🎙 FM Sergey Lavrov’s statement at the UN Security Council Ministerial Meeting on the Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question (New York, January 23, 2024)

Read in full

💬 Immediate measures must be taken to bring about a ceasefire and stop the suffering of people in Palestine not just for major political reasons but also in the name of universal human morality. Likewise, steps must be taken to prevent further destabilisation in the other parts of the Middle East.

The Security Council has been unable to formulate an appropriate response to this crucial challenge. As you know, the reason for this is the stance of the US, which is blocking all attempts and initiatives to halt the bloodshed in the occupied territories. <...> This obviously gives them carte blanche to continue with the collective punishment of the Palestinians.

<...>

• Every new round of Washington’s arrogant one-sided policy in the Middle East and separate shuttle negotiations with regional players, accompanied by financial promises, leads to an increasingly bloody escalation.

• Nearly 30,000 civilians have been killed, including an enormous number of women and children. <...> It is a human tragedy that has no end.

<...>

The following factors must be of paramount importance when we reach the stage of discussing the parameters of “the day after.”

First, the consolidated will of the Palestinian people themselves.

<...>

The second key factor is the inviolability of the two-state formula for a Palestinian-Israeli settlement and the imperative of its early implementation.

<...>

❗️ I would like to underscore a critical point. We have no right to allow the UN decisions to create a Palestinian state to be buried the same way as the 2015 Minsk Agreements, which were unanimously approved by the UN Security Council. France and Germany, which acted as guarantors, later admitted they never planned to implement them. Such criminal acts must not be allowed to happen again, this time against the Palestinian people.

⚡️ Russian Foreign Ministry Statement on the destruction of a Russian Il-76 military transport

💬 On the morning of January 24, the Kiev regime committed another terrorist act by downing a Russian Il-76 military transport plane near the village of Yablonovo in the Korochansky District, Belgorod Region. It was carrying 65 Ukrainian POWs for an agreed-upon exchange. All of them, as well as six crew members and three Russian officers on board the plane were killed.

❗️ The plane was hit by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile system from the village of Liptsy in the Kharkov Region.

This is yet another atrocity committed by Zelensky’s criminal regime. Immediately after the plane went down, they made a misanthropic statement about the victory of the “valiant Armed Forces of Ukraine.” However, the office on Bankovaya Street changed its rhetoric as soon as it became known that the plane was carrying Ukrainian servicemen to an exchange site. They then began denying their involvement in the crash.

☝️ Kiev was well aware of the planned exchange. It also knew how the POWs were to be moved and by what route. The attack against the plane was a deliberate act. This terrorist act clearly demonstrates the Kiev regime’s inability to negotiate.

This is not the first cruel murder of Ukrainian POWs by the Zelensky junta. On July 29, 2022, the Banderites fired a missile at the penal colony in Yelenovka (DPR) where militants from the Azov battalion had been held captive. Over 50 people were killed and more than 70 wounded.

‼️ We resolutely condemn the Kiev regime’s terrorist act in the Belgorod Region. All those involved, including the organisers and executors from the Ukrainian military and civilian officials will be identified and held responsibly under Russian law.

This action shows once again the criminal nature of the neo-Nazi dictatorship in Kiev. Its leaders are indifferent to human life. They treat people as “expendable material” and kill them on orders from their Western bosses with Western-supplied arms.

It is perfectly obvious that the Zelensky criminal regime, nurtured by the US and its NATO satellites, poses a substantial threat not only to Russia but also to Ukraine, its ordinary citizens and the rest of the world. Being in agony, this regime can commit the most heinous atrocities.

👉 We believe international organisations, national governments and the world public must denounce this terrorist act and other crimes committed by the Kiev regime. Silence can only mean support for the regime’s barbarous nature and terrorist actions.

❗️ On January 24, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with the permanent representatives of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) nations at the UN.

They exchanged views on the unprecedented escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Sergey Lavrov told the OIC delegates about the main results of his participation in the recent UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East and described in detail Russia’s view of the current turbulent problems in the region.

The meeting confirmed the similarities of the positions held by Russia and the Muslim world on the problems in the Middle East, including the conflict in the Gaza Strip. The participants emphasised the need to immediately declare a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians and settle the issue through political and diplomatic channels in accordance with UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, and also the Arab Peace Initiative and the Madrid Principles, including the two-state formula.

<...>

In the context of the humanitarian crisis on Palestinian lands and the high risk of the entire Middle East sinking into a bigger war, Sergey Lavrov emphasised the importance of consolidating the positions of the external players on Palestinian-Israeli problems. This would make it possible to stabilise the situation and create conditions for new negotiations.

