🎙 Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s response to a media question

❓ What would be your comment regarding the statement released by the Government of Germany on its intention to take a stand against the Republic of South Africa which has instituted proceedings at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of perpetrating genocide against the Arab population in Gaza Strip?

💬 We were not surprised by the German Government’s decision to oppose the Republic of South Africa which has filed a case with the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of subjecting people in Gaza to genocide. This move was predicated on the unfettered support Berlin has always lent to Israel while dismissing any possible consequences. Germany has been asserting its unwavering commitment to this policy for quite a long time as one of the main unspoken tenets of the so-called rules-based order as defined by Washington.

By acting this way, German political elites seem to have caused Israel more harm than good. In the corresponding Government statement, Berlin used language which reads: “in view of Germany’s history and the crime against humanity of the Shoah” – thereby positioning itself as an expert in committing mass atrocities and exterminating people.

It seems that Germany has once again forgotten that under UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/60/7 and several other international instruments, the Holocaust is defined as the persecution and mass extermination of people representing various ethnic and social groups by the Nazis. There is also the OSCE’s Berlin Declaration setting forth the need to promote the importance of respecting all ethnic and religious groups without any distinction.

There have been many historical precedents of criminals perpetrating serious crimes but then mending their ways and using their knowledge about their unlawful practices to prevent similar wrongdoing from happening again. However, this always required effective regret and repentance and an unconditional recognition of one’s guilt without making even the slightest attempt to justify one’s crimes, let alone repeat them <...>

❗️ Just like 80 years ago, Berlin has once again opted for dividing people on ethnic grounds, albeit on a new, more sophisticated level.

Let me give you several examples.

Berlin has persistently refused to pay compensation to people of non-Jewish background who lived in Leningrad during the siege. It believes that Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Finno-Ugric people, Armenians, Georgians, Moldovans and many others are not ennoscriptd to receive money from the German Government <...>

Germany has surpassed other countries in the European Union in zealously defending the Kiev regime which has made the glorification of Nazi accomplices a key domestic and foreign policy tenet <...>

Berlin persists in its refusal to recognise Nazi crimes against our people as genocide. Russian investigative bodies and courts have compiled a wide body of evidence exposing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide by the Third Reich troops across various regions of our country.

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☝️ We believe that these and other similar and multiple examples constitute a sufficient body of evidence for Germany to officially recognise as genocide the crimes committed by the third Reich against our country.

All this leads to the conclusion that in the context of the ongoing proceedings at the International Court of Justice, Berlin decided to single out the Holocaust issue by setting it apart from all other aspects of its guilty historical acts against humanity. Moreover, it refuses to view it in a holistic manner. Instead, Berlin adjusts its perspective as it deems fit to suit its momentary considerations.

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Sunday’s missile strike against Donetsk, claiming dozens of innocent lives, tears up the Western narrative that seeks to whitewash the Zelensky regime’s crimes as having been somehow caused by the launch of Russia’s Special Military Operation.

❗No, terrorist attacks against Donbass have been an inherent part of Kiev’s brutal “playbook” since 2014, and the West is complicit.

Now the liberation of Avdeevka, from which the rocket strike appears to have originated, and pushing back the neo-Nazi forces away from Russian borders is the only path to peace and security for our countrymen.

Watch the exclusive report from The Islander's Steve Sweeney: Donetsk Marketplace Tragedy.

❗️ The neo-Nazi regime in Kiev, supported by the United States and its satellites, has committed yet another brutal terrorist act against the civilian population of Russia.

On the morning of January 21, armed units of Bandera’s followers [Stephan Bandera - a Hitlerite crony & WWII war criminal, the idol of the Ukranian neo-Nazis & nationalists aka the banderovites] deliberately targeted a market and shops in Tekstilshchik, a neighbourhood in the Kirovsky District of Donetsk. A total of six artillery rounds were fired at the busiest areas in town causing a large number of casualties. According to reports, at least 27 people were killed and 25 were injured.

