Russian Consulate in Cape Town

The Holy Fire is LIT — a sacred Orthodox Christian Easter tradition, flames are passed around crowd in Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The Holy Fire will travel nations and countries from here. #HappyEaster 📹©The Russian Embassy in Israel

🔴#LIVE: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Foreign Minister of Iran Abbas Araghchi commence talks in Moscow 🔴Russia’s MFA website 🔴Ruptly

Дорогие друзья! Приглашаем вас 26 апреля в 12:00 принять участие в «Диктанте Победы» — Международном историческом диктанте на тему событий Великой Отечественной войны. В этом году особенно важно присоединиться к акции, ведь мы отмечаем 80-летие Великой Победы! «Диктант Победы» — это не только проверка ваших знаний, но и возможность узнать больше о героическом прошлом, приняв участие в масштабном образовательном проекте. Как принять участие: 1) Перейдите на сайт: диктантпобеды.рф 2)Нажмите «Зарегистрироваться» через email 3)Получите код на почту 4)Введите код — и готово! Вы создали личный кабинет, где сможете увидеть свои результаты. На сайте также доступны тренировочные тесты, в том числе материалы диктанта 2024 года — отличная возможность подготовиться заранее. Ждём вас 26 апреля по адресу: 29 Loop St, Cape Town City Centre, Cape Town, 8000 ⚠️ При затруднениях с доступом к сайту рекомендуется воспользоваться российским VPN-сервисом.

🎖️Память, соединяющая поколения: лекция о СССР во Второй мировой войне для детей Гугулету 🕊️ В тауншипе Гугулету в стенах литературного клуба Lumkile’s Book Joint прошла особенная встреча, посвящённая важной теме — вкладу Советского Союза в Победу во Второй мировой войне. 📚 Представители Генерального консульства и активисты Координационного совета российских соотечественников рассказали юным слушателям о ключевых страницах истории — героической обороне Москвы, блокаде Ленинграда, Сталинградской битве и освобождении Европы от нацизма. Ребята узнали, как обычные люди проявляли мужество и стойкость в самые трудные времена, и как память об этом великом подвиге сохраняется в России по сей день. 🕯️ В центре внимания встречи оказались человеческие истории: школьники с интересом слушали рассказы о детях войны, о том, как миллионы людей потеряли свои дома, но сохранили веру в добро. #Победа80#МыПомним#РоссияЮАР

