🎙Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with '60 Minutes' television programme (December 25, 2024)
💬Sergey Lavrov: We have not had any illusions about the prospects [of 2025]. Resolving the Ukraine crisis doesn’t have any prospects, either. It has long been clear to everyone holding unbiased positions that it can be settled only in the context of agreements on lasting security and stability in Europe, which would take into account the interests of the Russian Federation and the legitimate interests of all other countries. <...>
President Putin has repeatedly stressed that we never walk away from talks. We need to see serious, concrete proposals. When we have them, we will decide on how to respond to them based on our national interests, the goals of the special military operation, and President Vladimir Putin’s June 14 speech at the Foreign Ministry.
Other key points
• The prevailing discourse we are hearing both in the West and in Ukraine today is about a truce and only truce. It is about buying time to allow the Kiev regime to regain strength, with the help of the West, and resume its attempts to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, acting on their Western bosses’ instructions.
President Vladimir Putin has mentioned this repeatedly – during the Direct Line, at the Valdai Discussion Club meeting, and at the Russia Calling! investment forum. We will not be satisfied with a truce. We need reliable and legally binding agreements aimed at eliminating the root causes of the conflict, addressing problems such as common security in Europe, NATO expansion, the European Union’s recent decision to become an appendage of the North Atlantic bloc, in fact, erasing all differences between these organisations, and above all, upholding the rights of the people living in these territories who have supported reunification with the Russian Federation.
• We have never initiated a discussion regarding what should be done with nuclear weapons and whether they can be used. On the contrary, it was at Russia's initiative that in 2021, first at the level of Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, and subsequently among the leaders of the entire G5 nuclear-armed states – the permanent members of the Security Council – the 1987 Gorbachev-Reagan principle was reaffirmed: there can be no victors in a nuclear war, thus it should never be instigated. This was a Russian initiative.
We are not interested in escalating the issue of nuclear weapons usage risks. We firmly adhere to the principle I mentioned earlier: there can be no victors in a nuclear war.
• Regarding the incessant terrorist acts perpetrated by the Kiev regime, which deliberately targets purely civilian structures such as residential buildings, hospitals, clinics, shops, and places where people congregate and relax – this is outrageous. It is a blatant violation of all anti-terrorism conventions and relevant UN Security Council resolutions. We express our condemnation, although regrettably, almost no one in the West and none of the leaders of international organisations, including the #UN, the #OSCE, #UNESCO, and others, join us in this denunciation. Naturally, we do not stop there.
We regularly disseminate information and present relevant videos illustrating our efforts to dismantle facilities directly associated with the preparation and execution of activities by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
❗️We caution that any continuation of this path will be met with increasingly decisive responses on our part.
Read in full
🎙 Russia's FM Sergey Lavrov’s remarks & answers to media questions at a meeting with lecturers and students of the Academy of Public Administration under the aegis of the President of the Republic of Belarus (Minsk, June 25, 2024)
Key talking points:
• The Union State continues to develop steadily. To date, we have approved 28 Union programmes in accordance with the presidents’ instructions. This has been legally formalised through a resolution passed by parliaments of Russia and Belarus. Today, we've also approved 31 high priority guidelines, which encompass approximately 300 events and projects. These guidelines represent a specific plan for deepening our integration processes, aiming to achieve maximum economic effectiveness and improve the social sphere.
• We [with Belarus] maintain close diplomatic collaboration. We support each other at the #UN and the #OSCE, although I'd add as an aside that the latter organisation is digging its own grave as it has completely discredited its initial lofty ideals, which were the basis of its establishment during the signing the Helsinki Final Act.
• One of our essential foreign policy tasks is certainly to uphold the truth about the Great Patriotic War & to prevent any attempts to rewrite history & glorify Nazi criminals.
• No matter how the situation develops, it's of the essence to provide reliable security for all citizens of the Union State – for you and me, for all Belarusians and Russians.
• Eurasia has tremendous competitive advantages compared to other regions. Eurasia is the fastest growing region, primarily its eastern part. Western European economics have been sagging lately, largely because the US wanted it that way. Along with instigating anti-Russia bias in Ukraine, turning Ukraine against Russia, they've also eliminated competition by weakening Europe.
