🎙 Briefing by MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (Moscow, March 6, 2024)

🔹 The World Youth Festival in Sochi
🔹 FM Sergey Lavrov’s schedule
🔹 Ukrainian crisis
🔹 Election 2024
🔹 Russia’s contribution to the UN World Food Programme Fund and global food security effort
🔹 Situation in Moldova
🔹 Further evidence of British military crimes in Afghanistan
🔹 Crisis in EU agriculture

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#Election2024

Russian overseas missions continue taking steps to strengthen security measures at polling stations. We have been receiving an ever-increasing number of calls intended to disrupt the voting procedure.

For example, the Estonian authorities have unequivocally warned [the country’s residents] about the “consequences” of participating in this election. Have you ever seen this kind of democracy?

#Ukraine

On March 4, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Frenchman Thierry Breton, reminded the Kiev regime that military aid is not entirely gratuitous. In other words, they are telling the Kiev regime that everything the West has provided them with must be paid for eventually.

Do you think the EU, NATO, the US or UK will rebuild housing for Ukrainian civilians? Rebuild infrastructure? Maybe open schools for free? They will charge money upfront for it, on top of the debt that Ukraine and the Ukrainian people owe them now.

#FoodSecurity

Despite the rampant sanctions harassment by the Western countries, Russia is continuing to steadily build up agricultural production.

According to preliminary data, Russian agricultural exports reached about $44 billion last year. We export food to more than 160 countries, primarily the developing and poorest countries.

💬 Russia’s MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova:

The Estonian Foreign Ministry yet again "excels" (no really), blinded by their hatred of Russia.

This time they went so far as to post on X (ex-Twitter) a story regarding the what they call the 80th anniversary of the Soviet (referred to as “Russian”) air attack on the positions of the German occupying forces in Tallinn. The gist of the entire message is that the Russians were targeting residential areas and cultural sites, just as they allegedly do in Ukraine today.

It is well known and documented that the current Estonian authorities identify themselves with the German Nazis. But even Joseph Goebbels would envy their rabid Russophobia.

Taken out of context by the falsifiers, this event - the air attack on the Nazi-occupied and fortified city - was actually a part of the Soviet combat operations to liberate the Baltic region from the Nazis.

It must be understood that the Baltic region had strategic importance for Hitler as a source of food and a territorial link with Northern Europe. The Soviet air strikes primarily targeted the Gestapo and Abwehr headquarters, air defence systems, the naval arsenal, gunpowder storage depots, and signal centres. While the Kallas clan (in power in Estonia) and descendants of Estonian collaborationists may regard these Nazi locations as "sacred sites and cultural landmarks", for all the normal people they are legitimate military targets.

But there is more. They illustrated the post with a photo of the city landscape after the alleged Soviet air raids. But in fact, the photo was taken on August 28, 1941 during the Soviet Baltic Fleet’s retreat known as the Tallinn Breakthrough, while the destruction in Tallinn was caused by... the advancing Nazi forces. The operation (breakthrough) to evacuate the city involved 225 combat and auxiliary ships with 40,000 troops and civilians on board. The convoy came under relentless artillery fire and was attacked by German and Finnish torpedo boats and aircraft. The Nazis sank 62 ships carrying over 4,500 civilians, while the overall number of Soviet casualties exceeded 15,000.

For some reason, the Estonian authorities chose to forget all about this. Apparently, these were the wrong city residents and sailors.

As for their false laments for the current Kiev regime, the ideological affinity between Estonia’s ruling nationalist clique and the Kiev regime is no surprise to anyone. They share the goal of glorifying Shukhevych, Bandera, and the Estonian cutthroats from the Waffen-SS as "liberator heroes".

For more information on the liberation of Tallinn from the German occupation on September 22, 1944, see here and here. These websites contain numerous archive documents that describe, among other things, how the Germans treated the local population. It is worth mentioning that the bread ration assigned by the Germans in the last months of the occupation was 800 grammes per person per week. Meanwhile, Red Army units were welcomed warmly by locals and seen as liberators, despite three years of Nazi propaganda. Local inhabitants often risked their lives to help Soviet soldiers.

It should not be forgotten that the operation to liberate Estonia involved the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps of the Red Army. These Estonians were the true patriots of their homeland, unlike Estonians of today.

🇷🇺Уважаемые граждане России, проживающие в Великобритании!

Информируем Вас, что 17 марта 2024 г. в период с 08:00 до 20:00 в Посольстве России будет открыт избирательный участок №8061.

