Russian Consulate in Cape Town

🎙 Briefing by Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova(January 23, 2025) 🔹 Ukrainian crisis 🔹 Kiev regime crimes 🔹 NATO Military Committee session 🔹 NATO buildup in the Baltic Sea 🔹 Violations of the rights of indigenous people in Greenland by Denmark and the USA 🔹 Violations of the Serbs’ rights in Kosovo 🔹 Anniversary of breaking the Siege of Leningrad 🔹 80th Anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp by the Red Army 📰Read 📺Watch *** #KievRegimeCrimes On January 17, the Russian soldiers liberating Russkoye Porechnoye, a village in the Kursk Region, discovered a torture chambers in the basements of residential houses, arranged there by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They found the mutilated bodies of at least seven local residents of different ages with traces of abuse in those basements. As the Banderites were retreating, they showered those people with grenades. A detailed comment on this account was posted on the Foreign Ministry website on January 19. • Videos of interrogations of two captured Ukrainian fighters who killed a civilian woman in the Kursk Region’s border area have been posted on social media. What these monsters are doing is beyond comprehension. This is worse than terrorism and worse than crime. • The Kiev regime continues its assault on the historical, cultural, and moral codes of Ukrainians and their fraternal peoples. The battle waged by Ukrainian hardcore nationalists against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is taking increasingly absurd forms. #West#Ukraine • At Davos Zelensky said that what happened in the spring of 2022 cannot be called a negotiating process or talks, because allegedly “wrong” things were discussed there in the “wrong” way. Why has he been silent all this time? After all, he was the one who asked for them. He sent delegates there, who took a bullet on their way back to Ukraine. • Supporters of the “party of war” on both sides of the Atlantic have become seriously worried by the current US government’s plans to achieve a speedy end to the conflict because peace is not part of their plan. • British Prime Minister Keir Starmer briefly visited Kiev on January 16. Many experts agreed that it was an attempt by the globalists to keep the situation the way they want and to prevent a peaceful scenario from playing out. It is high time London realised that appeasing Nazis is not only criminal but counterproductive, leading to results contrary to those intended. • Michael Waltz, the US President’s National Security Adviser, remarked in an interview with ABC News on January 12 that Ukrainians could fix the issue of the personnel shortfall in the Armed Forces of Ukraine by reducing the mobilisation age to 18. Kiev has already taken heed of this suggestion and is seemingly compliant. It is merely a matter of time. The Zelensky regime will not hesitate to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of young Ukrainians for its self-preservation. #NATO • NATO, as a power instrument of the collective West, has never ceased not only preparing for wars but, more crucially, fuelling conflicts globally. • The alliance is striving to maintain its global hegemony and to prevent the emergence of alternative centres of power and development. They entice countries from other regions into their orbit by promising financial aid and support, subsequently turning them into satellites. • Such partner assistance concludes in interference in internal affairs and alteration of foreign policy direction, imposition of their pseudo-values and the dictate of coalition guidelines. #Serbia#Kosovo • A merciless campaign of cleansing the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija from Serbs is ongoing. The self-proclaimed Pristina “authorities” are carrying out a forced Albanisation and wiping out any forms of the Serbian community’s autonomy in a bid to deprive it of everything down to the attributes of its national and religious identity. • The responsibility for the campaign of terror unleashed by Albin Kurti rests squarely with the Western countries.

At the Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery of St Petersburg, the President laid a wreath at the Motherland monument to honour the memory of the fallen Leningrad residents and defenders 420,000 civilians of Leningrad who died from starvation, cold, and disease, or in air-raids, as well as 70,000 soldiers are buried in the cemetery's 186 communal graves and 6,000 individual military graves. The memorial wall behind the Motherland monument carries the words by poet Olga Bergholz: "No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten."

