Russian Consulate in Cape Town

#KievRegimeCrimes 📑 The quarterly report on the crimes committed by the Kiev regime in January — March 2025 has been compiled by Foreign Ministry's Ambassador-at-Large on the crimes committed by the Kiev regime, Rodion Miroshnik, and has been presented on April 28, 2025, during the Ambassador's briefing. During the first three months of 2025, the armed formations of the Kiev regime systematically shelled objects of civilian infrastructure on the territory of the Russian Federation, deliberately targeting civilians. During this period, at least 22,221 munitions were fired at civilian targets. In total, since February 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have fired at least 251,865 munitions of various calibres and modifications at Russian civilian sites. ❗️ A sharp increase in the number of Ukrainian shelling attacks was recorded in the last weeks of March. This is how Kiev reacted to the start of the negotiating process between Moscow and Washington. The number of attacks during this period reached 300 per 24 hours, or more than 2,000 per week, which is approximately 25% higher than the weekly figures for January and February. The increase in the number of civilian victims documented in the second half of March is directly linked to Kiev’s attempts to oppose the search for a peaceful settlement and to the thwarting of the agreement on a 30-day moratorium on strikes on energy facilities. The Ukrainian side deliberately carried out a number of targeted attacks on crowded places resulting in numerous civilian victims. ▪️ Civilian sites in the Belgorod Region, the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Kherson, Kursk and Zaporozhye regions, as well as the Lugansk People’s Republic, were most frequently shelled during the above-mentioned period. • From January 1, 2025 to March 31, 2025, there were at least 1,489 verified civilian victims resulting from the Ukrainian forces’ attacks: 🔻 1,197 people, including 63 minors, wounded; 🔻 292 civilians, including five children, killed. • At least 21,002 civilian victims caused by the Ukrainian formations’ attacks since the beginning of the conflict: 🔻 14,287 people, including 880 minors, wounded; 🔻 6,715 people, including 218 children, killed. During this period, victims of numerous murders committed by Ukrainian militants in the Kursk Region’s villages of Russkoe Porechnoye, Makhnovka, and CherkasskoePorechnoye were found. The bodies of civilians were discovered in the town of Chasov Yar, DPR, who had been killed by the Ukrainian military while attempting to evacuate from the war zone. Moreover, fresh burials of civilians with signs of violent death have been found in the village of Dvurechnaya, Kharkov Region, which was liberated from Ukrainian neo-Nazis. During the first three months of 2025, the Ukrainian Armed Forces intensively used various types of UAVs to attack objects of civilian infrastructure, and to kill and maim civilians. <...> 409 civilians were hurt in Ukrainian drone attacks. Twenty-three people, including three children, were killed, and 386 people, including 24 minors, were wounded. <...> The Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out barrages of targetedstrikes on medical personnel, rescue and emergency workers. Since the beginning of the year, the AFU militants have intensified a targeted manhunt for media teams covering the special military operation and the Kiev regime’s criminal acts against civilians on the frontline territories. A premeditated attack on a group of journalists in the Kremennaya District, LPR, is a compelling example. A US-made HIMARS MLRS was used to kill three Russian journalists on the spot. All in all, over the past three months, 13 Russian media workers fell victim to criminal actions of the Ukrainian armed forces. Six of them died. 📖Full report (pdf)

Moscow Transformed: How the Capital Glows With Pride Ahead of the 80th Victory Day Celebration Subscribe to @sputnik_africa 🔸Sputnik Africa | X🔸

🎷From Russia with Resonance: Igor Butman Quartet’s Triumph at CTIJF 2025 🗞️✍🏻By Gillian Schutte Among the many great performances at the 2025 Cape Town International Jazz Festival, the Igor Butman Quartet carved out a space entirely their own — a realm defined by dazzling virtuosity and the profound art of musical conversation. This performance stood among the most outstanding of the festival. 🎶For Igor Butman, Russia’s world-renowned tenor saxophonist, playing at this iconic gathering fulfilled a long-held dream. Speaking ahead of his set, he described the opportunity to perform at the CTICC as a ‘dream come true.’ That sense of awe and gratitude infused the evening — a set that transcended technical brilliance and became a living testament to music’s universal spirit. At 63, Butman performed with stamina and expressive breadth that defied expectation. His saxophone tone shifted seamlessly between mischievous play, aching nostalgia, and jubilant celebration — sometimes all within a single phrase. ⭐️He was joined by a trio of fellow maestros: Oleg Akkuratov (piano and vocals), Nikolay Zatolochny (double bass), and Eduard Zizak (drums). Together they fashioned a music of dialogue — listening, teasing, provoking, and elevating one another’s ideas with intuitive mastery. The set opened with Falling Out, a spirited, mock-argument between piano and saxophone — a musical skirmish that established the night’s ethos of lively, unfolding conversation. A soulful rendering of Mississippi Dreams revealed the group’s lyrical tenderness. Akkuratov’s velvet-fingered piano wove meditative, resonant lines across the soundscape, while Zatolochny’s bass shaped the harmonic ground with understated authority. In a moving gesture of connection to the Cape Town audience, Akkuratov also sang Malaika, the beloved Swahili love song. His careful pronunciation and heartfelt delivery created a rare moment of unguarded communion, a bridge between continents built through pure feeling. 🎺The Igor Butman Quartet achieved a luminous artistry rarely encountered: transforming a concert into a living act of conversation — playful, profound, and intellectually exhilarating. 💫Among the many voices and visions at the 2025 Cape Town International Jazz Festival, the Igor Butman Quartet lit up a space with world-class artistry that will not be easily forgotten. #CTIJF