Читайте подробную информацию об организации выборов Президента Российской Федерации в Великобритании:

📌Адрес избирательного участка
📌Организация избирательного процесса
📌Ответы на часто задаваемые вопросы

Контактные данные Участковой избирательной комиссии в Лондоне:

📨e-mail: vybory2024@rusemb.org.uk
☎️телефон: +44 7464 000 848

☝️Часы работы телефонной связи: в будние дни (за исключением российских праздников) с 10:00 до 12:00 и с 14:00 до 17:00 по лондонскому времени.

#Выборы2024

💬Maria #Zakharova:

On March 11, 2014, the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of #Crimea and the #Sevastopol City Council adopted the Declaration of Independence of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol. It was the first step towards Crimea returning home.

❗The declaration was based on the provisions of the #UN Charter and other fundamental international documents, which stipulate the right of nations to self-determination.

☝️Crimea’s future is inseparably connected with #Russia. For us, the matter is closed absolutely and irrevocably.

➡️Learn more

🎙 From Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova's briefing (March 6, 2024)

❓ Question: Would you comment on the resignation of US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland? Is there any possibility that the United States will change its foreign policy concepts?

💬 Maria Zakharova: I did not assign her. But those who did made a big strategic mistake.

Over many years, she has not been engaged in diplomacy but interference in other countries’ internal affairs (above all Russia, Ukraine, Eastern and Western Europe), as well as in implementing and forming a destructive course, not only for other countries, but also for the US, because it led to a failure of American foreign policy.

The stakes were very high. Democrats (starting with Barack Obama) put everything at stake. They lost their bet. An absolute fiasco: raging Vladimir Zelensky, begging for at least something, the White House rejecting his requests; complete discord within NATO.

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She is probably not the only one or the main one, but she has become the face of everything that is happening around Ukraine. She personally came during the Maidan events and not only led not Ukrainian citizens, political figures and parties, but also lined up the Western allies of the US. However, after that she told them to go to hell in English. You know what she said about the EU. It was she who handed out those notorious “cookies” and asked the Russian delegation at the talks to correct what had been said because it was buns she had been handing out. Of course, this changes things 360 degrees.

❗️ Victoria Nuland became the face of the anti-Russia policy and the murder of Ukraine by the US. She will be historically associated with this. But I repeat: she is not alone.

💬Из интервью Посла России А.В.Келина ИА ТАСС:

Предложение мэра Лондона конфисковать имущество россиян - нелегитимно.

Последний санкционный пакет Великобритании характерен тем, что демонстрирует надуманность ограничительных мер.

▪︎Очевидно, что предложение мэра Лондона С.Хана противозаконно. Конфискация имущества возможна только по решению суда, на основе приговора за совершение соответствующих преступлений. Таких приговоров либо решений суда не только нет, но, судя по всему, и преступлений нет. Любые мотивировки, касающиеся санкций, носят надуманный, весьма расплывчатый характер и объявляются по решению министра иностранных дел Великобритании.

▪︎Сам по себе потенциал, который имелся у Великобритании в плане введения очередных санкционных ограничений, подходит к концу. Сейчас в основном они носят вторичный характер, то есть направлены на те предприятия, которые могут обойти уже введенные ранее рестрикции.

▪︎Британские санкции в отношении России лишь свели на нет двусторонние торговые отношения и не привели к заявленным целям - подрыву экономики, а также изменению внешнеполитического курса России.

▪︎Даже британские обозреватели признают, что санкции против нашей страны не работают.

➡️Читать полностью

🗓 On March 11, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Moscow with Staffan de Mistura, the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Western Sahara.

The Officials focused on the status of and prospects for a Western Sahara settlement.

They noted the stabilising influence of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

They exchanged views on the plans for re-launching the political process under Staffan de Mistura’s latest contacts with all interested parties.

☝️ The Russian Foreign Minister emphasised the importance of reaching a fair, long-term and mutually acceptable solution to the Western Sahara issue in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.

During the meeting, the participants also discussed some aspects of the developments in North Africa and the Middle East. They emphasised that UN activities continue to be needed as regards both peace and development.

🤝 On the same day, Staffan de Mistura held separate consultations with Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin.

⚡️ State Duma Statement to the Bundestag of the Federal Republic of Germany regarding the participation of the Federal Republic of Germany in the Kiev regime’s crimes against civilians and damage to civilian infrastructure on the territory of the Russian Federation

📃 The deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation consider it fundamentally important, timely and necessary to address German parliamentarians – members of the Bundestag of the Federal Republic of Germany – regarding the publication of information on the German military command’s discussion of the supply of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine and their use by Ukrainian armed formations to strike critical civilian infrastructure on the territory of Russia, including the Crimean bridge over the Kerch Strait.

