🎙Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's remarks at a meeting of the Supervisory Board and Board of Trustees of Foreign Ministry’s MGIMO University(Moscow, April 23, 2026)
💬 I would like to note MGIMO leadership’s efforts to preserve Russia’s historical and diplomatic heritage.
Not long ago, the latest two-volume edition of The History of Diplomacy was published, introducing previously unused archival materials into academic circulation. Projects aimed at popularising the scholarly legacy of the internationally renowned historian and first head of MGIMO’s Department of the History of International Relations Yevgeny Tarle and the first director of MGIMO Ivan Udaltsov deserve the highest praise.
2025 marked the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. The university’s faculty made an invaluable contribution to preparing materials for a number of books and articles devoted to inextricable link between the outcomes of the Second World War and the modern-day international relations system.
☝️We will continue working to preserve historical memory and to prevent the attempts to distort Russian and world history.
On April 19, Russia marked the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Genocide of the Soviet People for the first time. Russian diplomacy will consistently seek international recognition of the crimes committed by Nazis and their accomplices against Soviet civilians of all ethnic backgrounds as genocide.
I am positive that MGIMO’s specialized departments, with their extensive track record in historiographical research and the defence of national interests at the present stage of global development when Nazism, particularly in Europe, is once again rearing its ugly head, will find a niche of their own in this work.
Such efforts can seamlessly complement MGIMO’s activities in promoting Russian education and the Russian language internationally, as well as strengthening mutual understanding and trust between nations, primarily in the near abroad.
The opening in 2025 of MGIMO's branch in Kazakhstan came as an important milestone in this regard with 100 undergraduate and master’s students studying at MGIMO-Astana.
🤝MGIMO’s push to diversify ties with its partner universities in Asia, Africa, and Latin America deserves every support it can get.
The signing of a memorandum of understanding between MGIMO and Hanoi State University in May 2025 in the presence of Russia’s and Vietnam’s top leaders was a signature event. We support MGIMO’s plans to launch its first academic programme at its new Hanoi branch in 2025.
We also welcome the efforts to gradually resume partner programmes leading to dual degrees. The fact that such work is underway primarily with the university’s partners from the #GlobalMajority countries fully reflects current geopolitical realities.
Importantly, universities from China, our great eastern neighbour, with which our relations continue to strengthen across all areas, are among MGIMO’s partners. Prospects are good for establishing similar arrangements with our friends from the #BRICS countries.
🗓 On June 28, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovmet with the Ambassadors of the #GlobalMajority countries, members of the #G20: Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Türkiye.
Current issues on the forum agenda for the Indian presidency was discussed. Special attention was paid to the preparation and holding of the G20 summit in New Delhi on September 9-10, 2023.
The participants of the meeting also emphasised the need to depoliticise the negotiations process and activity of this association, as well as to focus its discussions on the social and economic challenges and needs of the Global South.
Among the key areas of efforts are the democratisation of global management and the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. The importance of boosting the role of the dynamically developing economies in trade, industrial and financial institutions was also noted.
Russia confirmed its support of the Indian presidency in the G20 and analysed the destructive impact of the illegitimate sanctions on international development prospects, as well as on food and energy security.
The Minister shared his view of the Western states’ pressure on the developing countries in the attempts to involve them in certain formats “of mutual interest,” reckless plans of global settlement according to Western templates, boosting the delivery of weapons to the Kiev regime, extending the armed conflict in Ukraine and isolating Russia.
🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister SergeyLavrov’s remarks at the Ambassadorial Round Table Discussion 'Ukraine Crisis: Compliance with the UN Charter Goals and Principles' (Moscow, September 17, 2025)
💬 This is the ninth round table discussion held in this format.
We appreciate the interest of the #GlobalMajority, which you represent, in the efforts that are being taken in connection with the Ukraine crisis. We try to inform our friends about our stance, actions and plans as openly and explicitly as possible.
Today, I would like to speak about the situation, its history and current developments from the perspective of the #UNCharter, which all countries represented here have ratified and which formalised the universal principles of regulating interstate communication.
These principles include the sovereign equality of states, the non-use of force or threat of force, and respect for human rights regardless of race, sex, language or religion. All UN member states have subscribed to them.
❗️ However, our Western “colleagues” <...> disregard the principles of the UN Charter.
In particular, the West never had any regard for the sovereign equality of states. Cast your mind back to the international crises that took place in the period after the creation of the UN. The West did not show respect for the principle of sovereign equality of state in any of these crises, regarding itself superior to others.
