#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

💬 Zelensky said that Kiev was hostage to the election process in the US.

So... were there no elections in the United States before 2024? Or is that the absent Ukrainian presidential elections have been moved to the US?

I get it. Zelensky wants to believe he’s one of a kind and everything revolves around him, but this is not the case. He is just a line in a long list of victims of US “elections,” or, to be precise, the American system. He is one of those who were 100 percent sure the United States was their ally.

South Vietnamese got it back in the 1960s.

There was a girl once upon a time, who was South Vietnam’s greatest beauty, Tran Le Xuan. She was popularly called Madame Nhu because she was married to Ngo Dinh Nhu, the younger brother and chief advisor of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem.

Ngo Dinh Nhu and Ngo Dinh Diem, the two South Vietnamese leaders, were supported by the Americans.

Even at the height of the Vietnam War, a bloody and ugly child of the French colonial system, Washington promised Ngo Dinh Nhu and Ngo Dinh Diem its full assistance. The Americans were working hard to ensure the tragic split into the South Vietnam and North Vietnam seeking to benefit from a war in the former French colonies.

Can’t Zelensky see parallels?

The US was so delicate with South Vietnamese leaders that US Vice President Lyndon Johnson visited Saigon in 1961. Later, he, then the US President, would send hundreds of thousands of Americans to die in Vietnam. During his visit, Johnson called Diem the “Churchill of Asia.” In much the same way, the US has promoted an ambitious drug addict crowning him “the leader of a Free Ukraine”.

So, what happened to the Washington allies, Ngo Dinh Nhu and Ngo Dinh Diem? They were killed. General Duong Van Minh, considered one of the most loyal military commanders, led a coup on November 1, 1963 in which South Vietnam’s top brass were arrested and shot on the putschists’ orders.

It was only by chance that Ngo Dinh Nhu’s wife, Tran Le Xuan, wasn’t killed, because she was abroad. It was then that Madame Nhu uttered the much-remembered phrase: "Those who have the United States as an ally need have no enemies". And that phrase turned out to be prophetic. In 1975, it turned out that the Americans knew of the impending coup. They could have warned their allies, saved the South Vietnamese president and his team, but just as the French did not prevent the genocide in Rwanda, the Americans "found it inexpedient" to stop the military putsch. Some sources claim that the degree of involvement of the Americans was even greater in that they inspired the coup and used the military to remove the president.

But let’s return to the American elections. Here are just a few quotations from comments, statements and interviews by the Russian Foreign Ministry leadership on this subject.

Sergey Lavrov: “This is not the first time that serious international issues that concern many members of the world community are being held hostage to US electoral cycles. However, this is a short-sighted approach.” (September 21, 2018)

Sergey Lavrov: “It is sad when these endless election cycles are starting to make virtually everything else a hostage to the domestic US political struggle. Elections take place every two years, and it is necessary to do something during them, so that the enemy will feel defeated.” (December 22, 2019)

Sergey Lavrov: “When the issue concerns a country that boasts the most powerful military and economy, and is the most influential country in the world, which holds political elections every two years, it very often occurs that the most important international issues become hostage to electoral motives of the existing US authorities, which want to ensure that their every move in the international arena scores big for their party candidates.” (December 30, 2015)

We warned them. It’s just that Mr Nhu refused to realise this or was simply unable to. Reread the first sentence of the post: now it started dawning on him.

7 апреля 2024 года Генеральный консул Российской Федерации в Эдинбурге Д.И.Москаленко почтил память захороненных на кладбище Крейгтон в г.Глазго членов экипажа броненосца "Петр Великий", проходившего в 1881 г. модернизацию в Шотландии, - матроса первой статьи Ф.Лихачева, корабельного священника иеромонаха Сергия и кочегара первой статьи Я.Григорьева. Информация о захоронении была недавно обнаружена благодаря изысканиям участников онлайн-проекта "Русские мемориалы", направленного на поиск и картографирование мемориалов российским и советским воинам за рубежом.

