Russian Consulate in Cape Town

📰 Presidential Aide Nikolay Patrushev gave an interview to Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper(January 14, 2025) Key points: #USA • The US establishment has been divided and lacks a common policy vision for the world and domestically. • Trump’s core message is that he supposedly has a plan to revive pragmatic politics in the United States, which is expected to benefit both the state and its people. It has yet to be seen how this compares with the interests of other countries and nations. • If Trump’s first term as president is any guide, the infamous deep state has a lot of clout in the USA. It can prevent Trump from pursuing his agenda. • Trump will not view Ukraine as a priority. China is a much bigger concern for him. • Trump has outlined his interests regarding Greenland, the Panama Canal, Mexico and Canada. There is an American tradition that consists of reshaping the world map to suit the US interests and interfering in the affairs of other countries across various continents. • It seems unlikely that Trump sends the army to invade new states for the United States, as some have been saying. What is clear, however, is that the new administration will be proactive in asserting its interests in its dealings with all these countries. #ChinaUS • I believe that disagreements between Washington and Beijing will escalate, and it will be the United States that will intentionally fan these flames. #RussiaChina • For Russia, China has been and will remain a key partner as part of our privileged strategic cooperation. These relations are immune to momentary consideration and will endure regardless of who gets into the Oval Office. #Ukraine • Talks on Ukraine must take place between Russia and the United States without any other Western countries. • The people of Ukraine remain a kindred, brotherly nation with our ties reaching back centuries, no matter what the Kiev propaganda mouthpieces say in their Ukrainisation frenzy. We do care about what is happening in Ukraine. #Moldova • Chisinau must be honest with itself and stop deceiving its people. The Moldovan authorities must recognise their mistakes and get down to mending fences instead of searching for enemies inside the country and in Transnistria. #Europe • We have nothing to discuss with either London or Brussels. For example, EU leadership has long lost the right to speak on behalf of many members including Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Romania and several other countries which are interested in ensuring stability in Europe and have adopted a balanced position towards Russia. Read in full

🇳🇬Nigeria becomes 9th BRICS partner country The Brazilian government, as the current BRICS Chair in 2025, announced the formal admission of Nigeria as a partner country of the BRICS group. As Africa’s largest country by population and one of its leading economies, Nigeria is expected to bring substantial influence to the partnership. 🤝The nation’s role in South-South cooperation aligns closely with the priorities of BRICS under Brazil’s presidency, as reported by the official website of the Brazilian government. Nigeria joins the ranks of eight other partner countries, including Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan. The partner-country category was introduced during the 16th BRICS Summit, held in Kazan in October 2024. 🇮🇩On 6 January 2025, Indonesia became a full member of the group. 🔗read in full #RussianMFA#BRICS

🇿🇦SA hosts G20 Framework Working Group meeting Tuesday, January 14, 2025 Technical meetings under the Group of 20 (G20) Finance Track have begun this week with a meeting of the Framework Working Group (FWG). This after South Africa kicked off its G20 Presidency with the hosting of the G20 Sherpa and Finance Track Meetings in December 2024. “The National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank are jointly responsible for overseeing the work of the G20 Finance Track. “The mandate of the FWG is to promote strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth, and does so by identifying, monitoring and assessing global macroeconomic risks, vulnerabilities and uncertainties and recommending suitable policy responses to global shocks and cross-cutting global challenges,” National Treasury said in a statement. The G20 is a grouping of developed and developing countries which together form a powerful bloc representing at least 85% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product and some 75% of international trade – making the FWG critical. The first day of the meeting on the main headwinds to global growth, ongoing supply and demand risks to inflation, and the main fiscal risks to growth and inflation. It will also discuss the economic outlook for Africa. South Africa’s outlined priorities include: • enhancing global economic resilience in light of growth risks like fragmentation and macroeconomic imbalances; • strengthening macroeconomic foundations and growth reforms in light of climate change and • assessing labour productivity, technological development and demographic change This week’s FWG meeting is the first of four to be held. “The remaining three meetings for this Working Group are scheduled for April, June and September, in person, in venues across the country. “The outcomes of these meetings will inform discussions at the meetings of the Finance and Central Bank Deputies and Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors,” the statement concluded. The G20 Leaders’ Summit is expected to be held in the latter half of 2025. – SAnews.gov.za #RussianMFA#RussiaSouthAfrica#G20

