🌐 The Leningrad Region hosted an informal meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) leaders (December 25, 2024).
💬President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Before we start working, unfortunately, I have to say a few words about a tragedy that happened in Aktau today. People have been killed in an air crash, and many more have been injured. As we have just noted, I would like, on your behalf, to offer condolences to the families of the deceased and to all the injured. We will hope that they recover.
By agreement with the President of Kazakhstan, an aircraft of the Russian Ministry for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief will deliver medical personnel and the required additional equipment to Aktau.
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Over the past year, Russia focused its efforts as part of its #CIS chairmanship on promoting Eurasian integration, consolidating the international standing of the CIS, as well as enabling its executive bodies to be effective in their work. We made forging deeper economic ties our priority, while also seeking to ensure the free movement of goods, services, as well as remove trade barriers and streamline customs clearance procedures.
📈 In this context, let me note that Russia’s trade with CIS member nations increased by 10.6 percent in the first ten months and slightly exceeded $93 billion. Our countries have greatly improved their macroeconomic performance. The aggregate GDP for the CIS is expected to increase by 4.7 percent in 2024, which places the CIS above the global average. <…>
CIS countries have expanded their cooperation in the foreign exchange and financial sectors by becoming increasingly proactive in using their own independent foreign exchange transaction frameworks, payment systems and settlement tools. In fact, national currencies accounted for over 85 percent of commercial transactions within the CIS.
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☝️It is notable that the CIS countries have the same or close views on the key global and regional issues. At the same time, all CIS countries stand for creating a just world order based on the universally recognised principles of international law and the central role of the #UN.
#Victory80 Of course, the CIS countries also remember and hold sacred the immortal heroism of our peoples, the peoples of the Soviet Union who fought side by side to bring our victory in the Great Patriotic War. Next year, we will celebrate a landmark date, the 80th anniversary of Victory, and so the year 2025 has been declared the Year of Peace and Unity in the Fight Against Nazism in the CIS. <...>
Friends, we look forward to seeing you at the celebrations in Moscow on May 9. We also hope that military units from the CIS countries will take part in the parade on Red Square.
On January 1, 2025, Russia will hand over the CIS chairmanship to Tajikistan. I would like to wish success to Mr Emomali Rahmon and all our Tajik friends. We are ready to provide all the necessary assistance to them. Overall, I am confident that the deepening of partnership in various spheres within the CIS meets the fundamental interests of our nations. I have no doubt that we will continue to work together to fulfil our socioeconomic development tasks and to strengthen stability and security.
I would like to use this occasion to extend my most cordial greetings on the upcoming New Year and to wish health, happiness, well-being and prosperity to the citizens of your countries.
🗓 81 years ago, on 12 May 1944, the Crimean Strategic Offensive Operation ended, resulting in thecomplete liberation of the peninsula from the Nazi invaders.
Crimea had been under the German occupation for 680 days. On its territory, the Nazis and their collaborators established concentration and filtration camps as well as numerous prisons.
☝ In response to the Nazi terror, a resistance movement emerged among the local population. Partisan detachments were formed. The legendary 250-day defense of Sevastopol and the immortal heroic act of the underground garrison in the Adzhimushkay quarries near Kerch stand as vivid examples of the courage and bravery of the defenders of the Motherland.
During the large-scale offensive in the spring of 1944, the forces of the 4th Ukrainian Front and the Separate Coastal Army, in coordination with the Black Sea Fleet and the Azov Naval Flotilla, managed to completely clear the peninsula from the Nazi invaders. With the victory in the Battle for Crimea, the Soviet Union regained control over one of its most important regions and also reclaimed its main naval base, Sevastopol.
❗The enemy lost a vital strategic position on the Black Sea, significantly improving the conditions for the Red Army’s further advance. Praise to the soldiers who brought the long-awaited Victory closer!
#Victory80
🗓 Exactly eighty years ago, on the night of 1 May 1945, a defining moment in the history of the Second World War took place: Soviet military intelligence personnel Alexei Berest, Mikhail Yegorov, and Meliton Kantaria raised the Victory Banner atop the Reichstag building.
The idea to prepare red flags was proposed on 9 April 1945 at a meeting of heads of the political departments of all armies of the 1st Belorussian Front. As a result, nine red banners were sewn by hand, modelled on the national flag of the USSR.
Fierce fighting raged across Berlin, with every building contested. The capture of the Reichstag — one of the Nazi Germany’s main symbols — held special significance. The building was heavily defended: all approaches were swept by fire from all types of weaponry.
⚡But the resistance was overcome, and at around 3 a.m. on 1 May, Red Army soldiers Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria, under the command of Alexei Berest, hoisted the Victory Banner on the roof of the Reichstag. For this act of heroism, Yegorov and Kantaria were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 8 May 1946.