🇷🇺 State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom:

The Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant has faced an unprecedented series of drone attacks posing a direct threat to the plant’s safety.

The Rosatom State Corporation urges the leadership of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the European Union countries to promptly address the escalating situation at the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.

On April 7, 2024, the Ukrainian Armed Forces initiated an unprecedented series of attacks on the Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant.

At 11.38 am, a drone struck the vicinity of the canteen, injuring three people.

Thirty minutes later, another drone targeted the cargo port area. Subsequently, a strike at the sixth power unit of the power plant impacted its dome.

No critical damage or casualties occurred; the radiation levels at the plant and its surroundings remain unchanged and do not surpass natural background levels.

Prior to this incident, the Ukrainian Armed Forces conducted an assault on the plant’s premises on April 5. Incursions by Ukrainian Armed Forces drones were detected in the vicinity of the cargo port and the nitrogen-oxygen station.

The Rosatom State Corporation strongly condemns the unprecedented assault on the nuclear power plant facilities and its infrastructure. It urges the leadership of the IAEA, specifically Director General Rafael Grossi, and the leaders of the EU nations to promptly address the immediate threat to the safety of the Zaporozhskaya NPP. Furthermore, it calls for a categorical condemnation of the escalation of tensions surrounding the plant.

On April 7, 2024, Consul General of the Russian Federation in Edinburgh Denis Moskalenko honored the memory of Russian Navy sailors Fedor Likhachev and Yakov Grigoriev as well as Naval chaplain Sergiy buried in the Craigton cemetery in Glasgow. They were crew members of the battleship "Peter the Great" which underwent modernization in Scotland in 1881. Information about the burial was recently discovered thanks to the research of the Russian Memorials online project, aimed at finding and mapping burial places of Russian and Soviet soldiers abroad.

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview on the occasion of Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko’s birthday (Moscow, April 7, 2024)

❓ Question: What is Valentina Matvienko like? If you were to describe her, which qualities would you highlight?

💬 Sergey Lavrov: Valentina Matvienko is a prominent public figure. She has come a long way through various levels of power in the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation.

<...>

I am pleased to express hope that Ms Matvienko is also using her extensive diplomatic experience in her work. Before joining the Government led by Prime Minister Primakov, she served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Malta and Greece. She showed herself as a tough negotiator who, at the same time, understands the need to find a balance of interests. We do not impose our interests on the rest of the world. Others have taken this niche, but this time will go away soon.

With this kind of experience under the belt, in addition to addressing important tasks related to developing the state and improving living standards in the country, Ms Matvienko pays much attention to foreign policy issues.

Parliamentary diplomacy is making strides. The International Parliamentary Conference, Russia - Latin America, was held in the autumn of 2023. There are parliamentary dimensions to Russia-Africa cooperation, as well as #BRICS, #SCO, #CIS, and #CSTO. There remains much to be done.

☝️ Our parliamentarians are effectively exploring this area and contributing to the common efforts to fulfil the foreign policy goals set by President Vladimir Putin, which were updated on March 31, 2023 in the wake of the latest international developments and included in the new edition of Russia’s Foreign Policy Concept.

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⚡️ Comment by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on US statements regarding the space agenda

💬 On April 5, US Assistant Secretary of Defence for Space Policy John Plumb addressed the Defense Writers Group on the Russian-Chinese draft Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space, the Threat or Use of Force against Outer Space Objects (PPWT). It will be recalled that Russia and China submitted the draft treaty to the Conference on Disarmament in February 2008. Mr Plumb dismissed this initiative as a mere “political ploy,” claiming that adherence to the deal would not be verifiable.

☝️ The US is an ardent opponent of the Russian initiatives on the prevention of an arms race in space (PARS). Its strong opposition to the above Russian-Chinese draft treaty has long been an integral part of US foreign policy. In this context, Mr Plumb’s statements are hardly surprising.

