lately <…> that “1.5 million Ukrainian children were abducted by the Russians.” Then it came down to “200'000 Ukrainian children abducted by the Russians.” Now, the official figure is “20'000 children abducted by the Russians.” We’ve constantly asked to provide documentary evidence. Show us who these children are, give us something, such as missing child reports filed by their parents. Who are these children? They weren’t on any lists. What we get are mere numbers with no substance. <...>

We finally obtained a complete list. As you can see, it’s not 1.5 million, and not even 20'000 names. It includes 339 names. We will look into each case. We have reviewed every single inquiry lately. The Commissioner for Children’s Rights office had 101 children reunite with their families. 22 children have come back home from Ukraine and reunited with their families. Our children, too, may end up in the midst of a combat zone and lose contact with their families. <...>

This list of 339 names only underscores the fact that child abduction has, unfortunately, been turned by the Ukrainian authorities into a media show for bleeding-heart Europeans. <...> In reality, we are talking about dozens of children. None of these children have been abducted. Not a single one. These are the children who were rescued by our soldiers — often at the cost of their lives — pulled from combat zones and taken to safety. We are looking for their parents. If the parents are found, the children are returned.

☝️ Every child will reunite with their parents. All families on both sides will come together. We are working on it. It’s a matter of honour.

❓Question: What language were the talks held in?

💬 Vladimir Medinsky: I’ll give you three guesses.

❓Question: Was it Russian?

💬 Vladimir Medinsky: Correct, you got it right straight away.

🤦 The British authorities have backed up the release of their Strategic Defence Review with a fresh salvo of anti-Russian rhetoric.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, somewhat incongruously, sought to attribute the ongoing economic failures under the Labour government to what he termed Moscow’s "growing aggression". It turns out that the peaceful passage of Russian vessels through the English Channel is somehow "hitting working people" of Britain. Meanwhile, Defence Secretary John Healey has gone so far as to allege unspecified "daily attacks" on the UK by Russia.

The Embassy categorically rejects these false and bizarre accusations.

It is regrettable that, having replaced the Conservatives, Labour continues to invent the same Russophobic fabrications in an attempt to mask its own economic ineptitude and to justify the hike in military spending that the UK can scarcely afford. <...>

❗️ Russia poses no threat to the United Kingdom and its people. We harbour no aggressive intentions and have no plans to attack Britain. We are not interested in doing so, nor do we need to. <...>

If Britain's government were truly committed to strengthening both national and international security, it could, instead of fuelling jingoistic hysteria, immediately end the proxy war unleashed against Russia by the Kiev regime and embark on a path towards a comprehensive and peaceful settlement.

The UK could also lift its illegitimate unilateral trade and financial sanctions imposed on Russia. It is these measures, rather than mythical Russian "attacks", that are generating "economic pain" for the British people, to use Mr Starmer's own words.

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"Российско-британские отношения пережили за [более чем] 450 лет их существования очень много взлётов и падений"

📺 Смотрите интервью Посла России в Великобритании Андрея Келина образовательному проекту НЬЮМ, реализуемого редакцией ТАСС ДЕТИ

Основные темы:
• Украинский кризис
• Российско-британские отношения
• Русская культура в Британии
• Искусственный интеллект и дипломатия
• Сохранение исторической памяти

📹 НЬЮМ ТАСС

📺 Watch Ambassador Andrei Kelin's interview with Sky News presenter Yalda Hakim (5 June 2025)

Key talking points:

• [Ukraine's attack on Russia's strategic aviation] is a very serious escalation and a blow to the strategic stability which we have established in our relations with the United States.

• Our resources allow us to continue military actions [in Ukraine] for a long time. But the choice now lies with Kiev — whether they choose [to find] a solution to the conflict, I mean a normal agreement that will eliminate the root causes [of the conflict], or [face] defeat and total surrender under much worse conditions.

• The Ukrainians are saying, "Let’s hold a summit". A summit for what? If Zelensky just wants to make a show <…> then it makes no sense for us. We need a summit for serious matters, not to establish a short ceasefire, but [to achieve] a solid and lasting resolution of this conflict.

• London, Brussels, Paris and Berlin are strongly resisting that we get to the end of this conflict, because they have invested a lot — politically, militarily and financially — in Ukraine and in this conflict.

• It is up to the UK and other NATO countries to decide where to spend their own money — whether on these military toys or on social welfare <...> But to my mind, all of this [the idea to lift defence spending to 3 or 5% of GDP] is an excessive effort <...> We do not represent any threat to Britain at all — neither at sea, nor in the air, nor on land. It is all an invention to distract attention from domestic issues.

Watch the interview on our YouTube channel

🎙 Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s answer to a media question regarding the designation of the British Council as an undesirable organisation in the Russian Federation (June 5, 2025)

❓ Question: The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation has designated the activities of the international organisation British Council as undesirable in our country. How would you comment on this development? What, in your view, led to this decision?

💬 Maria Zakharova: As is known, the British Council has operated in Russia since the early 1990s, establishing its central representative office in Moscow in 1992. In the years that followed, the Council aggressively expanded its presence by setting up numerous regional branches, all without proper legal formalisation. Despite this expansion, the legal status of the organisation remained undefined within our nation. The requisite regulatory framework for the British Council’s operations in Russia – which should have encompassed its status, the procedure for opening branches and the conditions governing their work – was intended to be established through a separate bilateral agreement on cultural and information centres. However, the efforts to draft such a document were thwarted by London.

In response to the unfriendly anti-Russian measures taken by the British side in July 2007 concerning the so-called Alexander Litvinenko case, and in light of growing evidence of the Council’s destabilising influence on Russian soil, a decision was made to close all regional branches of the British Council in our country as of January 2008.

The sole remaining British Council office continued to operate in Moscow until March 2018. However, as part of retaliatory measures against London’s hostile actions in the so-called Skripal case, its operations were also terminated that month.

❗️ Following the start of the special military operation, the British Council aligned itself with the unprecedentedly hostile anti-Russian measures of the UK government, joining broader Western efforts to discredit the policies of our country’s leadership and undermine Russian influence globally, particularly within the CIS region. The Council employed elements of “soft power” extensively, alongside various grant programmes, systematically gathering information on the situation in Russia’s new territories, conditions along the line of contact, and other potentially sensitive data.

Although, as previously noted, the Russian branch of the British Council was forcibly shut down, the parent organisation persisted in its subversive activities from other states’ positions, drawing our compatriots into its projects. Moreover, Russian competent authorities have obtained evidence confirming that the British Council has been utilised by British intelligence services in covert operations aimed at undermining the sovereignty of independent states and in clandestine destabilising activities.

Thus, designating the British Council as an undesirable organisation in its entirety was, in essence, a matter of common sense and timing.

Until last year, this step was hindered by a legal restriction in Russian legislation, which barred foreign state-founded entities (the British Council being established by the UK government) from being declared undesirable. This loophole has now been rectified.

☝️ In light of the aforementioned circumstances, we would like to caution our partners in Russia-friendly states against fostering ties or flirting with the British. Providing favourable conditions for organisations such as the British Council – permitting them access to youth and the implementation of ostensibly harmless cultural and educational projects – poses the risk of losing control over critical social and political processes. The positions of influence gained through such activities are subsequently exploited by London to interfere in the internal affairs of other states, directly threatening their sovereignty and territorial integrity.