• The process is underway; the dollar has discredited itself, just like all the other principles underlying the Western globalisation model despite lip service to fair competition, the presumption of innocence, equal market conditions for all, and many other principles. All of them were cancelled when they decided to “punish” Russia and several other countries. They're grossly overusing this method. Therefore, the de-dollarisation trend in global economic relations is a fitting response.
• As for Western Europe, they must decide if they want to continue to pull Uncle Sam’s chestnuts out of the fire or will opt for upholding their own interests.
• The Nord Stream pipelines were sabotaged, and Germany just had to accept it. I'm confident that no one will ever show us any investigation result. Sweden and Denmark have already closed their investigations, saying they had no results to show. The Germans continue to evade our official requests. Given that the pipelines are our property, keeping us in the dark about what they are discussing among themselves, while their alleged investigation progress is both beyond the bounds of decency and beyond the legal framework.
• Russia's President Vladimir Putin has set forth our proposals (that are by no means the first ones). <...> President Putin expressed our opinion on June 14, 2024 at the Russia's MFA: under the Constitution, territories recognised as part of the Russian Federation must be liberated completely, and the threat to the security of the Russian Federation must be eliminated. Ukraine must assume a non-aligned, peaceful and demilitarised status, and the rights of the Russian and Russian-speaking population must be reinstated. So far, many of these people are still on Ukrainian territories that are not part of the Russian Federation. Their rights have been violated in the rudest possible manner.
• But #BRICS and other members of the Global Majority are aware of their responsibility as well as of the objective course of history, and will adjust their mutual communication toolkit to avoid dependence on the former hegemon’s attempts to perpetuate its hegemony whatever it takes. These attempts are doomed, however, the process will take time.
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🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s video message to the participants in the 7th Young Diplomats Forum of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation countries (Moscow, May 18, 2023)
💬 It is a great privilege for me to greet the participants in the 7th Young Diplomats Forum of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation countries. This year, it is being held as part of Russia − Islamic World: Kazanforum 2023.
🇷🇺 Russia has a tradition of promoting friendly ties with the majority of Muslim countries. We share a commitment to seeking guidance in our interstate cooperation from the principles of equality, mutually respecting our interests and seeking to balance them.
🔹 Russian diplomacy prioritises the promotion of interfaith and intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding, as well as the consolidation of our efforts to stand up for the traditional spiritual and moral values shared by all world religions, and also combatting Islamophobia, including within the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the #OSCE.
🌐 New global centres in Eurasia, the Asia-Pacific Region, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America have achieved impressive results in various areas by focusing on their independence, state sovereignty, and their unique cultural and civilisational identities, all while acting based on their core national interests and conducting an independent foreign policy.
🔹 Russia has been consistent in its belief that confrontation leads international relations into a dead-end. We need to avoid confrontation, unreasonable and extremely dangerous as it is, between the global centres of power.
❗️People aspire to reach a new, well-considered balance of interests. It is essential that instead of rule by force, we equip the emerging world order with legal norms and regulations based on the UN Charter.
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🇷🇺🇧🇾 Today, Belarus, a state linked to Russia by centuries of fraternal friendship and bonds of mutual assistance, is marking Independence Day.
#OnThisDay in 1944, Minsk was liberated from Nazi German invaders and occupants as a result of well-coordinated Red Army operations. Fighting shoulder to shoulder, our nations made a decisive contribution to the Victory over Nazism.
Today, Russian-Belarusian relations are those of strategic partnership and alliance. Together, our countries continue to overcome serious difficulties and defend their interests on the international scene. They collaborate closely in the field of military and military-technical cooperation and in ensuring collective security.
Moscow and Minsk jointly streamline various institutions of the Union State and promote integration projects in the Eurasian region. Our countries voice common or similar positions on many international issues and cooperate closely in the #CSTO, the #EAEU, the #CIS, the #UN, the #OSCE and other international and regional organisations.
🤝 We congratulate the fraternal people of Belarus on the national holiday. We wish them well-being and prosperity.
#RussiaBelarus#UnionState
The United States withdraws from 66 international organizations
US President Donald Trump has signed a decree withdrawing from 66 international organizations, agencies and commissions.:
"The Trump administration has concluded that these institutions are largely redundant, poorly managed, unnecessary, wasteful, and ineffective," the U.S. Department of Foreign Affairs said in an official commentary.