The released audio recording makes it explicitly clear that the air force officers were assigned this task by one of the country’s top military and political leaders, probably Minister of Defense B. Pistorius. Thus, the course of encouraging the Kiev regime to expand the territory of the military conflict and to continue terrorizing civilians, enforced from Washington, finds support in Berlin as well.

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❗️ In accordance with the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany dated September 12, 1990 <...>, the deputies of the State Duma call on the Bundestag to prevent actions that draw Germany into an armed conflict on the side of the fascist-terrorist Ukrainian regime.

The State Duma is convinced that the successful long-term experience of the Soviet-German and Russian-German settlements, the common sense of the German people and the parliamentarians who express their will, will prevent the disastrous direct armed confrontation between Germany and Russia and bring closer the beginning of a mutually beneficial political dialog for the sake of peace and well-being in Europe.

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🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the celebration of Dmitry Shakhovskoy’s 90th birthday (Moscow, March 12, 2024)

Key talking points:

💬 Mr Shakhovskoy’s voice in the document he wrote, inviting all descendants of the Russian emigration to be his co-authors, was one of the first in the West to emphasise the importance of studying history and never betraying it. If you forget your roots, the same fate will befall you.

• Every signature [on this document] carries immense weight, considering that it represents generations of our compatriots, the tsarist empire, the nobility who were respected by the people and were true patriots.

• We are just helping the helmsman [President] together with you, in different areas, from different places and from different positions. But above all, we are helping Russia steer in the direction where our people want to go, where history is calling us.

⚡️ Foreign Ministry statement on the second anniversary of returning the Zaporozhye NPP to Russian jurisdiction

💬 In March 2022, the Russian Armed Forces took the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant under their protection during the special military operation. In late September 2022, the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, and the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions held referendums and joined the Russian Federation as new entities. On October 5, 2022, the President of the Russian Federation signed Executive Order No. 711 On Specific Legal Provisions Governing Nuclear Energy Use in the Zaporozhye Region, which cemented the Zaporozhye NPP’s status as a facility placed within Russia’s jurisdiction. This led to the establishment of the Zaporozhye NPP Operating Company to provide for the plant’s operation.

Immediately upon the plant’s reintegration into the Russian nuclear family, Kiev started threatening its safe and effective operation not only by staging relentless provocations against it and Energodar, its satellite city, but also by terrorising the plant’s staff and their families.

Given the station’s proximity to the line of contact, Russia invited experts from the IAEA Secretariat to the plant, and the first group arrived at the Zaporozhye NPP on September 1, 2022. Their core mission is to prevent security threats created by the Kiev regime.

Russia expresses its special gratitude to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi who, at our invitation, has visited Russia 12 times since March 2022, including four visits to the Zaporozhye NPP.

Russia makes every possible effort to improve the reliability of security at the plant and to reinforce its nuclear and physical safety as per the national law and its commitments under corresponding international legal instruments to which Russia is a party.

☝️On a special note, Russia emphasises that it views any resolutions and statements by officials and international organisations calling for the Zaporozhye NPP to be returned Ukraine, or placed under international control, as an infringement on Russia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

In the current context, we remain committed to improving the protection and safety of the Zaporozhye NPP and Energodar to prevent Kiev and its curators, i.e., the collective West, from compromising them.

🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at the meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund (Moscow, March 13, 2024)

💬 I would like to thank all the Fund’s staff members and senior executives for their contribution to developing public diplomacy in keeping with the single foreign policy line as approved by President Vladimir Putin.

☝️ Efforts in this dimension of diplomacy have never been as relevant as they are today.

• We can all see that the global balance of power is shifting in favour of the Global Majority. This is literally happening on our watch. New centres of growth are emerging across the Global South and East. These centres include both sovereign states and regional organisations.

• The West adopted an inadequate and hysterical position towards Russia in the spirit of colonial-era practices, primarily regarding the special military operation, but this only accelerated the emergence of a multipolar world.

👉 Among the harbingers of this phenomenon is the fact that many countries have been switching to their national currencies in mutual trade, considering that the collective West in its current agony may well use its illegal sanctions truncheon against any country at any given moment.

🌐 In the sphere of international affairs, we have been paying special attention to forging closer ties and cooperating with countries suffering from Western sanctions wars. This is quite a serious alliance of like-minded states, and I am certain that it will have an opportunity to weigh in on all these matters.

• Multilateral diplomacy is experiencing dramatic shifts. Regional organisations are growing in importance. Simultaneously, #BRICS, where Russia holds the presidency this year, is gaining in prestige and influence.

• Amid the absolute degradation of the OSCE it is ever important, at the regional level, to create a new, equal and indivisible security architecture in Eurasia.

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