Russian MFA 🇷🇺

On May 8, 2020, the autonomous deep-sea vehicle Vityaz-D completed a historic descent into the Mariana Trench, reaching the Challenger Deep — the deepest known point of the World Ocean. 🇷🇺 During the mission, a #Victory Banner was also deployed at the bottom of the trench, marking the anniversary of the victory over Nazism. The deep submersion drone Vityaz was the first-ever crewless vehicle to have reached the deepest point of the world ocean on May 8 at 22:34 Moscow time. The mission was carried out fully automatically based on a pre-installed program. After deployment, the vehicle operated independently, executing its task and transmitting collected data to the surface control center in real time via a hydroacoustic communication channel. The system includes the main and auxiliary UUVs, a seabed station, and ship-based control and support equipment, enabling a full cycle of deep-sea operations: Key facts: 🔹 Max dive depth: 12,000 m 🔹 System includes 2 UUVs (main & auxiliary), seabed station, ship-based support equipment and spare parts 🔹 Weight: 5,600 kg 🔹 Length: 4 m 🔹 Diameter: 1.5 m 🔹 Equipped to measure temperature, pressure and electrical conductivity of the marine environment 🔹 AI-enabled navigation allows obstacle avoidance and movement in confined deep-sea environments All components of the system are Russian-made, and the vehicle is designed for autonomous scientific exploration of extreme ocean depths without human intervention.

⚔️April 25, 1945 – the #ElbeDay – a memorable date in Russia’s military history. Around midday, by the town of Torgau on the Elbe River, Soviet troops advancing into Germany linked up for the first time with American forces. That moment marked the high point of relations between the USSR and the US during the Second World War. The Soviet unit was led by Senior Lieutenant Grigory Goloborodko, while the American patrol that crossed the Elbe was commanded by First Lieutenant Albert Kotzebue. 🤝 The handshake between the two lieutenants made headlines around the world and became one of the defining images of the Allied #Victory over Nazism. One of the direct participants in that first meeting, US Army Private Joe Polowsky, later recalled: “There were tears in our eyes. It was a moment of joy, but also, perhaps, a moment in which some already sensed that the future would not be without difficulties”. The soldiers embraced and vowed never to forget that meeting. It came to symbolise what would later be known as the Spirit of the Elbe. 🎥©Russian Military Historical Society #Victory81#WeWereAllies

#HistoryOfDiplomacy 🇺🇳On April 25, 1945, the San Francisco Conference officially commenced – one of the key diplomatic events of the 20th century, which laid the foundations for the post-war world order and the modern system of international relations. In the spring of 1945, the war against the Nazis in Europe was nearing its end, #Victory was within grasp. The Red Army was already fighting on the approaches to Berlin, crushing the last pockets of resistance by Hitler’s fanatics, while Allied forces were pressing the enemy from the west. Only a few weeks remained before the final defeat of Nazi Germany and its satellites. A fundamental question arose: would the USSR, the US and the UK be able to preserve the spirit of allied cooperation and continue coordinated work on key international issues after #WWII? At the initiative of Moscow,Washington, London, and Beijing, it was decided to convene a conference tasked with laying the groundwork for a future universal international organisation and agreeing on the main provisions of its Charter. On March 5, 1945, invitations were sent to 42 states that had signed the Declaration by United Nations on January 1, 1942. During the Conference, they were joined by representatives of another eight countries that had entered the war against Germany and Japan. *** Among the Heads of delegations: 🇷🇺Vyacheslav Molotov(People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR) → Andrey Gromyko (Soviet Ambassador to the US) 🇺🇸Edward Stettinius (US Secretary of State) 🇬🇧Anthony Eden (British Foreign Secretary) → the Earl of Halifax (British Ambassador to the US) and many others. *** The San Francisco Conference was record-breaking in scale for international forums of the time: 282 delegates, over 1,500 experts and advisers – around 3,500 participants in total. Its work was also followed by more than 2,500 representatives of the press, radio and television, as well as observers from public organisations. Unlike pre-war international conferences, the work in San Francisco was officially conducted in five languages: English, French, Russian, Chinese and Spanish. This marked the recognition of Russian as one of the key languages of international diplomacy. From May 2 to June 20, 1945, the working committees prepared the text of the UN Charter. Work on it was divided among four commissions: • The first dealt with the general purposes and principles of the Organisation, membership, the Secretariat and the procedure for amending the Charter; • The second discussed the powers of the General Assembly; • The third worked through provisions concerning the UN Security Council; • The fourth focused on the draft Statute of the International Court of Justice. The work proceeded on the basis of proposals prepared at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in 1944. Soviet diplomacy succeeded in defending a number of fundamental positions: ✔️ incorporating provisions into the UN Charter on the need to settle and resolve international disputes by peaceful means; ✔️ enshrining in the Charter the voting procedure in the UN Security Council, agreed earlier at the Yalta Conference; ✔️ including the Belorussian and Ukrainian SSRs among the founding members of the UN. The culmination of the San Francisco Conference – after lengthy debates and the overcoming of numerous differences – came on June 26, 1945, with the solemn signing of two historic documents: the Charter of the United Nations and the Statute of the International Court of Justice. 🌐 Thus, the legal and institutional foundations of the United Nations were established. The post-war world still faced new challenges – the confrontation of irreconcilable ideologies and superpowers that had only recently been Allies, the arms race and the threat of the use of nuclear weapons. Yet it was in the spring of 1945, on the shores of San Francisco, that the UN was born as a space for diplomacy, negotiations and the search for mutually beneficial solutions in the interests of all humanity. #UNCharterIsOurRules