⭐️ Every year, on May 9, we mark the triumph of the Soviet people over Nazism in the #GreatPatrioticWar and #WWII. Victory Parades, pinnacle event of the celebrations, are held across the country, with the main parade taking place in Moscow. The sacred memory brings our nation together when we pay tribute to all those who saved the world from the Nazis.

The solemn and spectacular event comprises thousands of Russian servicemen marching through the Red Square and hundreds of military vehicle units rumbling through Moscow.

On November 7, 1941, during the Great Patriotic War, a military parade of historical significance was held on the Red Square. In time of the enemy's full-scale invasion it had a tremendous impact on morale throughout the Soviet Union. Soldiers who participated in the march went to the battle front the very next day to defend the Motherland from Nazi Germany.

The very first Victory Parade took place on June 24, 1945, in which the Soviet soldiers threw the Nazi banners at the feet of the Mausoleum. The next three parades in Moscow took place on jubilee years — 1965, 1985 and 1990. Since 1995 the landmark event has been held annually (even in 2020 during the most dire times of the COVID-19 pandemic).

On May 9, 2023, we gathered once again on the Red Square to honour the veterans and all those who perished during the Great Patriotic War saving our country and liberating Europe from the Nazis. We will keep the Memory alive and carry it through the years.

#NoOneIsForgotten #NothingIsForgotten
#Victory78 #VDay78 #May9

🇸🇾 According to incoming information, on May 13 in New York, the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic announced its decision to allow UN humanitarian agencies to continue to use two border crossings on the border with Türkiye – Bab al-Salam and Al-Rai – for another three months, until August 13.

Moscow welcomes this sovereign resolution of the Syrian authorities, which is aimed at promoting international humanitarian assistance to all Syrians in need, without political bias but in compliance with the rules and principles of the international humanitarian law, which means in coordination and agreement with the country’s government.

☝️ It is noteworthy to recall other important steps taken by Damascus in connection with the earthquake: blanket approval of humanitarian missions in the country, including the immediate coordination of aid deliveries to the SAR and to all regions along domestic routes, as well as a fast-track procedure for issuing visas to foreign humanitarian workers.

At the same time, it cannot but be noted that, despite the Syrians’ massive and urgent needs for humanitarian assistance, which increased dramatically after the natural disaster, the process of providing such support continues to be subject to preconditions with open discrimination against the territories controlled by Damascus.

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❗️ This situation is yet another clear demonstration of the double standards of the Western countries that are in every possible way promoting a cross-border mechanism for delivering aid to the SAR bypassing Damascus (through the Bab al-Hawa checkpoint) under pseudo-humanitarian slogans. While claiming their alleged donor generosity, the US and its allies have been methodically stealing Syria’s natural resources and strangling it with illegal unilateral sanctions.

The Syrian government’s decision to prolong the operation of the two additional border crossings that operate without a special UN Security Council resolution shows that assistance to the Syrians can and should be provided.

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#Opinion by Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

💬 Today, all Ukrainian and German media are showing the footage with Chancellor Olaf Scholz shouting the words of the Nazi salute, “Slava Ukraine,” (“Glory to Ukraine!”) with Zelensky and (unexpectedly) Tikhanovskaya in the background.

The Western elites’ poor education does not absolve them of responsibility.

“Slava Ukraine!” (“Glory to Ukraine!”) is a Nazi salute. We have repeatedly said as much, both during one of my briefings and in our social media posts that NATO officials hate so much.

Let me repeat this for those riding swastika-painted tanks.

The salute, “Slava Ukraine!”, was accepted by the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists as its official greeting in 1939. Later they added the gesture in the form of a raised and extended right arm and the response “Geroyam Slava!” (“Glory to the Heroes!”). This was how the Bandera collaborationists saluted the Wehrmacht units entering occupied areas, to the clunking of tank trucks and the heavy footfall of creaking boots. Marching along the streets and dirt roads of Ukraine, the Germans shouted in response “Sieg Heil!” and “Heil Hitler!”

Olaf Scholz has crossed the clear line drawn by all the leaders of both postwar Germanys: he shouted the Nazi salute in public. This happened less than a week after the 78th anniversary of the end of war in Europe.

It is not yet 80 years since the war. Berlin has a peculiar way of preparing for the anniversary. But possibly there is a simpler explanation: the German political elites are under pressure from corruption scandals. German politicians found a non-standard way out of the situation: they would do the Nazi salute at an opportune moment and thus show their loyalty to Washington.

🇷🇺🇺🇳 Permament Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN:

🎙Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at UNSC briefing on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine (15 May 2023)

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☝️ Western delegations were never interested in the situation of ordinary people of Donbas since 2014. Today we are not going to hear from them a word of condemnation of another atrocious shelling of Donetsk by Ukrainian forces on 28 April.

• Responsibility for these crimes rests not only with the Kiev regime, but also with those who supply Kiev with weapons. <...> All those weapons that are being provided i.a. by Security Council member states who are represented in this chamber, and who claim so concerned about the humanitarian consequences of the Ukrainian conflict, kill civilians daily. Those weapons kill women and children, destroy schools and hospitals in the DPR and LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.