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s answers to questions from 'Moscow. Kremlin. Putin' television programme (Moscow, January 16, 2025) ❓ Question: Did you closely follow the remarks made by future US Secretary of State yesterday? Does anything in what he had to say about the Ukraine crisis and ways to resolve it stand out to you? Do you think we can work with what he had to say? 💬Sergey Lavrov: I still believe that whatever we hear them say now is not an official position. In their system, most nominees for administrative positions must be approved by the Senate. During hearings, nominees are questioned, and efforts are made to elicit interesting or controversial responses from them. The Democrats don’t want the Republicans come across as particularly convincing, because President Joe Biden said his four years in office were historically significant for restoring America’s greatness. At this point, I’d rather not base my analysis on ideas and thoughts that we keep hearing. When Donald Trump was asked about this during an interview, he stated he intended to work hard, but first this “bloody mess” must stop. However, he also mentioned that he first needed to take office. He will move into office in five days, and we will then see what kind of proposals will be put forward. ❓ Question: Meanwhile, every one of them is saying that preparations for a meeting between President Putin and Donald Trump are underway. 💬 Sergey Lavrov: Both Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov and I have addressed this earlier. There are no bilateral contacts that would be indicative of preparations for such a meeting. If they are considering this and wish to prepare such a meeting, we will wait for them to come up with their proposals. The ball is in their court. We were not the ones to sever our ties or suspend regular consultations. During one of his news conferences, President Vladimir Putin was asked if he was open to talks. As always, he said he was ready to engage at any time, provided serious proposals are presented. Donald Trump heard this and said at a news conference that Vladimir Putin wanted talks, and that he was ready to sit down and talk as well. At this point, things remain fairly uncertain. ❓ Question: Could such a meeting be organised quickly, considering the current circumstances, where almost everyone on our side is under sanctions, and those “gentlemen” have made a mess of things over the past years? 💬 Sergey Lavrov: Those “gentlemen” have indeed made quite a mess, often hurting themselves in the process, primarily the Europeans. Making Europe “not great” is an undeclared objective of any US administration as it seeks to eliminate competitors, including Russia, China, and everyone else. However, if there is a will, there is a way. If the political will to establish contact is there, I have no doubt that the relevant services can make it happen.