The 81st anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi blockade On January 27, 1944, the Red Army drove the German fascist troops away from Leningrad. The siege, which lasted 872 days, was finally lifted. It is difficult to identify the exact number of Leningraders who perished during the blockade: according to various estimates, it ranges from 600,000 to 1.5 million people. During this time, the fascists dropped over 100,000 aerial bombs on the city and fired 150,000 shells. However, approximately only 3 percent of the dead were killed by enemy weapons, while 97 percent died from hunger. The city, unbroken, greeted its liberation with a festive salute. People poured into the streets and embankments, no longer fearing, but rejoicing in the sound of artillery fire for the first time in a long while. #Victory80#OurVictory

🌟#OnThisDay8️⃣0️⃣ years ago, on January 27, 1945, Auschwitz-Birkenau (Oswiecim, was located in Nazi-occupied Poland) — the most terrifying German extermination camp in #WWII — was liberated by the Red Army’s 1st Ukrainian Front during the Vistula–Oder offensive operation. #Auschwitz was created by the Nazis in 1940 in a building that used to serve as military barracks near a small town called Oswiecim, whose history dates back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Having occupied Poland in 1939, the Nazis changed the town's name of Oswiecim to German Auschwitz. Later, in 1941-1943, two more imprisonment facilities were established in the vicinity of Oswiecim. They were: ▪️Auschwitz II — best known to the wider public as #AuschwitzBirkenau, was three kilometres away from the main facility — Oswiecim and located near Brzezinka, a Polish village (Birkenau in German). Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest "death factory". Equipped with crematoriums and gas chambers, it was created by the Nazis with only one aim — exterminate people. ▪️Auschwitz III (also known as Monowitz). Its prisoners were used by the Nazis for the Third Reich war industries. Following the so-called Wannsee Conference in 1942, the Nazis approved what was called the “final solution to the Jewish question”. Since then, Auschwitz-Birkenau was turned into the main "death factory" for the annihilation of Jews in Europe. ❗️ Prisoners of Oswiecim were held by the Nazis in inhuman, barbaric conditions. They had to do hard, exhausting work until total exhaustion, to endure poor sanitation in the camp's facilities, malnutrition and constant tortures by the guards and SS-troops. It was in Oswiecim that the Germans first tested the "Zyklon-B" poisonous agent on human beings. Prisoners of Auschwitz were also subjected to cruel medical experiments, led by a Nazi criminal, infamous retired military doctor Josef Mengele. In 1944, when the Red Army started the liberation of Europe, the Nazis, in an effort to cover the tracks of their crimes in Auschwitz, rushed to burn documents and destroy the camp's gas chambers, crematoriums, and deported as many prisoners as they could westward to other concentration camps deep in the Third Reich — over 58,000 prisoners were evacuated by the Nazis before Oswiecim and liberated by the Soviet forces in January, 1945. *** In January 1945, the units of the 1st Ukrainian Front launched the Vistula-Oder offensive and, successfully expelling the Nazis from Poland, finally reached Auschwitz. ⚔️ In the late hours of January 27, following three days of fighting the retreating enemy, the Red Army took over Oswiecim and opened the gatesofAuschwitz. The camp’s 7,000 prisoners were freed. Most of them were sick or suffering from extreme exhaustion and tortures. Rescued prisoners burst into tears of joy when they greeted their liberators. Some facilities of the camp were instantly made a hospital. According to various historic estimates, in 1940-1945, from 1.5 to 4 million people perished in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Over the past years, we are witnessing a campaign in several European countries, including Poland, to rewrite and falsify the history of WWII and, in particular, to erase the memory of the feat performed by the Soviet soldiers-liberators who saved the Auschwitz prisoners. 🎙 From a briefing by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on topical foreign policy issues (January 23, 2025): 💬 "This year, like all those years before, Russian representatives will not be invited to the commemoration ceremonies at Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 27. That is, there will be no one there to mention the Soviet liberator soldiers and express gratitude to them. In this regard, there is something that needs to be said to the organisers and all the Europeans who will be there: Your lives, your work and leisure, the very existence of your nations, your children have been paid for by Soviet soldiers, their lives, their blood. It was them who crushed the Third Reich machine. You are forever in their debt." 🕯#WeRemember