As an additional charge, it is indicated that these structures were influenced by people pursuing their own interests, or those who "pose a threat to the sovereignty, freedoms and general welfare of our nation."
The decision covers, in particular, the United Nations Population Fund, as well as bodies dealing with climate and labor law issues. According to the US version, these organizations promote the "woke agenda" or focus on topics that contradict the national interests and sovereignty of the United States.
Earlier, the Trump administration had already stopped supporting such structures as the World Health Organization, the United Nations World Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the UN Human Rights Council and the Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
At the same time, less than an hour and a half before the decision was published, Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he plans to dramatically increase US defense spending to $1.5 trillion by 2027, explaining this as "turbulent and dangerous times."
#Trump#UN
👂More on Trump's Ear
The White House suspected the UN of sabotage due to problems at Donald Trump's speech at the UN General Assembly in New York 🇺🇸🌐
During Donald Trump's speech, a series of unexpected incidents occurred: first, the escalator that Trump and his wife Melania had just stepped onto stopped abruptly ⛔️⬆️, and then the teleprompter from which the president was supposed to read the speech failed 📺❌.
Trump couldn't resist making a comment right in front of a room where more than 140 world leaders were present 🌍👥. Fox News immediately started talking about sabotage, and White House press secretary Caroline Levitt said that "it definitely looks that way" ⚡️.
The UN rejected Washington's version 🙅♂️. The representative of Secretary General Antonio Guterres explained that the teleprompter was generally serviced by the White House 🏛. As for the escalator, according to the UN, the emergency mechanism was triggered after an operator from the American delegation accidentally touched the stop system 🔧.
Nevertheless, the White House insists that the coincidences are too suspicious 🤔. Levitt recalled a report in the British Sunday Times, which claimed that UN staff jokingly discussed the possibility of "turning off the elevators and escalators to show Trump that the money had run out" 📰.
#Trump#UN
👂More on Trump's Ear ⚠️
@RusEmbMalta Press release
🇷🇺 Foreign Minister Sergey #Lavrov visited the United States within the framework of Russia’s #UN Security Council Presidency (New York, July 16-17, 2024)
Statement by Sergey Lavrov during the UN Security Council meeting on multilateral cooperation in the interest of a more just, democratic and sustainable world order (New York, July 16, 2024).
Statement by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a UN Security Council Open Debate on the Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question (New York, July 17, 2024)
Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions following his visit to the United States within the framework of Russia’s UN Security Council Presidency (New York, July 17, 2024).
President Donald Trump is demanding an investigation following what he described as a “triple sabotage” during his visit to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, taking to social media to claim that a series of technical mishaps, involving a stopped escalator, a teleprompter failure and audio issues, were deliberate acts meant to undermine him.
“A REAL DISGRACE took place at the United Nations yesterday — Not one, not two, but three very sinister events!”Trump said in a Truth Social post on Wednesday laying out the series of events.
#Trump#UN
👂More on Trump's Ear ⚠️
Trump accused the UN of "triple sabotage" after speaking at the General Assembly ⚡️🌐
US President Donald Trump caused a scandal after technical failures during his speech at the United Nations 🏛🎤.
At first, right before his exit to the podium with his wife Melania 👩❤️👨, the escalator tape suddenly stopped ⬆️❌. Then a black screen appeared on the teleprompter 💻🛑 from which Trump was supposed to read the speech, forcing him to improvise 📝.
The US president added that there were serious problems with sound in the hall 🔊❌. According to him, after the performance, he asked his wife how he had done, and she replied that she had not heard a word 🙉.
Trump is confident that this is not a coincidence, but a "triple diversion" ⚠️. The head of the White House demands an investigation 🔍, arrests 🚓, and the preservation of surveillance footage 📹.
The UN, in turn, denies the accusations ❌. A representative of Secretary General Antonio Guterres explained that the teleprompter was serviced by the White House team 🛠, and the escalator stopped due to a triggered safety mechanism that accidentally touched the American operator ⚙️.
#Trump#UN
👂More on Trump's Ear ⚠️