#Opinion by Russia's MFA spokeswoman Maria #Zakharova 💬 The Ukrainian social media is packed with the obituaries of Ukrainian military personnel killed on April 13 in the strike on a venue in Sumy that brought together commanders from Ukrainian Seversk Tactical Group. Here is an account of the death of Ukrainian fighter Vladimir Zherebtsov. Here’s an obituary for Ukrainian army colonel Yury Yula. Here’s the statement by the mayor of the Ukrainian city Konotop Artyom Semenikhin containing direct accusation of Head of the Sumy Regional Military Administration Vladimir Artyukh who convened a meeting of Ukrainian combatants with the participation of women and children. Semenikhin openly demanded resignation of General Artyukh, who uses terrorist “civilian human shield” tactics to protect his thugs. This Kiev regime’s war crime was so obvious even to the Ukrainian people and the Kiev-controlled media that voices of outrage were heard among Zelensky’s inner circle as well. Verkhovnaya Rada Deputy Maryana Bezuglaya publicly demanded to find out who, fearing a Russian strike on a legitimate target, ordered to use women and children as human shields during the military event. Zelensky confirmed every accusation coming his way by firing Head of the Sumy Military Administration Artyukh yesterday, thus shifting the responsibility for this hideous war crime, which this time was directed against his own citizens, onto him. Does UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres know about all this? The day that followed the attack on a perfectly legitimate target, he was“deeply alarmed and shocked” by Russia’s Sunday missile strike on Sumy and accused our country of “attacking civilians.” I also have a question for Kallas and Merz who deliberately went ahead with verbal manipulations and poured dirt over Russia on Sunday and Monday. How are you now going to justify what your underling did? For some reason, representatives of our embassies in Sweden and Lithuania were summoned to the local foreign ministries. Apparently, poisoned by the fumes of competitive Russophobia, they were trying to take advantage of anything they could lay their hands on to further damage relations with our country which, as is, are unlikely to get revived for many years to come. When the Ukrainians attacked civilians on the Crimean Bridge, when SBU terrorists blew up Russian journalists in the Moscow suburbs and in St Petersburg, when drones attacked the Moscow Kremlin, and when Ukrainian punishers committed genocide and mass murder in the Kursk Region and buried old people alive in the village of Russkoye Porechnoye, these Euro peacemakers kept silent, and all the UN Secretariat did was diplomatically “call for peace.” When the gunmen get-together was liquidated, everyone started blaming Russia at once... When it became clear that the local authorities purposely used children as a shield to protect these ghouls, everyone went silent. If you think of it, after these publications and dismissals, they should now kneel in repentance before the whole world. The above facts not only prove, but demonstrate with disarming directness that the Kiev regime uses women and children as human shields, and then cast these staged performances as acts of alleged Russian aggression. The Ukrainian Nazi militants are, in fact, taking their own fellow citizens hostage. The blood of civilian victims is on the hands of Zelensky and his henchmen, as well as the conniving Western mob. The hoax in Bucha and the unrelenting attacks by the Ukrainian armed forces on Russian energy facilities even during the negotiated moratorium demonstrably show that this hideous circus has quite a few bloody tricks up its sleeve. https://t.me/MariaVladimirovnaZakharova/10208

#Victory80 🗓 80 years ago, on April 16, 1945, the Berlin Offensive — one of the Red Army’s key strategic operations during #WWII — commenced. The operation resulted in the finaldefeat of the enemy’s Berlin group of forces and, with Hitler’s war machine being completely crushed. The Soviet forces took the capital of the Third Reich — #Berlin. The Instrument of Unconditional Surrender of Nazi Germany was signed — the document that heralded the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War. *** 🌟 By spring 1945, the Red Army successfully carried out a series of offensive operations aimed at liberating the countries and peoples of Central and Eastern Europe from the Nazi invaders. Hitler’s troops and their henchmen were expelled from Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, and Poland; Vienna and the capital of modern Slovakia, Bratislava, saved from the Nazi plague. Nevertheless, WWII was far from end. The final battle for the liberation of Europe from the Nazi plague, the Battle of Berlin, was coming. *** By mid-April, 1945, the Soviet forces — having liberated Poland from the Nazis — consolidated positions along the Oder and Neisse rivers and started preparations to launch the offensive on Berlin. Mere dozens of kilometres separated the Red Army from the capital of Hitler’s Germany. The enemy installed deeply echeloned defences and deployed elite Wehrmacht units against the Soviet forces. To attack Berlin, the Soviet Supreme High Command deployed forces from the 1st Belorussian Front (commanded by Marshal Georgy Zhukov); the 2nd Belorussian Front (Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky); and the 1st Ukrainian Front (Marshal Ivan Konev). ⚔️ The Berlin Offensive began at 5:00 AM on April 16 with a massive artillery fire. Following this, 143 powerful spotlights were activated to blind and disorient the enemy. Infantry and armoured units then launched their assault. Enemy resistance intensified as Soviet forces advanced. Fierce fighting erupted at the Seelow Heights — a critical defensive point just 60 kilometres away from Berlin — where the Wehrmacht’s 9th Army, blocking the direct route to the Reich’s capital, was destroyed. Within several days, the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts breached the Oder-Neisse defensive line of the Nazis, advanced 30 kilometres towards Berlin, and started encircling the city to destroy its garrison. • April 20: Red Army units reached Berlin. Soviet long-range artillery started shelling, with brutal tank battles erupting on the city’s outskirts. • April 25: The 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts linked up west of the city, completing the encirclement of the enemy’s Berlin group of Nazi troops. • April 29: Fierce fighting started in the heart of Berlin, where Germany’s highest governmental and military authorities were located. During the storming of the Reichstag on the night of April 30 — May 1, the legendary #VictoryBanner was raised — a symbol of the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazism. • May 2: Berlin’s garrison surrendered. By May 5, the Nazi resistance was crushed. A total of 134,000 German soldiers and officers were captured. ✍️ On the night of May 8–9, Marshal Zhukov and the Allied representatives accepted Germany’s unconditional surrender at Karlshorst. So, WWII in Europe ended. *** 🎖The Berlin Operation saw the Red Army not only crush the last major and most elite Wehrmacht force but also liberate approximately 200'000 prisoners from Nazi concentration camps within the combat zone. Over 600 Soviet soldiers were awarded the title #HeroOftheSovietUnion for their valour.