Even when the Werst cites some principles to justify its actions, it does so selectively, choosing principles that suit it in the given instance, and depending on its actions. In the case of Kosovo, they said that they were acting in accordance with the principle of self-determination of nations, on the basis of which they proclaimed its independence without holding a referendum.
In other cases, for example, #Crimea, where over 95 percent of the people openly and transparently voted for reuniting with Russia, the West stated that the principle of self-determination was not applicable and demanded respect for the principle of territorial integrity.
☝️ We are fully aware of these double standards.
The residents of Crimea (in March 2014) and the residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, the Zaporozhye and Khersonregions (in September 2022) exercised their right to self-determination, enshrined in Article 1 of the UN Charter, through referenda.
We, the Russian Federation, recognised them and, in the face of the continuing aggression from the Nazi Kiev regime, supported by the West, offered them protection in full compliance with Article 51 of the UN Charter that grants countries the right to individual or collective self-defence.
The Kiev regime’s violations of international humanitarian law are so obvious that they simply cannot be denied. There are more than enough facts. But the [UN] Secretariat is taking an opposite stance and attempting to whitewash the acts committed by the Kiev regime <...>.
Europe is clearly — and rather unceremoniously — trying to get a place of its own at the negotiating table. Truth be told, its position of revanchism and inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia makes it unfit to have a seat at the negotiating table.
Europe is talking about sending its contingents to Ukraine. We have already made it clear that they would be considered a legitimate military target. Europe is trying to promote security guarantees for Ukraine, which are being drafted without our participation and openly seek to create military threats to the Russian Federation.
The security guarantees must fully comply with the West’s obligations, enshrined in the UN Charter and in the OSCE consensus documents adopted in Istanbul in 1999 and Astana in 2010. These security guarantees, as was agreed then, must rely on the principle of indivisible security and the principle under which no country has the right to strengthen its own security at the expense of others.
❗️This is precisely what the West is currently trying to accomplish in Ukraine in its attempts to save it from total collapse.
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🎙Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's remarks at the Government Hour during the Plenary Session of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation(February 11, 2026)
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💬Sergey Lavrov: Russia is defending its legitimate rights in the emerging #MultipolarWorld amid intense competition. We are often compelled to do so despite the Western minority’s reluctance to curb its excessive ambitions.
Russia engages respectfully with those prepared to work on the basis of sovereign equality and other principles of international law. Such countries constitute the #GlobalMajority. They are our reliable and promising partners. The West, however, has yet to rid itself of its obsession with colonial – and, I dare say, slave-owning – grandeur.
The dramatic events of the beginning of 2026, including the armed invasion of Venezuela by the US, increased American pressure on Cuba, attempts to destabilize Iran, and the crisis around Greenland, have confirmed our assessment that the world has entered an era of rapid and profound change.
The central trend toward a more just and sustainable multipolar system will be accompanied by a struggle between the “old” former leaders – concentrated in the West – and the rising centres of development representing the Global Majority. This struggle is gaining momentum and affects virtually all regions.
Viewed through this perspective, it becomes clear why a former colonial power such as France seeks to undermine nationally oriented governments in the Sahel and other parts of Africa. Berlin is not far behind, driven by revanchist ambitions.
🤔 The current generation of German, French and other European politicians seems to have forgotten the “outcomes” of Poltava, Berezina, Stalingrad and the Kursk Bulge.
The state of strategic stability remains a matter of concern. A number of European Russophobes continue to groundlessly blame Russia for its deterioration. At the same time, President Vladimir Putin’s initiative proposing continued voluntary compliance by the parties to New START with its core quantitative limits has received no official response from the US.
☢️ We proceed from the understanding thatthe moratorium declared by President Putin remains in force – but only as long as the US does not exceed those limits.
We will defend truth and law in all contacts with our international partners. We will provide political and diplomatic support to ensure the achievement of all the goals and objectives of the special military operation.
❗️We consistently emphasize that a sustainable settlement of the crisis provoked by the “collective West” in Ukraine is impossible without eliminating its root causes.
Unlike those who, in President Putin’s words, claim the “right of might” to dictate their will, lecture others and issue orders, we threaten no one and impose our views on no one. On the contrary, our diplomacy consistently advances honest, equal and mutually beneficial partnerships with all who are prepared to engage on these principles.
Our strategic partnerships and allied relations with our neighbours – the #CIS and #CSTO member states – play a key role in ensuring national security and maintaining regional stability. We will continue to further develop these ties.