#Outcomes2024 🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions during a news conference on the outcomes of Russian diplomacy in 2024 (January 14, 2025) Read in full *** 💬 FM Sergey #Lavrov: We are living in a historical era or confrontation between those who uphold the fundamental principles of international law <...> which have been formulated, set out and put forth in the most important international document – the UN Charter – and those who are not satisfied with that document, who decided <...> that they could not live in accordance with the wishes of the “political West”, <...> those who oppose multipolarity. President of Russia Vladimir Putin has repeatedly explained the true root causes of the special military operation in Ukraine. We had to begin to repel an attack, a war waged against us by the collective West with the main goal of suppressing competition when Russia re-emerged as its strong rival on the international arena. Their main goal was to weaken our country geopolitically, creating direct military threats to us right on our borders, on Russia’s native territories, <...> in an attempt to slash our strategic potential and devalue it as much as possible. The second reason also has to do with the history of the region, only it was more about the people who have lived on that land for centuries. <...> These people were labelled ‘terrorists’ by the current Ukrainian regime, which came to power through a coup d'etat. And when they refused to accept it, that regime launched an all-out offensive against all things Russian. <...> There has been a revival in efforts to oppose the Western diktat, with emerging economies and new centres of financial power in China, India, ASEAN, the Arab world, and CELAC. This group also includes a resurgent Russia together with its allies from the EAEU, the CIS, and CSTO. This also includes the SCO and #BRICS. The United States does not want to have any competitors anywhere, starting with the energy sector. <...> The United States and its allies have placed sanctions policies at the core of what they do on the international stage, including regarding Russia. This demonstrates their refusal to engage in fair economic competition and their commitment to using unfair, aggressive practices for suppressing their opponents. *** #CollectiveWest The West is intoxicated by its perceived “greatness,” its impunity, and its self-endowed authority to dictate the destinies of peoples worldwide. This reflects arrogance and a disdainful attitude towards the rest of the world. It is yet another brazen assertion that when we speak of “democracy,” it signifies merely one thing – “we do as we please.” <...> It is sheer hypocrisy, dictatorial behaviour, disrespect for the populace. #UN UN Security Council reform is needed. Not all countries that bear special responsibility in the global economy, finance, politics, and military affairs are represented in the UN Security Council. It has been pointed out repeatedly that countries such as India and Brazil have long earned permanent Security Council membership on all counts, as has Africa. #RussiaChina Russia-China partnership is among the key factors stabilising modern international life and the ongoing processes that are used, among other things, to escalate confrontation and hostility in international affairs, which is what our neighbours from NATO engage in under US guidance. #USA#Ukraine As soon as Donald Trump assumes the presidency and articulates his final stance on Ukrainian matters, we will examine it. <...> The increasing reference to the realities “on the ground” is a development likely to be welcomed. #RussiaSerbia Our relations with Serbia are grounded solely in the interests of the Serbian and Russian peoples, as well as our respective states. Our interests align on the vast majority of issues. These relations are rich with specific agreements and projects, including those in the energy sector, approved by our heads of state, governments, and companies.

⚡️Excerpt from the Ministry's of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation 2024 Report 'On Violations of the Rights of Russian Citizens and Fellow Citizens in Foreign Countries' ❗️Rights violations in the US The Russophobia spread by the US government has had a negative impact on of persons of Russian origin <...> After the beginning of Russia's special military operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine and protect civilians in the Donbass region on February 24, 2024, Washington stepped up the efforts to sow Russophobia that is actively promoted by the media and official rhetoric. The US authorities orchestrated a campaign to "cancel" everything Russian, which has now exceeded the fanatical anti-Communist campaign of the McCarthy years. 🔻 Owners of shops and restaurants who used in the names of their businesses the word "Russian", or included Russian specialties in the menu, were one of the first to face everyday aggression. 🔻 Russian research centres, universities and academics have been excluded from American projects, and in many cases the local scientific communities are concerned about the situation (especially in joint research projects in the Arctic region). 🔻Russian compatriots, activists of the Russian diaspora face persecution. Loyal Russian compatriots are being threatened with criminal prosecution on the pretext of violating the law on foreign agents, which dates back to 1938. 🔻 The attempts to substitute the Russian culture with Ukrainian are ongoing, such cases were recorded. 🔻 The US government is continually imposing new restrictions on the participation of Russian athletes, coaches and referees in international competitions. 🔻 The US authorities are working to erase the historical memory of the combat brotherhood of the peoples of our countries during the World War II. 🔻 Washington continues its attempts to put pressure on Russia by blatantly "hunting" its citizens. It is increasingly using as a pretext accusations of circumventing illegitimate anti-Russian restrictions. 🔻 In recent years, Russian journalists sent to the United States have repeatedly been victims of brutal and unjustified actions by law enforcement officials, faced bans on broadcasting on American territory, restrictions on access to official events, and blocked bank accounts. The process of issuing work visas is complicated. ☝️ Protecting the rights and legitimate interests of Russian prisoners has always been a priority of the Russian Embassy in the US. Special attention is paid to the health and living conditions of Russian citizens in prisons. As the experience of the Special Military Operation has shown, Washington actively engages controlled media and IT companies, which in every possible way prevent the international community from conveying Russian approaches and objective viewpoints on the events around Ukraine. Thus, US "digital giants" censor any information, including statements by current politicians and heads of state, that they deem "undesirable," up to and including the complete exclusion of the Russian position from the media space. Read in full