🇷🇺🇿🇦Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at the meeting with Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of South Africa Ronald Lamola(Moscow, April 16, 2025) 💬Sergey Lavrov: Esteemed Minister, Welcome. As far as I understand, you have already met with members of the Joint Russian-South African Commission on Scientific and Technological Cooperation. Hopefully, its outcome will contribute additional positive results to our trade, economic and investment cooperation. Thank you very much also for the opportunity to coordinate our approaches to the international agenda on the sidelines of your visit. We are satisfied with our countries’ cooperation at the United Nations, BRICS and G20. I do remember our meeting in Johannesburg this February on the sidelines of the G20 Ministerial Council meeting. I hope to see you soon at the BRICS Ministerial Meeting in Brazil. #RussiaSouthAfrica

📰 Highlights from Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's interview with Kommersant • The Europeans have literally gone mad in their frenzy [over Ukraine], especially the leaders of France, Britain, the Baltic states and several other EU and NATO countries. Unlike them, Donald Trump's administration has tried to get to the bottom of this issue and understand its root causes, which go back to what Washington and Brussels did to bring the current regime to power by staging and sponsoring an anti-constitutional government coup in February 2014. • It is an uphill struggle to get Russia-US relations out of the deep hole they are currently in after three years of free fall. This is especially true given that the sincere desire of President Trump and his team to return to normality is beginning to meet resistance after the shock that has shaken the Washington-based elites (both Democrats and some Republicans). • There is no such thing as globalisation in the world economy anymore. It has been destroyed. It was not Donald Trump who did it, but Joe Biden, by imposing sanctions and using them as his one and only foreign policy tool. More than half the countries in the world are facing sanctions and various restrictions. • Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron are obsessed with this idea of peacekeepers and are busy cobbling together a "coalition of the willing". But most of the EU and NATO countries aren't so enthusiastic. They say a line of contact is a good thing. Ending the conflict is the most important thing. But they are still leaving the political solution for later. • All of the "peacekeeping arrangements" promoted by Macron and Starmer are designed to preserve at least a small piece of land as the home of the blatantly Russophobic regime, which will be used to prepare another war against Russia. This is a major challenge to the West's reputation and credibility. Read in full