• With total connivance of Western sponsors, Kiev does not hesitate to use terrorist methods. Among its crimes – terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge, killings of journalists Daria Dugina and Maxim Fomin, attempted assassination of Zakhar Prilepin that killed his friend, Alexander Shubin.

❗️ Today we are going to hear a lot about solidarity of Western community with Ukraine, and their readiness to stand with it “until the end”. It must be understood however that their support is exactly what is pushing Ukraine towards this end.

• Under the guise of raising private investment for large-scale projects in key areas of the economy, Ukraine’s state sovereignty is in fact being transferred under the external corporate management of the world's major investment fund that is based in New York.

🇪🇺 Most of the food that is exported from Ukraine (and which was supposed to go to the countries of the Global South) ends up within the European Union. It is a fact and the most telling demonstration of the true essence of Brussels’ celebrated humanitarian initiatives.

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the 40th meeting of the Council of the Heads of Constituent Entities of the Russian Federation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Moscow, May 16, 2023)

Key talking points:

☝️ Our colleagues in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation have heeded our recommendations and launched system-wide efforts to promote relations with our relevant partners.

• The level of collaboration with the CIS states, China, India, Iran, Türkiye, and Arab countries has risen significantly in the past period.

• Today’s meeting is dedicated to interaction with the Central Asian states. Our relations with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are those of alliance and strategic partnership and are based on equality, mutual respect, friendship, and neighbourliness. They are characterised by an intense political dialogue.

🤝 The political dialogue helps to promote active investment cooperation and address issues ensuring a stable growth of trade. Scientific, educational and humanitarian ties are making good headway.

• Along with bilateral cooperation, there is an increasingly active six-sided cooperation (CA5+Russia) with each of the Central Asian countries.

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🗓 On May 15, Russia together with Belarus, North Korea, Nicaragua and Syria as co-sponsors, submitted the Concept of the UN Convention on Ensuring International Information Security (IIS) as an official document of the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly.

The ongoing international discussion on the IIS indicates growing support among the UN Member States of adopting a universal legally binding instrument that would ensure stability and security in the global information space.

☝️Our initiative is a prototype of such an international treaty. The Concept of the Convention is based on the principles of sovereign equality of States and non-interference in their internal affairs. It is aimed at prevention and settlement of conflicts, establishment of interstate cooperation, including on building capacities of the developing countries in the field of information security.

🇷🇺 Russia and the co-sponsors are ready to further discuss the language of the document and take into account possible suggestions and comments.

We call on our foreign partners to join the initiative in the interest of building a fair and comprehensive system of international information security.

🇷🇺🇰🇿📞 President Vladimir Putin spoke over the phone with President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

During the telephone conversation, Vladimir Putin warmly congratulated President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on his 70th birthday.

The two Leaders reaffirmed their mutual commitment to further strengthening Russian-Kazakhstani allied relations and expanding mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas.

✉️ Earlier, the President of Russia sent a message of greetings to Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at talks with Foreign Minister of Belarus Sergey Aleinik (Moscow, May 17, 2023)

💬 We are glad to welcome you to Moscow.

This is your first visit to the Russian Federation after taking the office of Foreign Minister of the Republic of Belarus.

Today we have a busy agenda. Our countries are working on increasing the defence capacity on the western borders of the Union State, upholding justice in international relations, and asserting the inadmissibility of double standards in approaches to ensuring security in Europe.

☝️ The security architecture on the European continent is being actively destroyed by our Western neighbours. All the more important is coordination on the foreign policy front, which we carry out on the basis of two-year plans.

We will discuss the roles and tasks our ministries are facing in supporting the union state building, the implementation of the 28 union programmes, the provision of foreign political stewardship of the trade and economic cooperation, our actions at the #UN, #OSCE, #CIS, #CSTO, and #EAEU, as well as the strengthening of the Union State as the core of integration processes in the post-Soviet space.

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with Tsargrad TV (Moscow, May 17, 2023)

Key talking points:

🔹 We will no longer rely on the West, as a partner that can be negotiated with to any extent. We will work with the rest of the world that is ready for this.

🔹The West’s share in the economy of Central Asia and the South Caucasus is growing. The West methodically and cynically demands that they refrain from taking steps contrary to its interests, promising them everything under the sun. Although in reality it only means interference in internal affairs.

🔹 The #CIS retains its important economic cooperation contacts because the CIS has a free trade zone. It is also contributing to the efforts to counter current challenges and threats (terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking) and efforts in the humanitarian area as well. The CIS has announced 2023 the Year of the Russian Language as the Language of Interethnic Communication.

🔹 Since 2001, we have been working to strengthen relations, primarily with China, India and #ASEAN nations. It is said now that Russia has turned away from the West. We haven’t, or rather the West has turned away from us, betraying its own interests.

🔹The West has made its choice. They insist that Russia must suffer “a strategic defeat,” must give up Crimea, betray the Russian people in other parts of former Ukraine. They are referring to Russians as “non-humans,” whose physical elimination is stated as a goal of the current Kiev regime.

🔹 This [Kiev] regime is killing Russians, Russian culture and the Russian world in any of its manifestations, physically exterminating the Russian people who were its citizens.