In this context, it is vital to ensure Palestinian national unity under the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and prevent the administrative and geographical fragmentation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The participants noted the importance of creating an effective collective mediation mechanism with a leading role played by the Middle East countries.

The Russian initiative to hold consultations in Moscow with the region’s countries and the international players who are interested in an honest dialogue is designed to develop constructive multilateral cooperation on the Palestinian-Israeli issue.

🇷🇺🇹🇩 President Vladimir Putin met with transitional President of the Republic of Chad Mahamat Idriss Deby, who is in Russia on an official visit.

💬 Vladimir Putin: I am delighted to see you in Moscow, here at the Kremlin. This year, we mark the 60th Anniversary of our diplomatic relations. The ties between our countries have been growing all these past years, especially intensively in recent years. I would like to point out that contacts are ongoing between our foreign ministries and parliaments. <...>

We are also closely monitoring the situation in your country. And you know that we have been following with great concern the fight against terrorist forays in Chad, and what happened to your father. We grieve with you. I would like to extend my condolences to you once again.

Nevertheless, we are pleased that you have been able to hold a referendum on the Constitution. I am confident that general elections will be held in the near future, and will be well organised. We are happy that you have achieved stability in your country. We will do our best to facilitate this.

🤝 We have great opportunities to expand our bilateral ties. We are trying to provide support to your country at the UN, including humanitarian support, as you know. We intend to continue to do so.

🎓 Our humanitarian ties are also growing. We have doubled the quota for students from Chad to study in the Russian Federation with government grants, and we are ready to double it again in the next two years. As we have seen, interest [in Russian education] is growing among your young people. And we will be happy to cooperate in all these areas.

Read in full

#RussiaAfrica #RussiaChad

🇷🇺🇮🇷🇹🇷 Joint Statement by Representatives of Iran, Russia and Türkiye on Outcomes of the 21st International Meeting on Syria in the Astana Format (24-25 January 2024)

📃 The representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Türkiye as guarantor countries of the Astana Format:

• Examined the latest international and regional developments and emphasized the leading role of the Astana Process in promoting the lasting settlement of the Syrian crisis.

☝️ Acknowledged the negative impact of the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic.

• Reaffirmed their unwavering commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic.

🇸🇾🇹🇷 Emphasized the importance of continuation of efforts for the restoration of relations between Türkiye and Syria.

• Expressed their determination to continue working together to combat terrorism in all its forms

<...>

❗️ Condemned all Israeli military attacks in Syria.

• Expressed their conviction that there could be no military solution in Syria and reaffirmed their commitment to advance a viable and lasting Syrian-led and Syrian-owned, UN-facilitated political process.

• Emphasized the importance of continuing and increasing humanitarian assistance to Syria in line with international law and UN General Assembly Resolution 46/182.

<...>

🤝 Welcomed the participation of the delegations of Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon as observers of the Astana Format as well as representatives of the UN and the ICRC.

🇷🇺 Noted the agreement to hold the next Summit in the Russian Federation as enshrined in the Joint Statement of the Tripartite Summit of 19 July 2022.

• Agreed to convene the 22nd International Meeting on Syria in the second half of 2024 in Astana.

Read in full

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions following a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine and an open debate on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question,” (New York, January 24, 2024)

Key talking points:

• Terrorist attack by the Kiev regime on Il-76 plane
• Middle East
• Prospects of the Palestinian-Israeli settlement
• Ukraine
• Double standards of Western media
• Russia-US relations
• Nuclear security
• Korean Peninsula

💬 Sergey Lavrov: I am compelled to begin by stating yet another fact of the Kiev regime’s use of terrorist methods.

A terrorist attack was perpetrated on January 24, at 11:15 am Moscow time, resulting in the downing of a Russian Il-76 cargo plane in the Belgorod Region. The aircraft was en route from the Moscow Region to Belgorod, carrying 65 prisoners from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Three Russian officers and a crew of six people accompanied them. All of them died. The Ukrainian prisoners of war were being taken to the Belgorod Region for a prisoner exchange agreed between Moscow and Kiev.

Instead, Ukraine targeted this aircraft from the Kharkov Region using surface-to-air missiles, causing a fatal strike. <...>

#US #MiddleEast

As for the present crisis, everyone seems to have a similar understanding of the consequences of US policy in the region. None of the reckless attempts Washington has engaged in over the last few decades to defend its “core security interests” ten thousand miles across the Atlantic led to a situation where people’s lives improved in a country that the US attacked.

#US #Santions

They should not assume that just because they are strong, because they have the dollar, they can use it to “strangle” others: disconnect them from the SWIFT system or deny them access to the IMF and World Bank loans at whim. The US actually invented the system and made the world accept it.