Generally, comments on PARS by US representatives, as well as Washington’s ongoing activities at the UN Security Council with regard to nuclear weapons in space, are elements of its long-standing policy to subvert multilateral efforts to maintain international peace and strengthen global security through upgrading the existing and developing new legally binding arms control instruments. Instead, the US has been promoting a set of norms of “responsible” behaviour within the framework of their concept of a “rules-based world order,” which is untenable both in technical and international legal terms.

🇷🇺 The Russian Federation is prepared for an equitable dialogue with all states, aimed at keeping outer space free of weapons of any type as one of the conditions for ensuring international peace and security. As is to be regretted, far from all countries are committed to a responsible discussion on this matter.

🎙 Russian Ambassador Andrei Kelin's interview to Nick Ferrari for LBC (April 4, 2024)

🔹Ukrainian conflict
🔹Russia-NATO relations
🔹75th Anniversary of NATO
🔹Presidential elections in Russia
🔹Crocus City Hall
🔹Middle East Settlement

📺Watch in full

💬Excerpts from the interview:

▪︎Ukraine has become a sort of a battering ram against Russia. The Ukrainian conflict itself concerns only two countries. It's extreme exaggeration to state that it caused pre-war situation in Europe. Russia does not have an intention to wage a war against the EU or NATO member states.

▪︎We understand that we are countering the forces of NATO in Ukraine. Supplying it with armaments only prolongs the conflict and makes the situation more complicated for Ukrainians. This is not the solution but the way to destroy Ukraine.

▪︎We wish the conflict will end tomorrow, but this is not realistic - Ukraine is not able and not prepared for the negotiations.

▪︎NATO has no idea about the future of Ukraine. They could only speak about how to arm it. Now they are preparing to establish a fund which will accumulate $100bn in order to supply weapons to Ukraine and this confirms our understanding that the Alliance has become absolutely adversarial to us.

#Russia #Ukraine #Nato #CrocusCityHall #MiddleEastSettlement

⚡️ Foreign Ministry Statement in connection with Ukraine’s attacks on Zaporozhskaya NPP

On April 7, Ukraine launched mass strikes at the Zaporozhskaya NPP (ZNPP).

Using UAVs, the Ukrainian forces launched a series of attacks on the ZNPP critical infrastructure facilities and its grounds. Power Generation Unit No. 6, the ZNPP training centre and the cafeteria, as well as the cargo port grounds, came under attack. Three ZNPP employees were wounded. ZNPP guards repelled the Ukrainian attack on Power Generation Unit No. 5.

❗️Having perpetrated these criminal actions, Ukraine, with the support of the US and its Western satellites, has, in fact, made it clear that it had embarked on a path of nuclear terror.

At the request of the IAEA Director General, Russia agreed to have IAEA Secretariat experts stationed at the plant. They have been present on the premises on a rotating basis since September 1, 2022. The only rationale for their presence at ZNPP was our expectation that the presence of IAEA Secretariat experts would stop Ukraine from attacking the plant, or the IAEA officials would, at least, publicly identify the Kiev regime as the source of attacks on the ZNPP.

☝️We expect the IAEA Director General to provide a public and exhaustively truthful response. <...>

The blame for the attacks on the ZNPP and their potential consequences also lies fully with the leadership of the countries that supply the Kiev regime with weapons and intelligence, provide it with funds, train Ukrainian soldiers and provide information support for Ukrainian crimes.

🇷🇺 Russia is doing everything necessary to ensure the safety of the ZNPP in accordance with national legislation and international legal obligations.

We will identify and prosecute those who are responsible for launching the attacks on the Russian nuclear facilities regardless of where these individuals may be located, even if, after we achieve the goals of the special military operation, they manage to flee the territory controlled by the Kiev regime.

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🇷🇺🇺🇳 Russian Mission to the UN in New York:

🎙 Remarks to the press by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia with regard to Ukraine's attacks on the Zaporozhskaya NPP (April 8, 2024)

Key talking points:

💬 In the last three days, the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out a number of attacks against the Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). <...> On 7 April, even more grave incidents occurred.