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at a ceremony for opening the "Anniversary Year: From Mexico to Argentina" exhibition marking anniversaries of Russia’s diplomatic relations with several Latin American and Caribbean countries (Moscow, April 15, 2025) 💬Sergey Lavrov: This year marks anniversaries of Russia’s diplomatic relations with a number of Latin American countries: 🇦🇷🇲🇽🇨🇴🇧🇴🇻🇪🇬🇹🇩🇴🇪🇨🇭🇳🇨🇺 Argentina (140 years), Mexico (135 years), Colombia (90 years), Bolivia, Venezuela, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, and Ecuador (80 years), and Honduras (35 years). That includes the 65th anniversary of reconstituting diplomatic relations with Cuba. On this occasion, we have set up an all-encompassing exhibition in our building on Smolenskaya Square. I’m thrilled to welcome you to its opening. I would like to begin by thanking our colleagues from our Ministry’s Department of History and Records and Department of Latin America. Thank you to the artists from the Creative Union Association for Promoting Culture and Art for their highly professional and creative efforts that made today’s event possible. In addition to unique documents and photographs that describe the most outstanding events in our country’s relations with Latin America, the items on display here include exhibits that highlight the Latin American continent’s cultural identity. Our relations go back to the Russian Empire. Many years have passed since then. I am pleased to note that despite changes in our country and around the world, we were able to ensure progress in cooperation with our partners from that region across a variety of areas. The outcomes of our joint work are presented at this exhibition. We have always held in high regard the Latin American peoples’ aspirations to preserve their own civilisational identity, to acquire and strengthen genuine sovereignty, and to hold their future in their own hands. During the former Spanish colonies’ war of independence, the Russian Empire firmly adhered to the principle of non-interference. Today, our country consistently advocates a greater role for the Latin American countries and integration associations in the emerging multipolar world order that is more equitable. 🤝 Just like our Latin American friends, we are firmly committed to democratising country-to-country relations and building them on the principles of international law, primarily the UN Charter, which enshrines the principle of the sovereign equality of states. This year marks the 80th anniversary of Victory in World War II and related 80th anniversary of the United Nations. We will all celebrate these dates. A portion of the exhibition is dedicated to the Latin American and Caribbean States’ contribution to defeating Nazism. For example, the Brazilian Expeditionary Corps fought battles against German and Italian troops. The 201st Squadron of the Mexican Air Force, aka Aztec Eagles, fought in the Pacific theatre against Japan in 1945. People from many Latin American countries participated in the movement of solidarity with the Soviet Union and provided all kinds of help and assistance. 🌐 I would like to take this opportunity to once again express gratitude to our Latin American friends for standing with us on multilateral venues when it comes to the initiatives on combatting glorification of Nazism and falsification of history, and unacceptability, in general, of revising the outcomes of the Second World War and Great Victory. <...> Russia-Latin America relations are steeped in a pragmatic, mutually beneficial, and ideology-free basis and boast an immense potential. We stand ready to work as a team to expand them in politics, trade and investment, scientific and technological research, culture, education, sports, and all other spheres. ☝️ The long-standing traditions of friendship, trust and mutual affection that bring our peoples together are the most important building blocks of success.

🗓 On April 15, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovopened a comprehensive exhibition "Anniversary Year: from Mexico to Argentina" at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation timed to coincide with the anniversaries of establishing diplomatic relations with a large group of Latin American states: Argentina (140 years), Mexico (135 years), Colombia (90 years), Bolivia, Venezuela, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Ecuador (80 years), Honduras (35 years), the 65th anniversary of re-establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba. The exhibition is also dedicated to the history and present of Russia - Latin America cooperation. Representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Moscow, as well as academic, business and media circles were invited to attend the event. 📑 Exhibition visitors seized the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the copies of documents from the Foreign Policy Archive of the Russian Federation on the establishment of relations with the above-mentioned states, as well as with materials demonstrating the development of multifaceted cooperation with the countries of the region in the political, economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres. An individual display was dedicated to the contribution of Latin American and Caribbean states to the fight against Nazism during the World War II. Artists from the Association for the Promotion of Culture and Art called Creative Union contributed to the design of the exposition, whose picturesque exhibits suggest images of the celebrating countries through paintings of animals and plants. #RussiaLatinAmerica

🔴#LIVE: Sergey Lavrov's remarks at the opening ceremony of the exhibition dedicated to the anniversaries of the establishment of diplomatic relations with Latin American and Caribbean countries 📍 Moscow, April 15, 2025 🔴Ruptly 🔴Russia's MFA website