“Decoding the Ukraine Crisis: Historical context and current implications” ✍🏻 An article by Aleksei Malenko, Consul General of the Russian Federation in Cape Town (January 24, 2025) Key points: • In a desperate bid to maintain their waning dominance, the West is actively promoting the narrative that Russia initiated aggression against Ukraine. However, international conflicts are rarely straightforward, and interpretation of events is often manipulated to serve the interests of specific states. The history of diplomacy of our Anglo-Saxon counterparts is full of episodes where deception and coercion were employed without hesitation. • In 2013, Ukraine’s turn toward closer ties with the European Union marked a significant shift in its foreign policy. This decision triggered a series of events, culminating in political instability within the country — the Maidan protests. Ultimately, the then-President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted. Western interference in Ukraine’s domestic affairs played a decisive role in reshaping both its internal governance and its foreign orientation. • One of the central accusations against Russia was the annexation of Crimea. In February 2014, following the change of government in Kiev, a referendum on the status of Crimea was held. An overwhelming majority of residents — more than 95% — voted to join Russia. • The Kiev regime flagrantly violated the Charter’s provisions focused on language and religion, officially banning Russian and persecuting the Orthodox Church. If we are to uphold the UN Charter, it must be respected in its entirety, rather than selectively applied to suit convenient narratives. • Russia’s active involvement in peace negotiations, including the signing of the Minsk Agreements in 2015, was an effort to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine. These agreements, which called for a ceasefire and autonomy for Donetsk and Luhansk, were signed by then-leaders Angela Merkel of Germany, Francois Hollande of France, Peter Poroshenko of Ukraine and were never honoured any of them. Instead, Western powers used the agreements as a pause to rearm Ukraine. • Zelensky’s presidential term officially ended on May 20, 2024, yet he has refused to call elections, likely aware of his dwindling support. According to Ukraine’s constitution, power should have transferred to the Verkhovna Rada, the parliament. This transfer did not occur, rendering Ukraine’s government illegitimate. At the end of August this year, the mandate of the Verkhovna Rada also expired. As a result, there is no legitimate authority left in Ukraine, neither executive nor legislative one. 👉🏻 Read in full #RussianMFA

🎙Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s answers to Rossiya Segodnya questions about Arctic issues ❓Question: What is your opinion of Norway’s Chairship of the Arctic Council (AC)? Is Oslo aware of Russia’s concerns which have led to the suspension of our participation in the Council? 💬Maria Zakharova: Seeking to promote Russia’s interests in the Arctic, the Foreign Ministry maintains interaction with Norway’s Chairship of the Arctic Council and the AC Secretariat in Tromso. Oslo’s statements on its commitment to resuming the Council’s operation have so far resulted in the relaunch of its working and expert groups with Russia’s participation in a virtual format. This is important but clearly insufficient. Political dialogue at the AC platform remains suspended, and its main coordinating agency – the Committee of Senior Officials – has not resumed its meetings. We intend to continue working with Norway to normalise the situation at the Council. We will be able to assess the results of Norway’s Chairship, which will end in May 2025, on the basis of concrete results. ❓Question: Some media outlets have previously reported that the West maintains contacts with Russia via the Arctic Council thanks to the position of Norway as its Chair. If this is so, in which spheres have these contacts been established? 💬Maria Zakharova: We have resumed partial participation in the Artic Council. At the initiative of Norway’s Chairship, the meetings of all the six working groups of the Council – on sustainable development, climate, environmental protection, and emergency prevention, preparedness and response – resumed via videoconference in the second half of 2024. Representatives from the concerned Russian agencies and organisations took part in all of them. We hope that the resumption of the Council’s work will continue with due regard for the interests of all Arctic countries. ❓Question: Is Moscow ready to resume full participation in the Arctic Council, or is this issue not on the agenda and Russia is ready to withdraw from it? 💬Maria Zakharova: The Russian Federation has always stood for developing constructive cooperation in the Arctic in the interests of peace and stability in the region, the sustainable development of the Arctic, the protection of the interests of indigenous ethnic groups, and the conservation of the fragile Arctic environment. We are ready to resume dialogue on all items on the Arctic agenda, including within the Arctic Council, on the conditions of equality and mutual benefit. Our work at the Council will be based on the real state of affairs in that format and our country’s goals in that region. ❓Question: When could contacts between the Arctic Five be resumed? 💬Maria Zakharova: The resumption of meetings of the Arctic Five (Russia, Denmark, Canada, Norway and the United States) is not on the agenda. A trust-based dialogue will only be possible if the Western countries abandon their anti-Russia policies and express readiness to respect our interests and to jointly look for solutions to Arctic problems.