🚢 The barque Kruzenshtern arrived in Cape Town ⚓️ The Russian sail training vessel Kruzenshtern entered the port of Cape Town as part of its four-month training voyage around Africa. 🌍 The voyage is taking place within the framework of the Grand African Expedition organized by the Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries and is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. 👨‍✈️ On board were over 140 cadets, as well as 13 trainees from Cuba, Morocco, Egypt, and Kazakhstan, who are mastering sail handling, ship operations and safety procedures. 📍 After departing from Kaliningrad, the vessel sailed through the Baltic and North Seas, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, made a stopover in Morocco and has now arrived in the Republic of South Africa. ➡️ The next destination is Mauritius. 📸 Photo: Consulate General of Russia in Cape Town

📸#FamilyPhoto Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov takes part in family photo ceremony together with heads of delegations of the BRICS and partner countries 📍 Rio de Janeiro, April 29

✍️ Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’sinterview with Brazilian O Globo newspaper (April 28, 2025) Read in full ❓Question Expanding trade among BRICS countries is one of the objectives for Brazil’s chairmanship in this group in 2025. What kind of opportunities does Russia see in terms of increasing the share of trade transactions in national currencies? 💬 Sergey Lavrov: We are witnessing an accelerating trend in the fragmentation of the global economy. Against this backdrop, it is quite natural for the countries of the Global South and East to reduce the share of Western currencies in their mutual settlements. No one wants to suffer from sanctions. <...>. We have been working within #BRICS to ensure that there are no disruptions when carrying out payments and have been quite effective in our efforts. To give you an example, the ruble and currencies of our friendly countries accounted for 90% of Russia’s settlements with BRICS countries in 2024. <...> ❓ Question: Reinforcing global governance and promoting multilateralism is another major topic for BRICS. What do you think BRICS countries can do to this effect? 💬 Sergey Lavrov: BRICS has become much stronger compared to when this group took shape back in 2006. Today, it stands as a focal point with a mission to coordinate the interests of the Global Majority’s leading countries. BRICS fully adheres to the principles of equality, mutual respect and balance of interest. Russia views this group as one of the pillars of a multipolar world and an important mechanism for international cooperation. <...> BRICS countries are not seeking to take someone else’s place. Their aim consists of creating a favourable environment for building capacity. ❓ Question: Brazil calls for expanding the UN Security Council. What is Russia’s current stance on this issue? Would it vote for making Brazil a permanent member? 💬 Sergey Lavrov: Russia believes in a balanced reform of the Security Council as one of the main UN bodies. <...> Shaping of a multipolar world should include broader representation of the countries of the Global South and East, that is, Asian, African and Latin American countries, at the UNSC. 🇧🇷Brazil is the right candidate for a permanent seat on the UNSC. We are against giving more seats to Western countries and their allies. Key points: • We got the impression that our American counterparts now have a better understanding of Russia’s stance on the situation around Ukraine. We hope that this will help them during their dialogue with Kiev and individual European countries. • The fact that the current administration in the United States is trying to understand the root causes of the crisis is quite encouraging and contrasts with the Joe Biden administration which pumped the Kiev regime full of lethal weapons and was proactive in its efforts to draw Ukraine into NATO. • Zelensky’s regime has shown that is lacks the political will for peace and the ability to stop the war, which is being fuelled by the Russophobic circles of certain EU countries, primarily France and Germany, as well as Britain. • Instead of facilitating a settlement, the European Union has been seeking to undermine agreements by arguing that there has been little, if any, effort to invite it to contribute to these talks. • Russia appreciates the striving of our partners to help create conditions for a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis. Over 20 countries and a number of regional associations in Latin America, Asia and Africa have put forth such initiatives. • We have made no secret regarding our position on the settlement. Russia proceeds from the premise that Kiev’s non-accession to NATO, as well as reaffirming its neutral and non-aligned status. <...> The second pillar consists of overcoming the legacy of the neo-Nazi regime which took power in Kiev after the February 2014 putsch. <...> The international recognition of Crimea, Sevastopol, the DPR, the LPR, the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions as part of Russia is another imperative.