At 11:38 local time, a kamikaze drone hit the area of the canteen on the territory of the ZNPP. As a result, 3 persons were injured – one of them heavily – and a truck unloading the food was damaged. <...> Precisely half an hour later – at 12:08 local time – a strike of combat drone was detected in the area of the ZNPP cargo port. And almost three hours later, at 15:05, the Armed Forced of Ukraine directly hit with a drone a nuclear installation – the dome of the power unit No. 6.

Approximately at 15:30 local time, three IAEA experts, accompanied by the ZNPP employees, visited the sites that had been attacked around the plant. They inspected the places hit with the drones, documented the damage and the remains of munitions and delivery vehicles.

❗️ It is not about some accidental strikes. It is about deliberate and massive shelling of the largest NPP in Europe – for the first time since the previous attack against the ZNPP within its perimeter carried out by Ukrainian forces on 20 November 2022.

The events that occurred this weekend demonstrate that the Ukrainian forces just neglect the considerations of common sense, as well as health and security of their people and the people of other states. Even a possibility of a nuclear catastrophe is not a “no-go” sign for them.

We urge the international community to condemn these irresponsible and gravely dangerous actions of the Kiev regime. Its Western sponsors <...> should bear responsibility for the reckless actions by Ukrainian political and military authorities aimed at compromising nuclear safety and security at the global scale

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🎙 FM Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel (April 8, 2024)

Key talking points:

• The armed forces of Ukraine, using unmanned aerial vehicles, carried out a series of strikes both against the critical infrastructure of the Zaporozhskaya NPP and its grounds.

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• The US, Britain and their satellites are behind this. Individually and collectively, they are providing the Kiev regime with the drones and shells that these drones are carrying, the money which is used to produce all of that, political support and motivation, and - most importantly - the information cover.

• The international community remains in the dark about the fact that in the centre of the “enlightened” Europe, which refers to itself as a “garden,” there are indeed genuine parasites <...> who are posing a threat to the entire planet because they are sponsoring the Kiev regime’s nuclear terrorism.

***

☝️ We expect the IAEA Director General <...> to provide public, exhaustive, and truthful information. <…> It should be a full-fledged, full-length, and exhaustive report by the head of a structural UN unit that deals specifically with this area covering everything that the Kiev regime has done during this entire period.

• The responsibility for everything the Kiev regime is doing lies with its sponsors. <...> The people from Bankovaya Street will also be held accountable, but we know perfectly well who is behind all of that.

***

• The world must wake up. <...> We will send letters and relevant information through our Permanent Mission to the UN in Vienna and our Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, and use other avenues as well. We will hold ad hoc meetings. We will do this consistently on a daily basis.

❗️ Now is the time for the international community to start discussing really important things. <...> This is what the international community should be doing, not just Russia alone, which has been responsibly and systematically informing its partners using every available channel all along.

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🇷🇺🇨🇳 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks during talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China Wang Yi (Beijing, April 9, 2024)

💬 We see that thanks to the efforts of our Leaders, #RussiaChina relations relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction have reached, without any exaggeration, an unprecedented level. With President Vladimir Putin’s re-election, the continuity of the line for their comprehensive strengthening has received additional guarantees.

We noticed the high assessment that you personally gave to ties between Russia and China at a news conference in March of this year. We fully share this assessment.

Our strategic partnership is founded upon the principles of respectful, equitable, and trust-based dialogue, along with mutual support on issues related to the core interests of both countries.

As repeatedly stated by our Leaders, our cooperation has outmatched the military-political alliance of the Cold War era and is not aimed against any third country. The proximity and, in most cases, convergence of Russia and China’s foreign policy approaches to solving the key problems of the modern age are laying the foundation for enhancing strategic coordination on the global scale. Cooperation in international affairs enables us to address common tasks more efficiently both at home and abroad.

🤝 As you said, Mr Minister, we are currently focused on shaping a more just multipolar international order and on promoting inclusive and constructive cooperation formats, such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Also, we are working to consolidate the nations of the Global South to ensure greater fairness and equality in global affairs.