🔴#LIVE: Briefing by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on topical foreign policy issues 🔴Russia’s MFA website 🔴X (ex-Twitter) 🔴Facebook 🔴Ruptly

🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's remarks, via videoconference, at a briefing session with permanent members of the Security Council (January 20, 2025) 💬Sergey Lavrov: Indeed, since yesterday, the global media and social networks have been flooded with news from Washington, coinciding with the arrival of Trump and his team in the capital for today’s inauguration, set to take place at 8:00 pm Moscow Time. While the details are widely reported, speculation, analytical assessments, and forecasts are also intensifying regarding how this event may influence various conflicts across different regions of the world. There are numerous conflicts, including those in the Middle East, where the situation remains fragile. Despite the signing of an agreement between Israel and Hamas, there are no convincing signs of lasting stability. On the one side, warnings are voiced that Israel is violating the agreements, while Israel accuses Hamas of not fully adhering to the commitments they made. Of course, the Palestine problem beyond the Gaza Strip does not go anywhere. We can recall that Donald Trump, during his first term, promoted a concept that was totally different from the Arab Peace Initiative and implied that relations between Israel and all Arabs be normalised… ❗️ Yemen, Libya, and, of course, Syria after the events that took place a month ago, all this makes the Middle East and the Near East a very troubled region. Let us not forget Afghanistan, where the Americans are also trying to restore their presence to some extent, using neighbouring countries for this and thinking about returning their military infrastructure there. I am saying all this in terms of the policies carried out by the previous administration. So, of course, everyone is trying to guess what official approaches the Trump administration will promote. Unofficially, members of his team and he, himself, have repeatedly spoken out about the Middle East and the Ukraine crisis, which Trump considers a priority area of his foreign policy activity with an eye to resolving it, making it clear that they understand the Russian position in some of its aspects: for example, regarding the unacceptability of Ukraine’s membership in the North Atlantic Alliance. However, let me repeat that all of these are preliminary statements, more like “test runs,” made on the eve of the new President’s official inauguration and the approval of members of his administration. This is why a lot depends on the United States, first of all, because the Europeans and US Asian allies, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand are completely guided by the position of the White House, and in this sense, they are waiting to see what its final position will be. Of course, developing countries are waiting, too – countries in the regions where the United States can play a positive role or carry on the previous administration’s course to maintain conflict potential in the hope of benefitting from the ongoing crises. At least, this was the United States’ course for many years under various administrations. Therefore, guessing is a thankless job. We are open to contacts. We have repeatedly confirmed this in response to relevant questions, with the understanding that we will have serious proposals from those of our colleagues who once suspended, or even broke off, relations with the Russian Federation.

🎙 President of Russia Vladimir Putin held, via videoconference, a briefing session with permanent members of the Russian Federation Security Council (January 20, 2025) 💬Vladimir Putin: Regarding the developments in the United States, today in Washington, D.C., Donald Trump is being inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States. Undoubtedly, the pre-election phase was challenging for Mr Trump in every aspect; he, along with his family members, faced constant and intense pressure, including attempts on his life. Nevertheless, he demonstrated resilience and achieved a decisive electoral victory. 🇷🇺🇺🇸 We observe that the newly elected President of the United States and his team have expressed a desire to re-establish direct contact with Russia, which the outgoing Administration had severed, through no fault of our own. Furthermore, we note his remarks on the necessity of doing everything possible to avert a third world war. Naturally, we welcome this stance and extend our congratulations to the President-elect of the United States of America on his inauguration. I wish to emphasise that we have never declined dialogue and have always been prepared to sustain amicable and cooperative relations with any American administration, as I have reiterated on numerous occasions. We operate under the premise that the dialogue will be established on an equal and mutually respectful foundation, acknowledging the significant roles our nations play on several vital global issues, including the enhancement of strategic stability and security. ❗️We are also open to dialogue with the new US Administration regarding the Ukrainian conflict. The primary focus here should be addressing the root causes of the crisis, which we have discussed extensively. Concerning the resolution of the situation itself, I would like to reiterate that its objective should be not a temporary ceasefire or a pause to regroup forces and rearm for the eventual continuation of the conflict, but rather a lasting peacefounded on respect for the legitimate interests of all individuals and peoples residing in this region. Nonetheless, we will steadfastly advocate for the interests of Russia and the Russian people. This, in essence, is the purpose and meaning of the special military operation.