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It was established that the shelling was coming from Avdeyevka, which is still controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and that the types of weapons supplied by the West were used. This is further confirmation of the Western countries’ direct involvement in the conflict, implicating them in the criminal acts committed by the Zelensky regime.

Russia strongly condemns this treacherous attack on civilians. The West’s unrestrained desire to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia using their Ukrainian puppets to do the fighting, thoughtlessly supporting them without any limits, is pushing the Kiev regime to increasingly reckless steps, including terrorist attacks, massive violations of international humanitarian law and war crimes.

☝️ Russia calls on all responsible governments and relevant international agencies to strongly condemn this brutal act of terrorism. Their silence would mean tacit approval of the murder of civilians and encourage Ukrainian neo-Nazis to commit even more terrible atrocities.

The terrorist attacks by the Kiev regime clearly demonstrate that it has no political will for peace and the settlement of the conflict by diplomatic means. No threats to security or acts of terrorism must be coming from the territory of Ukraine.

📹 © RIA NOVOSTI

🎙Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s reply to a media question on the investigation into the sabotage of the Nord Streams

❓Question: The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency decided that Sweden is not obliged to include in its national quota the 5.8 million tonnes of harmful substances that were released into the air due to the act of sabotage at the Nord Stream gas pipelines. What do you think about this?

💬 Maria Zakharova: This decision shows that Stockholm is trying to avoid paying large fines for exceeding EU-established standards. <...> Thus, they concluded that Sweden is not responsible for the harmful emissions into the environment due to the bombing of the gas pipelines that run between Russia and Germany.

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❗️Far from facilitating a meticulous and unbiased investigation into the deliberate sabotage of the operation of a large international energy facility, the Swedish authorities are not willing to share out its environmental consequences.

The Danish authorities are not interested in a serious investigation into the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines either. Copenhagen and Stockholm continue to reject any interaction with Russia on this issue. In December 2023, the Prosecutor-General’s Office of Denmark refused a request from its Russian counterpart to provide legal assistance in investigating the act of sabotage on the Nord Stream-1 and Nord Stream-2 gas pipelines.

☝️ Despite the artificial obstacles, we will continue insisting on a transparent and depoliticised investigation into these acts with the participation of competent Russian agencies and with Gazprom.

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💬Andrei Kelin to Andrew Marr on LBC News

The main idea of the US administration right now is to include Ukraine into the EU structures and NATO to put this burden into Europe onto European shoulders.<…>

The US should finally concentrate on its own policy and allow other states live in a multipolar world.

Finally, we have lots of powers - India, China, South Africa, Brazil, Russia. All of us would like to keep up independent policy.

Read/watch the full interview

🇷🇺🇱🇧 On January 22, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants of the Republic of Lebanon Abdallah Bou Habib in New York.

In the course of the discussion, Sergey Lavrov underscored the imperative of avoiding an escalation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and involvement of other states in the region, in particular, Lebanon. In this context, he emphasised the importance of collective efforts to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and address urgent humanitarian problems. The Minister confirmed Russia’s consistent support for the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Lebanon, and emphasised that Lebanon must find consensus solutions to the issues on the national agenda as soon as possible, without external interference.

The Ministers also discussed topical issues in the traditionally friendly Russian-Lebanese relations. They confirmed the mutual commitment of Moscow and Beirut to deepen political dialogue and expand mutually beneficial cooperation in trade, the economy, humanitarian sphere, and other areas.

#RussiaLebanon

🇷🇺🇮🇷 On January 22, in New York, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on the sidelines of the ministerial open debates at the UN Security Council on the situation in the Palestinian territories.

The Ministers had a comprehensive exchange of opinions on the current agenda in the Middle East and expressed their support for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and securing conditions for humanitarian assistance to the residents of the enclave.

❗️ They expressed general concern about the tensions in the Red Sea, which escalated abruptly as a result of the irresponsible use of force by the US and several associated countries against Yemen.

The Ministers discussed a broad range of issues on the bilateral agenda, with a focus on implementing the agreements reached at the highest level, including the talks between the presidents of Russia and Iran in Moscow on December 7, 2023. They stressed their mutual readiness to continue building up mutually beneficial practical cooperation across all priority areas.