🚢 Барк «Крузенштерн» прибыл в Кейптаун ⚓️ Российское парусное учебное судно «Крузенштерн» зашло в порт Кейптауна в рамках четырёхмесячного учебного рейса вокруг Африки. 🌍 Плавание проходит в рамках Большой африканской экспедиции Росрыболовства и приурочено к 80-летию Победы в Великой Отечественной войне. 👨‍✈️ На борту находятся более 140 курсантов, а также 13 практикантов из Кубы, Марокко, Египта и Казахстана, которые осваивают парусное вооружение, судовую организацию, технику безопасности и навыки работы на высоте. 📍 После выхода из Калининграда судно прошло через Балтийское и Северное моря, пересекло Атлантику, сделало остановку в Марокко и теперь прибыло в Южно-Африканскую Республику. ➡️ Следующим пунктом на маршруте «Крузенштерна» станет остров Маврикий. 📸 Фото: Генеральное консульство России в Кейптауне

🎙Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's interview with CBS (Moscow, April 27, 2025) 📖Read the interview in full 📺Watch on YouTube Key talking points • We continue our contacts with the American Side on the situation in Ukraine. There are several signs that we are moving in the right direction, first of all, because President Trump is probably the only leader on Earth who recognized the need to address the root causes of this situation. When he said that it was a huge mistake to pull Ukraine into NATO, and this was a mistake by the Biden administration, and he wants to rectify this. • We only target military goals or civilian sites used by the military. President Putin expressed this for so many times, and this is not different this time as well. We never consciously target civilian sites, unlike the Zelensky regime. • The Trump administration is interested in searching for a balance of interest. They sincerely want to understand better the Russian position. And they're getting this understanding. And we understand better the American position through negotiations and meetings and discussions, which we have with them. • We are really polite people. And unlike some others, we never discuss in public what is being discussed in negotiations. Otherwise, negotiations are not serious. • Whenever we discuss Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, anything, American negotiators put on top human rights. They have claims in this regard to China, to us, to anybody. But whenever Europeans and other Western nations speak about Ukraine, nobody can even mumble the words "human rights". • We have nothing against American companies, but those companies who decided to leave their business in Russia might find that their place has been already taken by Russian or other foreign investors. And in this case, we would not make any decisions which would discriminate those who came to invest in Russia instead of Americans. If American companies would like to come to a place which is not yet occupied, if they want to propose a project, a new project on top of the previous business ties, of course, we will look into this. And if we find balance of our interests, I think it would be only natural to get into business together. • We have been promoting for many years in the United Nations a resolution prohibiting putting any nuclear weapons into outer space. The country which is categorically against it is the United States. At least during the Biden administration, this was the case, they were categorically against it. At the same time, the United States promotes an approach according to which they want to prohibit putting conventional weapons in outer space. And they cannot answer the question, "Does this mean that nuclear weapons, they would be planning to move to the orbit?" • It was the United States which broke the process of strengthening strategic stability. And if the United States is willing to get back to this track, we will see what are the conditions under which this might be possible. • We welcome the dialogue between the US and Iran. We would be certainly ready to help if both parties believe this is going to be useful. And they know that we are ready.

🎉🇿🇦 Happy Freedom Day, South Africa! Today, 27 April, South Africa celebrates the 31st anniversary of its first democratic elections — a landmark event that marked the beginning of a new era of freedom, equality and justice. Held in 1994, these historic elections were the first in which citizens of all races could exercise their right to vote, putting an end to decades of apartheid rule. Freedom Day honours the sacrifices and courage of those who fought tirelessly against injustice and discrimination, paving the way for a democratic and inclusive South Africa. The Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Cape Town extends its warmest congratulations to all South Africans on this significant occasion! #FreedomDay#SouthAfrica