It was the fourth banner, while the first three had been destroyed during the night by German long-range artillery fire targeting the Reichstag’s roof. Among the first to raise a banner were Red Army soldiers Rakhimzhan Koshkarbayev and Grigory Bulatov. Bullet-ridden and blood-soaked, the Victory Banner became a sacred relic of our nation.
❗No one is forgotten. Nothing is forgotten.
#Victory80
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 ⚠️
🗓Exactly 80 years ago, on 4 April 1945, the Red Army liberated Bratislava from the forces of the Nazi Germany.
The goal of the Bratislava–Brno Offensive Operation (25 March – 5 May 1945), carried out by the troops led by Marshal Rodion Malinovsky, was to liberate Slovakia and to reach the outskirts of Prague. The Soviet cavalry attacks under the command of General Issa Pliev became a striking episode of the battles for Bratislava.
The units of Cossacks crushed the enemy, not permitting the Nazis to regroup for defence. At the same time, ships of the Danube Flotilla landed a large assault force in the enemy’s rear, clearing the way towards Bratislava. Within just 24 hours of street battles, the capital of Slovakia was liberated from the fascists.
The troops were commended for the successful fighting, while the military divisions and units that had performed best in the battles to recapture the city were named after the city of Bratislava.
In Slovakia, there are about 160 burial sites of Soviet soldiers who perished during the liberation of the territory of the present Slovak Republic from fascism. More than 60,000 Soviet soldiers rest in military cemeteries, mass graves and individual tombs. In their honour, some 100 monuments, memorial plaques and other commemorative signs have been erected.
❗️We shall never forget the great heroic act of the Red Army!
#Victory80#WeRemember
🗓 81 years ago, the events of critical importance for Europe took place. On 26 March 1944, as part of the Uman–Botoșani offensive, the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front led by Marshal Ivan Konev reached the Prut River that constituted the state border between the USSR and Romania.
The Allies of the Anti-Hitler Coalition persistently asked to advance further and not to stop fighting against Nazi Germany and its henchmen. In the night of March 27, the Red Army crossed the Soviet-Romanian border.
Those developments effectively paved the way for the liberation of Central and Eastern Europe from the German invaders. More than one million Red Army soldiers gave their lives in the struggle to save the European nations enslaved by the Nazis.
Regretfully, the memory of World War II on a regular basis falls under the manipulation of Western countries that seek to rewrite history to serve their geopolitical interests. Many European politicians shamelessly generate false facts and assessments that completely distort not only the role of the Soviet Union but also, more broadly, the causes and nature of World War II.
❗️It is our common duty to preserve historical truth and honour the memory of the heroes who sacrificed themselves for the sake of peace and freedom for all.
#Victory80#WeRemember
🗓 Today is the Day of Military Glory of Russia - the Day of the defeat of the Nazi troops by the Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad. On 2 February 1943, the Battle of Stalingrad one of the largest and fiercest battles in the world history that radically changed the course of the Great Patriotic War, was concluded.
The Stalingrad Victory was the result of the unbending resilience, courage and self-sacrificing heroism of the Soviet troops. It was this battle that made a decisive contribution to reaching a major turning point in the Great Patriotic War. The Red Army seized the strategic initiative and retained it until the Victory Day. The defeat of the Nazi bloc in the battle of Stalingrad also helped to energize the Resistance Movement in the European countries.
🕯The memory of this great battle on the banks of the Volga River is carefully preserved in the Museum-Reserve “The Battle of Stalingrad” that includes the internationally renowned Memorial Complex on Mamayev Kurgan, the Panorama Museum “The Battle of Stalingrad”, as well as the Museum “Memory” located in the historical place where the Soviet troops captured the Headquarters of the 6th German Army headed by Feld Marshal Friedrich Paulus.
❗Russia honours the memory of its heroes and is proud of the heroic act of the Soviet citizens who gave their lives in order to liberate Europe from fascism.
#Victory80#WeRemember
🗓 Exactly 80 years ago, on 17 January 1945, Warsaw was liberated from fascist invaders by the forces of the 1st Belorussian Front of the Red Army and the 1st Polish Army. The city was under German occupation since 28 September 1939.
The Warsaw-Poznan operation was an important part of one of the largest offensives of the Great Patriotic War – the Vistula-Oder Operation (12 January – 3 February 1945).
✏ In 2017, the Russian Ministry of Defence unveiled a unique archive with declassified documents on the liberation of Poland by the Soviet Armed Forces. Those documents provide evidence of how Poles treated Soviet soldiers: church priests called on worshippers to support the Red Army, people brought flowers to the soldiers, Polish and Soviet flags were displayed outside houses.
❗It is our common duty to remember history and honour the heroic deeds of those who gave us the right to life. It is symbolic that the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Warsaw coincides with the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Regardless of the attempts made by some European politicians to distort the historical truth and downplay the role of the USSR in liberating Europe from Nazism, the chronicle of the war years cannot be rewritten. It will forever remain a living reminder for future generations.
#Victory80#WeRemember
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 ⚠️