🔹 When the Moscow Patriarchate proclaimed the autonomy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, this did not change the Kiev regime’s aggressive policy of eradicating the genuine, canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine and did not stop it from cultivating “the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”

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🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions during a joint news conference with Foreign Minister of Belarus Sergey Aleinik following talks in Moscow

💬 <...> Our commitment to coordinate our foreign policies is one of the main pillars of the Union State’s development. This is increasingly emerging as a critical element when it comes to ensuring the national interests of our countries in today’s geopolitical environment. We agreed to keep supporting each other as allies and strategic partners in the interests of our countries, our people and the Union State.

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We exchanged views on the implementation of the Supreme Council’s resolution to draft a Security Concept for the Union State. The Foreign Ministries of Russia and Belarus will proactively support this effort, while the secretariats of our respective security councils oversee this process.

Answers to media questions

🔹 I share these considerations and our determination to develop integration-related processes in order to make them independent from the illegitimate unilateral actions of the US-led collective West.

🔹 Equal and indivisible security was declared in the OSCE. It was expressly stated that no single country and no single organisation in the Euro-Atlantic space would strengthen its security at the expense of the security of others or claim dominance in this geographical region. All of that was torn to pieces by our Western colleagues when they set a course for unapologetic NATO expansion.

🔹 We hear wailing in Washington, Brussels and London that “Russia has no interest in peace.” I’m tired of commenting on this. They have said that they would only accept what suits Zelensky. It’s a case of the tail wagging the dog, as has happened in American history before.

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🇷🇺🇺🇬 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at the talks with Foreign Minister of Uganda Jeje Odongo (Moscow, May 18, 2023)

💬 I am delighted to welcome you to Moscow.

I have fond memories of my visit to the hospitable Republic of Uganda back in July 2022 and our fruitful talks with President Yoweri Museveni.

🤝 We consider the development of bilateral partnership, which stretches back several decades, to be a priority. In 2022, we marked the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our countries.

We hope that President Yoweri Museveni will attend the second Russia-Africa Summit, which will be held in St Petersburg in late July, like he did the first summit. In autumn 2019, the President of Uganda visited Sochi, where he held talks with President Vladimir Putin.

I believe that today we have a great opportunity to discuss all areas of our cooperation ahead of this event, both as part of bilateral cooperation and at the global stage, including regional processes underway on the African continent.

#RussiaUganda #RussiaAfrica

❗️ О продлении «черноморской инициативы»

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• В связи с истечением 18 мая 60-дневного срока продления «черноморской инициативы» по вывозу украинского продовольствия и в ответ на обращения, прежде всего турецких партнёров как стороны договоренности, подтвердили её продление ещё на два месяца, до 17 июля включительно, без каких-либо изменений.

• Наши принципиальные оценки реализации взаимоувязанных Стамбульских соглашений остаются прежними – до сих пор выполняется только «черноморская инициатива» за исключением экспорта аммиака.

• Конкретный прогресс по Меморандуму Россия-ООН отсутствует.

• Сохраняются и явные проблемы с заявленной гуманитарной составляющей «сделки» – украинское зерно вывозится по морскому коридору преимущественно в государства с высоким уровнем доходов и выше среднего, в том числе на «сытые» европейские рынки.

• Нуждающиеся страны получают абсолютный мизер – 722 000 тонн (или 2,5%) от общего числа в 30 млн тонн, вывезенных из украинских портов за 9 месяцев.

• Поставки российской продукции, даже безвозмездная передача удобрений беднейшим странам, продолжают сталкиваться с блокирующим влиянием незаконных односторонних санкций.

• Нет подвижек и по возобновлению поставок аммиака, прописанных в обоих Стамбульских документах.

• Вынуждены напомнить и повторить пять «системных» задач, которые должны быть решены в рамках реализации Меморандума Россия-ООН и прогресс по которым до сих пор отсутствует:
– переподключение «Россельхозбанка» к SWIFT;
– поставки запчастей;
– разблокирование транспортной логистики и страхования;
– реанимирование аммиакопровода «Тольятти-Одесса»
– «разморозка» активов российских компаний.

• Без выполнения этих требований ни о каком расширении «черноморской инициативы» речи в принципе не идет, а сама договоренность будет прекращена после 17 июля.

🌐 On May 18, 1899, the Hague hosted a first ever international peace and disarmament conference. The initiative and idea for the event was that of the then Russian Empire.

The meeting resulted in the signing of 3 conventions:

• Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes
• Convention with respect to the Laws and Customs of War on Land
• Convention for the Adaptation to Maritime Warfare of the Principles of the Geneva Convention of August 22, 1864.

However, Russia's idea on the true reduction of armaments and constraining military budgets failed to be enshrined in the form written guarantees. Issues of vital importance for the whole of Europe were reflected in the conference proceedings only in the form of declarations and “desiderata.” A mere 15 years later, #WWI would begin to re-carve the political map of Europe beyond recognition.

❗️And yet, the conference was not held in vain. It became an important step towards containing a global arms race and laid down the foundation, formed the bedrock of international law.