🇷🇺 В преддверии празднования 80-й годовщины Победы в Великой Отечественной войне 26 апреля в стенах Русского детского центра в Кейптауне впервые состоялась Международная патриотическая акция #ДиктантПобеды. 📍В мероприятии приняли участие активисты Координационного совета организаций российских соотечественников (КСОРС), представители российской диаспоры, сотрудники Генерального консульства, а также жители Кейптауна, интересующиеся историей Второй мировой войны. ❗️С приветственным словом к собравшимся обратился ветеран Великой Отечественной войны Николай Константинович Имчук. В своём выступлении он подчеркнул важность сохранения памяти о подвиге советского народа и пожелал участникам успехов. ❗️#ДиктантПобеды за шесть лет существования стал знаковым патриотическим проектом, объединяющим миллионы граждан России и наших соотечественников за рубежом. Сегодня акция проводится более чем в 80 странах мира. #ДиктантПобеды#Победа80

🗓 On April 25, 2025, a solemn ceremony to lay flowers and wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was held in Alexander Garden, attended by members of the diplomatic corps accredited in Moscow, senior officials of the Russian Foreign Ministry, and representatives of the Ministry’s veterans’ organisations. Over 150 foreign ambassadors and diplomats participated in the ceremony, honouring those who fell in the struggle against Nazism. 🕯 Attendees paid tribute to the heroism and self-sacrifice of soldiers who did not return from the battlefield, observing a minute of silence. The broad participation of representatives from foreign states in this ceremony unequivocally demonstrated that the valiant deeds of the heroes who saved the world from the fascist menace remain remembered and revered globally. 📹Watch the wreath-laying ceremony #WeRemember#TheSovietSoldierSavedTheWorld#Victory80#LestWeForget

📄 Russia's Foreign Ministry Report by «Eighty Years After the Great Victory: Europe has Once Again Fallen in the Shadow of Nazism» In May of 1945, amidst the wave of universal jubilation, it seemed that Nazism had been eradicated forever. The world, Europe, and especially the Soviet people paid the highest possible price for the Victory over the "brown plague." However, as life has shown, only the visible part of this sinister iceberg was destroyed in that war. The roots and the breeding ground remained, and today Nazism is once again rearing its head in Europe. 🇱🇹🇱🇻🇪🇪 After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States and Western European countries <...> actively indulged revanchist sentiments in the newly formed States, especially in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, where today the whitewashing of Nazism has been elevated to the rank of State ideology. <...> 🇵🇱 In Poland the task of falsifying the history of World War II to suit the political situation is being actively pursued. The decisive contribution of the Soviet Union and the Red Army to the Victory over Hitler's Germany and the liberation of Europe from Nazism is denied. Warsaw and the Baltic "troika" became the main driving forces behind anti-Russian initiatives by the collective West. <...> The West is trying in every possible way to whitewash the darker chapters of its own past. 🇫🇷 In France, which was designated as one of the "victors" after the war, significantly more Frenchmen fought on the side of the German army than participated in the Resistance and fought on the side of the Allied forces. <...> 🇫🇮 In Finland, the country's participation in the Great Patriotic War as an ally of Nazi Germany is portrayed in muted terms. <...> 🇧🇪 In Belgium there is a tendency to hush up the fact that during the years of fascist occupation, Belgians actively joined the ranks of collaborators. <...> 🇮🇹 Despite the fact that Italy's current 1947 Constitution prohibits the re‑establishment of the fascist party in any form, the ideas of anti-fascism were gradually eroded in the post-war period, and Italians' attitude towards the period of Benito Mussolini's dictatorship is far from unequivocally negative. <...> 🇬🇧 In the United Kingdom, there is an established practice of juggling the concepts of "Nazism" and "Fascism" for opportunistic interests – to describe any "undesirable" phenomena in the country or on the international stage, or to characterize public and political figures. <...> 🇩🇪 The desire to turn a blind eye to its Nazi past is already becoming commonplace in modern Germany as well. Active attempts are being made in various forms to blur this "burden." The strengthening of Russia's position in international affairs became a consolidating factor for European countries around the goal of inflicting maximum damage on our country's authority. And the Special Military Operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine and to protect the civilian population of Donbass became the trigger for a massive Russophobic information attack. <...> ❗️ The European bureaucracy nurtured the Nazi regime in Kiev in order to unite Europe under racist and Nazi banners for a war against Russia. The explicit ignoring of gross human rights violations in Ukraine is evidence of the European Union's indulgence of neo-Nazi ideas. <...> ☝️ Russia, as the country that suffered the most from the horrors of World War II and the Great Patriotic War, and that bore immense sacrifices to restore peace on the continent, will never allow the lessons of the past to be forgotten. <...> A key priority for Russia remains the preservation of the memory of the genocide committed against the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War. <...> ☝️ For the sake of our shared future, everything must be done to prevent the rehabilitation of Nazism and the glorification of Nazi criminals, so that the people of Europe are never again forced to ask, “For whom the bell tolls?”, fully understanding what the answer will be if this mission fails.