Read in full

❗О формировании избирательного участка Nº 8061

В соответствии с Федеральным законом «О выборах Президента Российской Федерации» от 10 января 2003 г. Nº 19-Ф3 и Постановлением Совета Федерации Федерального Собрания Российской Федерации Nº 678-СФ от 7 декабря 2023 г. для проведения 17 марта 2024 г. выборов Президента Российской Федерации Приказом по Посольству Российской Федерации в Соединенном Королевстве Великобритании и Северной Ирландии в Лондоне образован избирательный участок Nº 8061.

Избирательный участок охватывает всю территорию Великобритании и будет располагаться по адресу: 6/7 Kensington Palace Gardens, London W8 4QP.

👉Информация о времени и порядке проведения голосования будет сообщена дополнительно.

🔴 #LIVE: The UN Security Council holds a meeting to discuss the crash of the Il-76 plane.

🔗 https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1b/k1bfmfqsfl

✍️ President Vladimir Putin sent greetings to participants and guests of the event held to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau (Oswiecim) concentration camp by the Red Army.

✉️ In January 1945, Red Army soldiers liberated the Oswiecim concentration camp. The world was aghast at the horrific new evidence of the Holocaust atrocities and the tragic fate of millions of Jews, Roma, Russians and members of other ethnic groups, who had been killed for their culture, language and origins.

We will never forget the enormous pain and suffering caused by the Second World War, the irreparable price our forefathers paid for the freedom and independence of our Fatherland and for victory over Nazim and its hideous ideology, and the legal, moral and ethical verdict passed on those who were found guilty of heinous crimes against humanity.

Remembering these lessons and safeguarding the memory of the tragedy of war is a position of principle for our state, our society and the multinational people of Russia as a whole.

❗️ This memory is sacred to us.

This is why we place so much value on an active civil stance and the dedicated efforts of all those who are working to protect historical truth, establish the names of soldiers, learn what became of innocent civilians, the biographies of concentration camp inmates and the victims of Nazi butchers.

A large contribution to these considerable and much needed efforts is being made by the Russian Jewish community and, of course, by your traditional memorial events held on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

🤝 I hope that this meeting will contribute to the further consolidation of our society around the values of humanism, consensus and civil peace.

🇷🇺🇦🇪📞 On January 26, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke by telephone with Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The Ministers discussed current issues of further strengthening versatile bilateral cooperation. They confirmed Moscow and Abu Dhabi’s mutual desire to build up cooperation in all areas, including humanitarian areas.

The Ministers also exchanged views on key international and regional issues with an emphasis on the developments in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the Red Sea zone.

A sinister acknowledgement that Ukrainians themselves have no stake in their own future, which is now being methodically undermined by Western military planners via a captured and thoroughly corrupt Kiev clique.

More importantly, is Grant Schapps really prepared to take the whole “world” along on a fanatical campaign to wage a “forever proxy-war” against Russia?

So many questions 🤔

🕯 The Siege of Leningrad was one of the darkest moments in human history.

According to recent statistics, at least 1,093,842 people died during the blockade. In 2022, the Saint Petersburg City Court recognised the Siege of Leningrad as an act of genocide against the Soviet people committed by the Nazi Germany and its accomplices.

Against all odds the people faced the hardships with unmatched bravery and unwavering resolve.

One of them — Tanya Savicheva who lost all her family during the Siege, writing a diary about her terrible ordeal. Her image and pages from the diary became one the most tragic symbols of those difficult times.

As thousands of people died of starvation during the Nazi blockade, baker Daniel Kutinen worked around the clock to feed the citizens of Leningrad and died of starvation at his workplace.

In May 1942, the local Dynamo and the Leningrad Metal Plant workers played a football match in the Nazi-besieged Leningrad, which became a symbol of the resilience of the city defenders and showed that nothing can break the will of the Soviet people.

In August 1942, Soviet composer Dmitry Shostakovich’s legendary masterpiece Symphony №7 premiered in Leningrad during the most dire times of the Nazi siege, strengthening the spirit of the people of Leningrad.

✊ The city lived on and did not succumb to the pressure, bombings and starvation.

The Siege was lifted on January 27, 1944, during the Leningrad-Novgorod Offensive of the Red Army.

#Victory79 #NoStatuteOfLimitation

🕯 January 27 is the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, established on November 1, 2005 by the decision of the United Nations General Assembly, which Russia co-authored.

On this day, commemorative events are held around the world to highlight the importance of combating neoNazism, xenophobia, racism and other forms of intolerance.