🗓 On January 20, Crimea celebrates Republic Day. The holiday commemorates the referendum of 1991, when the absolute majority of Crimean residents voted to re-establish the Crimean Autonomous Republic. 👉Crimea in history of Russia Interesting facts: 🔸 Crimea has had a close connection with Russia for centuries. As far as in 988–989, Grand Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich converted to Christianity in the then Tauric Chersonese. Centuries later, on April 19, 1783, Empress Catherine the Great signed a manifesto on the accession of Crimea to the Russian Empire. 🔸 The Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (CASSR) was originally established as part of the RSFSR in 1921. In 1945 it became the Crimean Region. In 1954, Crimea was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR; First Secretary of the CPSU’s Crimean Regional Committee, Pavel Titov, opposed the move and was relieved of his post. 🔸 The sovereignty referendum, which was held on January 20, 1991 to decide on re-establishing the CASSR, was the first plebiscite in the Soviet Union’s history. Voters were asked whether they supported re-establishing the CASSR as an entity of the USSR and a participant in the Union Treaty. A total of 93% of residents voted for autonomy. In the same year, a law was passed to re-establish the CASSR. 🔸 The 1991 Crimean referendum was the first attempt to determine the future of Crimea based on the will of its residents. To a large extent, this plebiscite served as the starting point for the peninsula’s reunification with Russia in 2014. 🔸 Republic Day was established in 2009. In 2014, after Crimea’s reunification with Russia, the holiday was included in the regional law on holidays. 🔸 On March 18, 2014, President of RussiaVladimir Putin and the top officials from Crimea and Sevastopol signed the Treaty on the Accession of the Republic of Crimea to Russia in full accordance with the results of the referendum held on March 16, 2014, where 96% of Crimean voted FOR the peninsula’s reunification with Russia. Ever since #CrimeaIsRussia once again and forever will be henceforth.

⚡️Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s response to a media question regarding recently exposed atrocities by neo-Nazis in the Kursk Region ❓ Question: Yesterday, it was revealed that the Russian military had discovered, in a cellar in the village of Russkoye Porechnoye, Kursk Region, bodies of civilians tortured and mercilessly killed by neo-Nazi invaders. Reportedly, those were maimed bodies of seniors who, evidently, were unable to resist. The images released by the media show bruises, bullet wounds, and tied arms and hands. Can this be commented on at all from a human point of view? Do you have any words for this? 💬 Maria Zakharova: True, the heart-wrenching images released by the media are hard to comment on from a human point of view. Naturally, it is beyond all logical explanations and understanding. These atrocities are simply another outrageous manifestation of the terrorist and Nazi nature of the Kiev regime. Driven by its malicious military and political impotence at the front, it once again committed a cannibalistic massacre of civilians. This is exactly what the countries of the collective West and their politicians, who personally cover and encourage Kiev’s Nazis, expect from the Banderites. They cynically turn a blind eye to their criminal acts, continue to authorise arms supplies to the Kiev regime and block attempts at international investigations of its crimes. In a joint and disciplined manner, they pretend that nothing terrible is happening, although this constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions. ❗️ All this confirms once again that the extermination of anything Russian is part of the European values that, as the “civilised” sponsors of the Banderites claim, the Kiev regime is defending. This is why it is obvious that this time again, we will not hear any intelligible reaction to these cruel murders of civilians from such international entities as the OSCE, the United Nations and its specialised agencies. Their secretariats controlled by the West keep their deliberate silence or say meaningless generalities about being “against violence,” while actually covering for the killings of residents of peaceful villages and towns, which makes them accomplices to those atrocities. We realise that there is no point in calling on those who are tightly stuck in the Western grip and are not going to do anything to establish justice, and to find and punish those responsible. ☝️ We will do it ourselves. The investigative authorities of the Russian Federation will carry out all the necessary actions to identify the perpetrators who will be duly and inevitably held accountable and sentenced to real imprisonment terms, as it happens with many other exposed crimes of the Kiev regime.

📹Who Fights Holy Crosses — a documentary by Rodion Miroshnik,Russian Foreign Ministry's Ambassador-at-Large on the Kiev Regime's War Crimes ☦️ Russian Orthodox churches and monasteries have long become a shelling target for Ukrainian neo-Nazis, as part of the Kiev regime’s ongoing campaign to eradicate all things Russian or anything allegedly tied to our country (including the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church) by any means necessary. One of the glaring examples of the impact of the military crimes committed by the Kiev terrorist regime is the destruction of the Holy Dormition Nikolo-Vasilevsky Monastery in the settlement of Nikolskoe (Russia's Donetsk People's Republic), which has been subjected to relentless bombardment by Zelensky's cronies, including with the use of Western-supplied HIMARS MLRS. These terrorist attacks left the monastery laced with bullet holes, and with damaged domes. Many of the surrounding buildings at the religious site were ripped apart, and several novices were murdered as a result of the shelling. #See4Yourself#Think4Yourself