🎙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.

🇷🇺🇵🇸 On January 23, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the State of Palestine Riyadh al-Maliki met in New York on the sidelines of the UNSC meetings.

During the talks, the Ministers discussed in detail issues linked to the unprecedented escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, primarily in the Gaza Strip.

They emphasized the importance of stopping the bloodshed and resuming the Middle East Peace Process as soon as possible under the universally recognised foundation of international law. This includes the creation of the State of Palestine within the 1967 borders with its capital in East Jerusalem, a state that can live in peace and security with Israel.

The Ministers also reviewed current bilateral issues. They stated their common desire to develop the political dialogue and strengthen traditionally friendly Russian-Palestinian ties.

#RussiaPalestine

🇷🇺🇨🇭 On January 23, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had a conversation with Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis on the sidelines of the UN Security Council open debate on the situation in the Palestinian territories.

❗️ The Russian Minister offered a principled assessment of Switzerland’s continued drift away from the principles of neutrality and its reckless support for the Kiev regime, emphasising that Russia takes such actions and unfriendly policy into consideration when planning its approach to the Swiss track.

A number of practical issues were considered in the context of Switzerland’s non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council in 2023-24.

#RussiaSwitzerland

🇷🇺🇯🇴 On January 23, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Ayman Safadi, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on the sidelines of the UN Security Council open debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, in New York.

During the meeting, the Ministers had a detailed exchange of views on key issues in the Middle East with an emphasis on the continuing escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

They emphasised the importance of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and settling the situation through political and diplomatic channels based on UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions. The Ministers confirmed the closeness of Russia’s and Jordan’s approaches to the settlement of crises situations in the Middle East, which negatively affect regional stability and security, along the lines of international law.

🤝 The Ministers also discussed ways to further promote traditionally friendly relations between Russia and Jordan and confirmed the mutual desire to deepen the political dialogue between Moscow and Amman and expand mutually beneficial trade, economic and humanitarian cooperation.

#RussiaJordan

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine

📍 New York, January 22, 2024

Key talking points:

💬 The vast majority of unbiased experts clearly see that the West's continuing support for the Kiev regime is the key factor that is preventing a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine crisis. Support is provided despite its obvious agony and inability to fulfil the goal of inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Russia that was dictated to it by its higher ups, or, as they started saying recently, of at least degrading my country.

• Despite the complete failure of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the battlefield, the Western patrons of the Kiev regime continue to push it, like maniacs, to continue this meaningless military confrontation.

☝️ We were forced to start the military operation against a criminal regime that went too far, emboldened by impunity, and was unwilling, despite our numerous efforts over many years, to say no to the war against its own citizens in southern and southeastern Ukraine and its policy of total discrimination against Russian-speaking Ukrainians, who are still the majority in that country.

• It is surely time for Europeans – I am addressing sane Europeans – to wake up and understand that with the help of Vladimir Zelensky’s regime, the US is not only waging a war against Russia, but also pursuing the strategic objective of sharply weakening Europe as an economic rival.

• Let me remind you that we have never renounced peaceful methods and have always been ready for negotiations.

❗️ The majority of people in Ukraine are beginning to realise who their real enemy is and who has been misleading them for years by demonising Russia, spreading lies about it, and “cancelling” our shared history.

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