📹 Видео интервью Министра иностранных дел Российской Федерации С.В.Лаврова газете «Коммерсантъ» (Москва, 14 апреля 2025 года) Читайте полностью Ключевые тезисы Фрагмент интервью 💬С.В.Лавров: Президент США Д.Трамп уже не раз говорил, что колоссальной ошибкой, в том числе ставшей «спусковым крючком» или одним из них, для того, что сейчас происходит на Украине, стало решение администрации Дж.Байдена окончательно затаскивать эту страну в НАТО. До этого были кое-какие обещания. Но в тот раз, когда Дж.Байден пришёл к власти, они стали этим заниматься уже абсолютно вплотную. Понимание одной из главнейших первопричин не раз публично признавалось Президентом США Д.Трампом. Когда мы (помощник Президента России Ю.В.Ушаков также был в нашей делегации) были на встрече с Госсекретарем М.Рубио, и советником по нацбезопасности М.Уолтцем, мы говорили и о второй главной первопричине, что нацистская власть в лице Зеленского и его сподвижников взяла курс на истребление всего русского. Они физически убивали многих известных людей, включая журналистов, общественных деятелей, отстаивавших необходимость сохранить русскую культуру в стране, которая была в решающей степени создана русскими и которую столетиями русские не то, что помогали, а обустраивали, строили такие города, как Одесса и многие другие, порты, дороги, заводы, фабрики. Этих людей физически истребляли. Законодательно (если брать состояние законодательства Украины на сегодняшний момент) всё русское истреблено. Серии законов, которые были приняты, а их напринимали с дюжину задолго до того, как мы приняли решение о безальтернативности начала специальной военной операции. Налицо понимание этого и у администрации Д.Трампа. <...> Это невозможно не учитывать: НАТО, истребление прав людей. Мы же говорим не про «землю», а про право людей, которые на этих землях живут. Именно поэтому эти земли нам дороги. Мы не можем их отдать, выгнав оттуда людей. Сейчас из сектора Газа предлагают выгнать палестинцев. Разве те, кто во главе с Зеленским продолжает «долдонить» про границы 1991 года, тоже хотят оттуда людей выгнать или хотят их вернуть под своё нацистское правление, в ситуацию, где все забыли язык, культуру, историю – всё, что Россия сделала для этих территорий? Им нужна земля, чтобы торговаться «подороже». Они что-то уже продали Премьер-министру Великобритании К.Стармеру по «спекулятивным» ценам. Теперь им не осталось, что предложить американцам. Это торгаши, у которых нет ничего святого. Недавно был в Анталье на дипломатическом форуме и приводил цитаты Зеленского. На днях в одном из интервью он сказал, что им движет ненависть к русским. На уточнение, дескать, он ненавидит так Президента России В.В.Путина, он ответил, что ненавидит всех русских. Вчера Зеленский подтвердил это снова в интервью еще одному СМИ. Понимание этого у американцев мы не просто ощущаем. Американцы говорят о том, что они понимают, что необходимо что-то сделать с этими коренными причинами. Не хочу даже подозревать, что в Европе нет ни одного нормального человека. Наверняка есть те, кто это понимает. Но им тоже «затыкают» рот. За редчайшим исключением говорить правду там осмеливаются только Премьер-министр Венгрии В.Орбан, Премьер-министр Словакии Р.Фицо и какие-то политологи, учёные, не находящиеся у власти. У американцев, администрации Д.Трампа эта способность проявляется это выгодно отличает их от тех, кто и думать не хочет, а только вылезает на экран (извините за не очень изящное слово) и начинает требовать от России немедленно прекратить военные действия на месяц. <...> Искреннее желание Президента США Д.Трампа и его команды перейти к нормальности после «оторопи», охватившей вашингтонские элиты (не только демократов, но и отчасти республиканцев), сейчас начинает вызывать сопротивление. Подспудно готовят какие-то «ходы» через лоббистов, через СМИ. Читаем об этом. Хотя из этого не делается никакого секрета. Они хотят не допустить того, чтобы Президент США Д.Трамп по-взрослому наладил отношения с Россией, как это положено двум великим державами и как это должно быть между любыми странами.