🤝 The Parties once again confirmed their adherence to the fundamental principles of Russia-Iran relations and the UN Charter, including non-interference in domestic affairs, mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in its entirety.

#RussiaIran

🇷🇺🇹🇷 On January 22, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Foreign Minister of the Republic of Türkiye Hakan Fidan in New York.

The Ministers held an in-depth discussion of topical issues related to bilateral trade and economic cooperation. They emphasised the importance of continuing to work together to maintain and further expand mutually beneficial ties. They touched upon the progress of key Russian-Turkish projects in the energy sector and talked about the schedule of upcoming bilateral contacts.

☝️ The Ministers exchanged views on a number of international issues and agreed on the need to coordinate the two countries’ actions in order to find mutually acceptable solutions to acute regional problems, primarily with regard to the situation in the Gaza Strip, Syria, the Middle East as a whole, as well as in the Black Sea region and the South Caucasus.

#RussiaTürkiye

📹FM Sergey Lavrov’s address on Russia’s CIS chairmanship in 2024 (January 23, 2024)

💬 From January 1, 2024, Russia took up the chairmanship of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

• The Chairmanship Concept, adopted by the President of the Russia, outlines our priorities for further cooperation within the CIS. <...>

• We plan to pay special attention to deepening economic interaction, above all, in food and energy security, as well as in industrial cooperation, transport and logistics, the environment, innovation, and digital transformation.

• At the same time, our guiding principle will be the interconnectivity of the economies of the CIS states and the Eurasian Economic Union <...>.

• Naturally, against the backdrop of global instability and increased tensions along the CIS external borders, issues of ensuring security in all dimensions will be on the agenda. <...>

• Our attention will also focus on the task of improving foreign policy coordination. The development of joint political statements on relevant international and regional issues has become a good tradition. <...>

• Plans call for an expansion of cultural and humanitarian ties as a key area of work within the CIS. <...>

• We value the solidarity of the CIS countries in the fight against the glorification of Nazism and the falsification of history. We will continue with our joint efforts to defend the truth about our common past. <...>

• We are going to pay a great deal of attention to improving the image of the CIS on the global stage and developing its contacts with friendly organisations <...>

☝️The CIS continues to make a major contribution to the strengthening of stability in the Eurasian space and to promoting wide regional cooperation.

🇷🇺 Russia intends to conduct active work to further improve its authority as a representative and efficient dialogue and cooperation platform. We will continue to develop multilateral cooperation with our partners based on the principles of equality, mutual respect and neighbourliness.

#CIS2024

🇷🇺🇩🇿 Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Algeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Community Abroad Ahmed Attaf hold talks on the sidelines of the UNSC meetings.

📍 New York, January 23

#RussiaAfrica #RussiaAlgeria

🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with CBS TV channel (New York, January 22, 2024)

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💬 Anybody who is sincerely interested in justice, including justice being established in the relations between Russia and Ukraine, which would involve, of course, stopping the Western policy of using Ukraine as an instrument of war against Russia, we would be ready to listen.

• We are fighting for our national legitimate interests, for the interests of the security of our country. It’s just on our borders, not as Iraq was announced a threat to the United States, it's 10,000 miles from American shores. <...> In our case, it was not across the ocean, it was just on our borders that NATO military infrastructure was built, aimed at the Russian Federation.

• Whenever you talk to the United States and they mention democracy, you tell them, okay, democracy as you understand is that you dictate to each and every country what kind of political system they must have inside. What about democracy in international relations? They're not interested at all.

• Ukrainian Army with American, French, British, Czech Republic weapons, in the past few weeks continued to deliberately target civilian aims, destroyed dozens of civilian sites, and killed dozens of civilians, including kids and women. <...> I am sure that objective media outlets like CBS would not just leave this unnoticed.

• Unless we insist on the creation of the Palestinian state on the basis of the United Nations decisions, this anger which has been present in Palestinian lives for decades and generation after generation, would reproduce more generations who would feel that they have been abandoned and they have been cheated upon.

