🛡⚔️ On 23 February Russia marks Defender of the Fatherland Day.
Its origins lie in 1918, when the fledgling Red Army was mobilised amid the upheaval of the First World War and the Civil War that followed. In the Soviet era the date became known as Red Army Day, and later Soviet Army and Navy Day. Since the 1990s it has borne its present name, broadening its meaning to encompass all who protect the nation.
The occasion is steeped in history. Russia's martial tradition stretches back centuries: from the medieval victories of Alexander Nevsky on Lake Peipus and Dmitry Donskoy at Kulikovo Field, to the triumph at Poltava under Peter the Great and the stand at Borodino against Napoleon led by Mikhail Kutuzov, and ultimately to victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945.
Today, 23 February carries both official and popular meanings. It remains a formal tribute to the armed forces and to veterans past and present, while in everyday life it has also evolved into an informal "men's day", when fathers, brothers and colleagues receive congratulations.
Yet at its core the holiday continues to express a simple idea: gratitude to those prepared, in whatever era, to stand in defence of the Fatherland.
Its origins lie in 1918, when the fledgling Red Army was mobilised amid the upheaval of the First World War and the Civil War that followed. In the Soviet era the date became known as Red Army Day, and later Soviet Army and Navy Day. Since the 1990s it has borne its present name, broadening its meaning to encompass all who protect the nation.
The occasion is steeped in history. Russia's martial tradition stretches back centuries: from the medieval victories of Alexander Nevsky on Lake Peipus and Dmitry Donskoy at Kulikovo Field, to the triumph at Poltava under Peter the Great and the stand at Borodino against Napoleon led by Mikhail Kutuzov, and ultimately to victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945.
Today, 23 February carries both official and popular meanings. It remains a formal tribute to the armed forces and to veterans past and present, while in everyday life it has also evolved into an informal "men's day", when fathers, brothers and colleagues receive congratulations.
Yet at its core the holiday continues to express a simple idea: gratitude to those prepared, in whatever era, to stand in defence of the Fatherland.
Defender of the Fatherland Day has become a symbol of the people's sincere love for our defenders, of pride in the Army and Navy, in those who have devoted their lives to serving the Fatherland, who reliably stand guard over its sovereignty and security, who are loyal to their military oath and conscientiously fulfil their professional duty.
— President Vladimir Putin
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Russian winter carnival at its finest
❤️🔥 This weekend marked the close of Maslenitsa in Russia – a folk holiday that bids farewell to winter. Alongside piles of blini and good cheer comes the ritual tradition: the burning of a towering effigy, a gesture intended to banish the cold and beckon the spring.
At Nikola-Lenivets, a village and a picturesque art park in the Kaluga Region, artists annually construct a vast wooden installation only to torch it before a gathered crowd. The spectacle carries a distinctive grandeur: part pagan pageant, part open-air gallery, part Russian Burning Man.
This year's theme turns to the legend of Danko, the hero created by Russian/Soviet writer Maxim Gorky. In the tale, he tears his heart from his chest, turning its inner glow into a living flame to guide his people through a dark forest.
Take a glimpse at how the festival unfolded and see the heart of the celebration burn bright.
📸 Nikola-Lenivets
❤️🔥 This weekend marked the close of Maslenitsa in Russia – a folk holiday that bids farewell to winter. Alongside piles of blini and good cheer comes the ritual tradition: the burning of a towering effigy, a gesture intended to banish the cold and beckon the spring.
At Nikola-Lenivets, a village and a picturesque art park in the Kaluga Region, artists annually construct a vast wooden installation only to torch it before a gathered crowd. The spectacle carries a distinctive grandeur: part pagan pageant, part open-air gallery, part Russian Burning Man.
This year's theme turns to the legend of Danko, the hero created by Russian/Soviet writer Maxim Gorky. In the tale, he tears his heart from his chest, turning its inner glow into a living flame to guide his people through a dark forest.
Take a glimpse at how the festival unfolded and see the heart of the celebration burn bright.