The date itself was not chosen at random - on January 27, 1945, during the Vistula-Oder Operation, the Soviet soldiers liberated the Auschwitz (Oswiecim) concentration camp. According to the available data, at least 1.3 million people passed through the camp during its existence, and some 1.1 million of them were... exterminated.

❗️ The slogan on the camp’s gate, “Work Sets You Free” (in German: “Arbeit macht frei”) underlines the utter inhumanity of the Nazi criminals and their boundless cynicism.

On that day the Red Army soldiers saved more than 7,000 prisoners left in the camp.

During World War II, ~20 million people, including approximately 7.4 million Soviet citizens, were murdered as a result of the aggression in the territories occupied by the Nazi Germany. Approximately 6 million Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis solely because of their ethnicity...

The UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/60/7 states: "The Holocaust, which resulted in the murder of one third of the Jewish people, along with countless members of other minorities, will forever be a warning to all people of the dangers of hatred, bigotry, racism and prejudice".

#WeRemember

🗓 On January 27, 1944, the 872-day siege of Leningrad was finally lifted, marking the end of one of the most tragic episodes of the Great Patriotic War which claimed the lives of over a million Leningraders.
 
The blockade began on September 8, 1941, when Nazi troops isolated the city from the rest of the country by land. From the north, it was cut off from the main forces by Finnish troops allied with the Nazi Germany. In addition to the Finns, soldiers from Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands & Norway took part in the offensive, as well as volunteers from Austria, Latvia, Poland, France & Czechoslovakia.
 
Despite the cold, hunger & horrors of war, the Leningraders selflessly defended their city from total destruction during these 872 days and even in these dire circumstances continued producing goods & various machinery to supply the war effort against the Nazis. The incredible resilience and bravery of Leningrad residents shattered all the plans and ambitions of the Nazi invaders.
 
⚔️ A year after the breakthrough, Soviet Army managed to finally lift the siege of the city on January 27, 1944. After the success of the Iskra Operation, the situation in the city improved dramatically, but the threat remained. At the end of 1943, the Leningrad-Novgorod Strategic Offensive Operation was planned, during which Soviet soldiers liberated the Leningrad, Novgorod and part of the Kalinin (now Tver) regions, and pushed back the enemy to the borders of Estonia and Latvia.

🎖 The courage & heroism of Leningrad defenders were highly appreciated by the Motherland. Many units & formations were awarded the honourable noscript of “Guards”, orders & the honorary noscript of “Leningrad”. On the Leningrad, Volkhov & Karelian fronts, 486 people were awarded the noscript of Hero of the Soviet Union, including eight people who received it twice. 350,000+ servicemen on the Leningrad front alone received orders & medals.

#WeRemember and pay tribute to the heroes who stopped the Nazi plague that crippled Europe and threatened humankind.

🕯 President of Russia Vladimir Putin is taking part in the events to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi siege.

The President laid flowers at the Landmark Stone monument at the Nevsky Pyatachok military-historical complex. From the first days of the siege, the Red Army fighters held back the superior enemy forces in that area, a small three-kilometre stretch of the frontline south of Leningrad, preventing the Nazis and their allies from approaching the city.

The President visited the Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery, where he honoured the memory of the fallen Leningrad residents and defenders of the city by laying a wreath at the Motherland monument. About half a million people are buried in mass graves at the Piskarevskoye cemetery. The words of poet Olga Berggolts, ”No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten“ are carved on the memorial wall behind the Motherland monument.

Leningrad is the only city in world history with a population of several million people that was able to withstand almost 900 days of encirclement. The siege by Nazi Germany lasted 872 days from September 8, 1941, to January 27, 1944. The ring was broken on January 18, 1943, and on January 27, 1944, a ceremonial salute was fired to mark the end of the blockade.

By that time there were no more than 800,000 inhabitants left in the Northern Capital out of the three million who had lived in Leningrad and its suburbs before the siege.

#Victory79 #WeRemember

🎖Церемония возложение венков и цветов к Советскому военному мемориалу в Лондоне

В день 80-летия полного освобождения Ленинграда от фашистской блокады Посол России в Великобритании А.В.Келин, военный атташе М.Н.Еловик, дипломаты и российские соотечественники возложили венки и цветы к Советскому военному мемориалу в Лондоне.

Из обращения Посла А.В.Келина:

Полное освобождение Ленинграда от блокады - событие, которое по праву вошло в мировую историю.

Нацисты и их пособники пытались стереть Ленинград с лица земли и полностью истребить его население, уничтожая запасы продовольствия и блокируя пути снабжения. Эти планы провалились.