• We certainly have to raise our voice not to allow pushing out Palestinians from their land and of course not to allow this land to turn into unlivable space.

Trying (and fumbling) to explain the unexplainable - the presence of many French mercenaries in Ukrainian military - and testifying on the whole issue of mercenarism, French officials became completely confused, though Paris has a wealth of experience in this sphere. So, here's a recap of facts as regards mercenarism, the French legal system and real life practice. 👇

Mercenarism, specifically, the involvement of an individual in a military conflict on the side of a foreign state, of which one is not a national, in exchange for remuneration, is banned in France under Law No 2003-340 of April 14, 2003. Under Article 436-1 of the Criminal Code this crime is punishable by the imprisonment of up to 5 years and a fine of 75,000 euros. French legislation stipulates even tougher penalties for establishing and/or managing an organisation that recruits, hires, equips and trains mercenaries: a prison sentence of up to 7 years and a fine of 100,000 euros.

However, if we take a closer look at the above-mentioned Article 436-1, we will see that French legislators have provided some mitigating circumstances for “holidaymakers” or “volunteers.”

First, according to French legislation, those engaged in combat operations (even on paper only) are not considered mercenaries unless they receive remuneration that exceeds specific pay grades in the armed forces of the country on whose side they fight. Second, Ukrainians leaving France for Ukraine in order to take part in the conflict, including those discharged from the Foreign Legion, are not listed as mercenaries, even if they have French citizenship because this status does not apply to citizens of a country that is party to an armed conflict.

Additionally, military support functions are often delegated to “expendable” fly-by-night private military companies recruiting lower rank military personnel on the spot. This scheme is also actively used in Ukraine. Quite often, mercenaries from among former Foreign Legion service personnel, citizens of the relevant countries, act as instructors. The fact that numerous former legionaries are listed in specific HR databases makes it easier to set up and use “expendable” private military companies for accomplishing possible combat missions involving armed clashes.

Here are just a few petty cunning ploys used by France that since the colonial era has become adept at fomenting conflicts in various parts of the world.

🇷🇺🇩🇿 On January 23, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Minister of Foreign Affairs and the National Community Abroad of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria Ahmed Attaf met in New York on the sidelines of the UNSC meetings.

The Ministers had a trust-based exchange of views on urgent international and regional issues with an emphasis on the unprecedented escalation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

They focused on coordinating efforts in the UN Security Council and General Assembly with a view to reaching a ceasefire and ensuring free humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip.

🤝 The Ministers also discussed priorities in further strengthening the bilateral strategic partnership in the spirit of the agreements reached during Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s state visit to Russia on June 13-17, 2023.

#RussiaAfrica #RussiaAlgeria

⚡️ Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s comment on US and UK illegal actions in the Red Sea

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💬 The actions taken by the United States, United Kingdom and the so-called coalition in the Red Sea are a crude violation of international law.

Speaking at the January 12 session of the UN Security Council, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya described in detail what these violations were all about.

On January 22, the UN Security Council disseminated the official document of the Russian Federation with comments on the US and UK’s failed attempts to justify armed strikes at Yemen’s territory.

❗️ Under the UN Charter, the use of force on the territory of a sovereign state (Yemen in this case) may be recognised as legal only if it is done (in the exercise of this right of self-defence) in response to the armed aggression against a sovereign state or if the use of force was sanctioned by the UN Security Council.

There is no legal basis to support the US or UK’s declared right to self-defence in the Red Sea. The goals (protection against attacks on civilian vessels and the need to ensure freedom of navigation) <...> do not give them the right to self-defence within the definition of Article 51 of the UN Charter.

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☝️ There are no UN Security Council resolutions giving anyone a mandate to use force in connection with the events in the Red Sea.

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These US and UK actions violate Article 2 of the UN Charter, which obliges UN members to refrain from the use of force against the territorial inviolability of any state.

<...>

The modern-day Anglo-Saxon nations have long developed a habit of violating the UN Charter and the fundamental standards of international law, including the principle of the non-use of force. This is their way of life.