📸 Nikola-Lenivets
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🎙 Russian MFA Spox Maria Zakharova's comment on the fourth anniversary of the launch of the special military operation
💬 On 24 February 2022, four years ago, the Russian Armed Forces launched the special military operation, acting pursuant to a decision by President Vladimir Putin. It aims to eliminate threats emanating from territories controlled by the Kiev regime [...]
This forced step came after eight long years, during which our country sought to facilitate a political and diplomatic solution to the conflict in Donbass, which arose as a result of an armed coup d'état orchestrated, financed and organised by the West in February 2014 [...]
Russia reached out to Washington and Brussels to warn against encouraging Kiev's aspirations to join NATO, against flooding Ukraine with weapons, and against fostering its militaristic, Nazi and Russophobic sentiments.
Russia's proposals for legally binding security guarantees, including a commitment not to expand NATO eastwards, were ignored.
Among other things, the special military operation has exposed the West's plans to impose a so-called rules-based international order on the international community, the sole purpose of which is to ensure and maintain Western hegemony. The legitimate security interests of Russia and its allies have prevented this from happening. Today, many, including in the West, recognise the flawed and unrealistic nature of this geopolitical project [...]
All objectives of the special military operation will be achieved.
❗️ A lasting, just and sustainable peace can only be achieved by eliminating the root causes of the conflict. The current efforts of our diplomacy are precisely directed towards this task.
Read in full
💬 On 24 February 2022, four years ago, the Russian Armed Forces launched the special military operation, acting pursuant to a decision by President Vladimir Putin. It aims to eliminate threats emanating from territories controlled by the Kiev regime [...]
This forced step came after eight long years, during which our country sought to facilitate a political and diplomatic solution to the conflict in Donbass, which arose as a result of an armed coup d'état orchestrated, financed and organised by the West in February 2014 [...]
Russia reached out to Washington and Brussels to warn against encouraging Kiev's aspirations to join NATO, against flooding Ukraine with weapons, and against fostering its militaristic, Nazi and Russophobic sentiments.
Russia's proposals for legally binding security guarantees, including a commitment not to expand NATO eastwards, were ignored.
Among other things, the special military operation has exposed the West's plans to impose a so-called rules-based international order on the international community, the sole purpose of which is to ensure and maintain Western hegemony. The legitimate security interests of Russia and its allies have prevented this from happening. Today, many, including in the West, recognise the flawed and unrealistic nature of this geopolitical project [...]
All objectives of the special military operation will be achieved.
❗️ A lasting, just and sustainable peace can only be achieved by eliminating the root causes of the conflict. The current efforts of our diplomacy are precisely directed towards this task.
Read in full
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❌ К четвёртой годовщине начала специальной военной операции Лондон объявил об очередном «самом масштабном» пакете санкций против России.
Удар направлен против трубопроводной инфраструктуры, атомной отрасли, СПГ-сектора и нефтетрейдеров. Отмечаем, что нападки на российские нефтегазовые компании ведут к дестабилизации мировых энергетических рынков, и в конечном счёте бьют по местному бизнесу и кошелькам рядовых британцев. А тот факт, что под рестрикции попадают и многие структуры третьих стран, вредит энергобезопасности государств Глобального Юга.
Такая попытка торгово-экономического диктата не может привести к какому бы то ни было позитивному результату, в том числе и потому, что сама Британия уже давно не экономическая сверхдержава и не «мастерская мира». Мир вполне может обойтись и без услуг Лондона.
Между тем все обещания об экономическом коллапсе России, повторяемые вот уже четыре года подряд, всё очевиднее расходятся с реальностью. Российская экономика адаптировалась, пока шаткая санкционная башня из слоновой кости год от года становилась всё более громоздкой и бессмысленной.
Британский истеблишмент инвестировал слишком много политического капитала в киевский режим, а также бюджетных средств – в свой военно-промышленный комплекс. И теперь не может остановиться.