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🇷🇺 The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation:

🎙 Comment by Investigative Committee Spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko

⚡️ A criminal case on financing terrorism was opened following an audit initiated by a petition filed by State Duma deputies.

The Main Investigative Department of the Russian Investigative Committee conducted an audit initiated by a group of the State Duma deputies and other individuals regarding the financing of terrorist activities by top US and NATO officials. Based on its findings, a criminal case was opened under Part 4, Article 205.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (financing of terrorism).

It was established that during the past several years, the funds transferred via commercial companies, in particular, the Ukraine-based Burisma Holdings oil and gas company, were spent on organising terrorist attacks in the Russian Federation and beyond with a view to assassinating prominent political and public figures, and causing economic damage.

In collaboration with other special services and financial intelligence, the investigators are checking sources of revenue and the movement of funds in the amount of several million dollars, as well as the involvement of Western government officials and members of public and commercial Western companies in these transactions.

❗️ In addition, using investigative and operational methods, they are trying to identify ties of direct perpetrators of the terrorist attacks with their foreign curators, organisers and sponsors.

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions during a joint news conference with PRC Foreign Minister Wang Yi following talks

📍 Beijing, April 9, 2024

💬 Yesterday and today, we held detailed and specific talks on a broad range of issues of interest to both sides.

• We focused on the schedule of top-level contacts, because the leaders’ diplomacy is, without any exaggeration, the central element of #RussiaChina comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction.

• We also discussed foreign ministry contacts. We have just signed in your presence yet another plan of consultations between our foreign ministries for 2024.

☝️ The issues we are addressing in the economy, trade, investment, and innovative technology are directly related to the effort to establish a fair multipolar world order free from diktat, hegemony, and neo-colonial and colonial practices, which are being used to the utmost extent by the United States and the rest of the collective West that has bowed without question to Washington’s will.

• China and Russia will continue to defend the need to rectify this situation in international economic relations and to be committed to democratising these relations and returning to the principles that were proclaimed a while ago and consist in the requirement to respect the market processes, fair competition, inviolability of property, presumption of innocence, and much more,

• Focused on aligning our strategies on the global stage. This coordination relies on largely overlapping interests and approaches to key international challenges.

🇷🇺🇨🇳 The talks took place in an atmosphere of friendship, traditional for Russian-Chinese relations, and once again demonstrated the commonality of our countries' views on major global developments and our desire to strengthen bilateral ties in the interest of peace and stability in the region and on the entire planet.

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🇷🇺🇨🇳 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks during a meeting with President of China Xi Jinping

📍 Beijing, April 9, 2024

💬 Sergey Lavrov: Thank you for taking the time to receive our delegation. This is yet another confirmation of how much personal attention you pay to the development of cooperation with the Russian Federation.

It is my pleasure and honour to pass best regards from President of Russia Vladimir Putin. He highly appreciated your greetings on the outcome of the presidential election in March.

<...>

President Vladimir Putin’s re-election guarantees the succession in our relations and our commitment to further progress across all areas.

🤝 Notably, it is thanks to the leaders’ diplomacy that Russia-China links have demonstrated stability and ability to adapt to any, even most challenging, conditions. Our bilateral relations are rooted in mutual support when it comes to the matters concerning the fundamental interests of the two countries.

<...>

As the People’s Republic of China is marking its 75th anniversary, we would like to express our highest praise and admiration at the success achieved under your leadership over the years and mainly over the past decade. We are sincerely delighted at these achievements as they belong to our friends.

<...>

In 1949, the Soviet Union was the first state to recognise the new China. We have become allies since then. These 75 years have shown the importance, for us and the entire world, of mutual trust, neighbourliness, friendship, equality and mutually beneficial partnership-something that, as you and President Vladimir Putin stressed, outperforms the blocs dating back to the Cold War era and does not target any third party.

I hope we will properly celebrate the 75th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations. We are ready to work on new strategic objectives set by our leaders.

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