В сегодняшней напряженной политической обстановке в ряде западных столиц, в том числе в Лондоне, зазвучали призывы готовиться к войне с Россией в неопределенном будущем.

Опасно жить иллюзиями, необходимо учить и помнить уроки истории.

Никому и никогда не удавалось одержать над нами верх. Хороший пример этому – освобождение Ленинграда.

Мы знаем, что память об этом событии жива в сердцах многих англичан. Они хорошо помнят о решающем вкладе Советского Союза в победу над фашизмом, достигнутую в союзе с Великобританией. Принимая грамоты от нового британского посла в Москве, Президент России особо подчеркнул, что взаимодействие двух наших стран в те тяжелые военные годы «заложило основу современной системы международных отношений».

Памятуя о прошлом, нам надо думать о том, как выходить из конфронтации и выстраивать обновленную систему отношений, основанную на равенстве и взаимном уважении интересов безопасности.

В день 80-летия полного освобождения Ленинграда от блокады сотрудники Посольства также наградили почетными знаками ветеранов Великой Отечественной войны, проживающих в Великобритании.

Мемориальные акции провели и российские соотечественники в Манчестере, где в сентябре 2020 г. был установлен памятный камень в честь советских солдат и жителей блокадного Ленинграда.

#БлокадаЛенинграда #НиктоНеЗабыт #НичтоНеЗабыто #БезСрокаДавности

🗓 On January 27, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko took part in a ceremony for unveiling a memorial to the USSR civilians who fell victim of the Nazi genocide during the Great Patriotic War. The event is timed to the 80th Anniversary of breaking the Siege of Leningrad.

💬 President Putin: January 27 is one of the most important dates in our shared national history. On this day in 1944, Red Army soldiers completely lifted the Siege of Leningrad. A year later, in 1945, they liberated Auschwitz.

<...>

For eight decades now, our pain for the victims, for the shattered destinies, and for everyone who endured incredible ordeals has not subsided. Our compassion is passed on from generation to generation and has #NoStatuteOfLimitation, just like the crimes of Hitler’s fanatics and their accomplices, those who cold-bloodedly planned and cruelly carried out the genocide of the Soviet people.

🕯 The massacres of unarmed and defenceless elderly people, women, children, and disabled were deliberate, systemic punitive acts.

<...>

We are witnessing a disturbing trend where the outcomes of the Nuremberg trials, which unequivocally condemned Nazism, are being revised. Some countries not only rewrite history and exonerate the executioners: revanchists and neo-Nazis have embraced the Nazi ideology and methods.

• Tens of thousands of people in the Baltic states are labelled “subhuman,” stripped of basic rights and persecuted.

• The Kiev regime glorifies Hitler's followers and members of the SS and uses terror against dissenters. Barbaric shelling of peaceful cities and towns persists, and the killing of the elderly, women and children continues.

• Some European countries endorse Russophobia as a state policy.

❗️ We will do everything in our power to halt and eradicate Nazism.

The followers of Nazi executioners are doomed. Nothing can deter the desire of millions of people in Russia and across the planet for true freedom, justice, peace, and security.

#Victory79 #WeRemember

🗓 Сегодня в России и за рубежом отмечается 80-я годовщина полного освобождения Ленинграда от немецко-фашистской блокады. Это событие ознаменовало окончание одного из самых трагических и одновременно героических эпизодов Великой Отечественной войны.

Вспоминали о храбрости и самоотверженности ленинградцев, переживших голод и ужасы войны за эти 872 страшных дня:

👉 День полного освобождения Ленинграда от фашистской блокады;
👉 О судьбе ленинградцев в годы блокады из первых уст — Дневники детей-блокадников;
👉 День воинской славы России — Ленинград полностью освобождён от блокады;
👉 Историко-познавательный сайт «Ленинград выстоял и победил!»;
👉 Об участии Президента В.В.Путина в памятных мероприятиях.

🕯 Сегодня также Международный День памяти жертв Холокоста. 27 января 1945 года в ходе Висло-Одерской операции солдаты Красной армии освободили узников одного из самых страшных концлагерей – Аушвица (Освенцима).

В этот день во всём мире проходят памятные мероприятия, знаменующие актуальность борьбы с ксенофобией, расизмом и другими формами нетерпимости.

👉 Международный день памяти жертв Холокоста;
👉 Международный день памяти жертв Холокоста (из брифинга официального представителя МИД России М.В.Захаровой от 26 января 2024 года);
👉 Освобождение Красной армией узников Аушвица;
👉 Открытие В.В.Путиным и А.Г.Лукашенко мемориала мирным жителям СССР – жертвам нацистского геноцида в годы Великой Отечественной войны.

#МыПомним #БезСрокаДавности