Соединённое Королевство по-прежнему не имеет намерений признавать свою роль и ответственность за первопричины украинского кризиса и формирование реалий, обусловивших начало СВО. Подробный анализ этих обстоятельств изложен в сегодняшнем комментарии МИД России.
Удар направлен против трубопроводной инфраструктуры, атомной отрасли, СПГ-сектора и нефтетрейдеров. Отмечаем, что нападки на российские нефтегазовые компании ведут к дестабилизации мировых энергетических рынков, и в конечном счёте бьют по местному бизнесу и кошелькам рядовых британцев. А тот факт, что под рестрикции попадают и многие структуры третьих стран, вредит энергобезопасности государств Глобального Юга.
Такая попытка торгово-экономического диктата не может привести к какому бы то ни было позитивному результату, в том числе и потому, что сама Британия уже давно не экономическая сверхдержава и не «мастерская мира». Мир вполне может обойтись и без услуг Лондона.
Между тем все обещания об экономическом коллапсе России, повторяемые вот уже четыре года подряд, всё очевиднее расходятся с реальностью. Российская экономика адаптировалась, пока шаткая санкционная башня из слоновой кости год от года становилась всё более громоздкой и бессмысленной.
Британский истеблишмент инвестировал слишком много политического капитала в киевский режим, а также бюджетных средств – в свой военно-промышленный комплекс. И теперь не может остановиться.
Соединённое Королевство по-прежнему не имеет намерений признавать свою роль и ответственность за первопричины украинского кризиса и формирование реалий, обусловивших начало СВО. Подробный анализ этих обстоятельств изложен в сегодняшнем комментарии МИД России.
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Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
⚡️ Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova's statement on the reports of the UK and France’s intention to assist Ukraine in acquiring nuclear weapons (February 24, 2026)
🔉Audio statement by Maria Zakharova (in Russian)
💬 Maria Zakharova: On February 24, the press bureau of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation (aka the SVR) issued an urgent statement reporting that, having realized the absence of any chance of defeating Russia at the hands of the Kiev regime “on the battlefield,” the British and French authorities have deemed it possible to assist Ukraine in acquiring a “powerful argument” so that Kiev could claim more favourable terms for ending hostilities.
According to the SVR, this concerns at a minimum a so-called “dirty bomb”, while the option of providing a full-fledged nuclear weapon, including means of delivery, is also being seriously considered.
London and Paris are already actively working on resolving the relevant issues, including the covert transfer to Ukraine of European components, equipment and technologies. Efforts are also focused on ensuring that the emergence of such weapons in Kiev would appear to be the result of Ukraine’s own development.
❗️ For all those involved in such reckless actions – and for the international community as a whole – it should be obvious that even raising the issue in such terms constitutes a categorically unacceptable and acutely escalatory step, fraught with the risk of undermining the international legal regime of nuclear non-proliferation.
Ukraine, which acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as a non-nuclear-weapon state, undertook an obligation not to acquire nuclear weapons. The UK and France, as nuclear-weapon states under the Treaty, undertook a commitment not to transfer nuclear weapons to anyone, and in no way to assist, encourage or induce any non-nuclear-weapon state to manufacture or acquire them.
Reports of these plans fall into an already “primed soil”. There is ample evidence of Kiev’s nuclear ambitions. One should recall Zelensky’s statement at the 2022 Munich Security Conference regarding the possibility of revising Ukraine’s non-nuclear status, as well as his subsequent equally provocative remarks on this issue.
There have also been numerous speculations by Ukrainian deputies and officials of various ranks about the “return” of nuclear weapons to Ukraine – allegedly imprudently relinquished upon joining the NPT – or about the deployment of US nuclear weapons on Ukrainian territory.
👉 Russia’s position on this matter is unwavering and unequivocal: we have repeatedly stated that any attempts to revise Ukraine’s non-nuclear status, as well as any effort by the deeply hostile Kiev regime to acquire nuclear weapons, are unacceptable.
☝️ Any steps aimed at assisting Kiev in obtaining a military nuclear capability will be regarded by us as an attempt to create a direct and critical threat to the security of our country and will inevitably be met with a firm response.
In the context of anti-Russian statements and actions by the leadership of a number of European states, which continue to fuel the Western-provoked confrontation linked to the Ukrainian crisis, we once again warn of the risks of a direct military clash between nuclear powers – and of its potentially gravest consequences.
London and Paris are pursuing these dangerous plans virtually on the eve of the NPT Review Conference scheduled for April 2026. We are convinced that the States Parties must give their most serious attention to this egregious issue, as it directly concerns the functioning of the Treaty regime and the preservation of its integrity.
We have promptly initiated active engagement on this issue at relevant multilateral platforms to urge their participants and the leadership of the respective international organizations to restrain the British and French authorities, who have been carried away by anti-Russian zeal.
❗️ The consequences of this reckless course threaten not only Russia’s security.
🔉Audio statement by Maria Zakharova (in Russian)
💬 Maria Zakharova: On February 24, the press bureau of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation (aka the SVR) issued an urgent statement reporting that, having realized the absence of any chance of defeating Russia at the hands of the Kiev regime “on the battlefield,” the British and French authorities have deemed it possible to assist Ukraine in acquiring a “powerful argument” so that Kiev could claim more favourable terms for ending hostilities.
According to the SVR, this concerns at a minimum a so-called “dirty bomb”, while the option of providing a full-fledged nuclear weapon, including means of delivery, is also being seriously considered.
London and Paris are already actively working on resolving the relevant issues, including the covert transfer to Ukraine of European components, equipment and technologies. Efforts are also focused on ensuring that the emergence of such weapons in Kiev would appear to be the result of Ukraine’s own development.
❗️ For all those involved in such reckless actions – and for the international community as a whole – it should be obvious that even raising the issue in such terms constitutes a categorically unacceptable and acutely escalatory step, fraught with the risk of undermining the international legal regime of nuclear non-proliferation.
Ukraine, which acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as a non-nuclear-weapon state, undertook an obligation not to acquire nuclear weapons. The UK and France, as nuclear-weapon states under the Treaty, undertook a commitment not to transfer nuclear weapons to anyone, and in no way to assist, encourage or induce any non-nuclear-weapon state to manufacture or acquire them.
Reports of these plans fall into an already “primed soil”. There is ample evidence of Kiev’s nuclear ambitions. One should recall Zelensky’s statement at the 2022 Munich Security Conference regarding the possibility of revising Ukraine’s non-nuclear status, as well as his subsequent equally provocative remarks on this issue.
There have also been numerous speculations by Ukrainian deputies and officials of various ranks about the “return” of nuclear weapons to Ukraine – allegedly imprudently relinquished upon joining the NPT – or about the deployment of US nuclear weapons on Ukrainian territory.
👉 Russia’s position on this matter is unwavering and unequivocal: we have repeatedly stated that any attempts to revise Ukraine’s non-nuclear status, as well as any effort by the deeply hostile Kiev regime to acquire nuclear weapons, are unacceptable.
☝️ Any steps aimed at assisting Kiev in obtaining a military nuclear capability will be regarded by us as an attempt to create a direct and critical threat to the security of our country and will inevitably be met with a firm response.
In the context of anti-Russian statements and actions by the leadership of a number of European states, which continue to fuel the Western-provoked confrontation linked to the Ukrainian crisis, we once again warn of the risks of a direct military clash between nuclear powers – and of its potentially gravest consequences.
London and Paris are pursuing these dangerous plans virtually on the eve of the NPT Review Conference scheduled for April 2026. We are convinced that the States Parties must give their most serious attention to this egregious issue, as it directly concerns the functioning of the Treaty regime and the preservation of its integrity.
We have promptly initiated active engagement on this issue at relevant multilateral platforms to urge their participants and the leadership of the respective international organizations to restrain the British and French authorities, who have been carried away by anti-Russian zeal.
❗️ The consequences of this reckless course threaten not only Russia’s security.
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