🎙️Interview by the Director of the Department of Economic Cooperation of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, D.A. Birichevsky, to Russia Today Question: The #G20 remains one of the key platforms for Russian economic diplomacy. Are the results of the #G20’s work in 2024 positive for Russia? What are the priorities for our work in this forum moving forward? Answer: The past year has been highly productive for the #G20. As a result of Brazil’s presidency, the forum has solidified its position as the leading platform for equal dialogue between the key economies of the Global South and North on global economic issues. The final declaration of the summit in Rio de Janeiro (November 18-19) provided sound assessments of the processes affecting economic growth rates, focusing on overcoming inequality and addressing the challenges faced by developing countries in ensuring their energy and food security. 🇷🇺For Russia, it is important that the agreements reached by the leaders reflect key principles for us, including the use of all available effective technologies (technologically neutral approaches) in the context of low-carbon development and the enhancement of the voice and representation of developing countries in multilateral financial institutions. Among the strongest supporters of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, initiated by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, were 82 countries, 24 international organizations, 9 financial institutions, and more than 30 non-governmental organizations. Russia also contributed its experience and best practices in implementing school meal programs and supporting small farming enterprises. 🇿🇦We are prepared for productive work this year with another BRICS partner, South Africa. From December 9-11, Johannesburg hosted the first #G20 Sherpas meeting under South Africa’s incoming presidency. We supported the priorities for the #G20 in 2025 as outlined by our partners. The focus on building disaster resilience, addressing debt sustainability, ensuring fair energy transitions, and securing critical raw materials will guide our ministries within the #G20’s 15 Sherpa working groups and 8 groups under the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Russia. ✊Russia fully shares South Africa’s desire to enhance the forum’s agenda by focusing on social justice and consolidating the Global Majority’s efforts to promote shared interests. We aim to actively participate in the proposed target groups on inclusive economic growth, food security, and artificial intelligence. On our part, we will continue to work towards aligning approaches to ensure stable growth, restore the proper functioning of agricultural markets, and eliminate unilateral illegitimate barriers in the trade of food and fertilizers. 🏁As the South African presidency concludes the series of rotations of developing countries (previously Indonesia, India, Brazil) and marks the end of the first round of rotational presidencies for all #G20 members, Russia is determined to contribute to the review of the forum’s work, solidifying the achievements of the Global South and laying a strong foundation for the future. #RussianMFA#G20#RussiaSouthAfrica

#InMemoriam#HistoryOfDiplomats 💼Alexander #Griboyedov, an outstanding Russian diplomat and writer, was born on January 15, 1795. 🎓 An exceptional high-achiever, Alexander Griboyedov entered university when he was just 12 years old, which was something unthinkable back then, just as it is today. He spent six years as a university student, during which he obtained three academic degrees. His friend Pushkin, who entered diplomatic service at about the same time, rightly referred to Griboyedov as “one of the smartest persons in Russia.” In 1818, Griboyedov received an appointment as secretary of Russia’s diplomatic mission to Persia. His effort to return 158 Russian soldiers who served the Persian Shah by risking his life while accompanying them on their way from Persia to Tiflis was one of his career’s highlights. 📜 Alexander Griboyedov contributed to drafting the Treaty of Turkmenchay which ended the 1826−1828 Second Russo-Persian War and marked a major milestone in Russia’s oriental policy. Apart from Russia’s military might, Russian diplomats and their diligent efforts shaped Russia’s relations with the East. In fact, Griboyedov made every effort to improve Russia’s relations with Iran by not only bringing them back to normal but also facilitating the emergence of strong friendly ties between the two countries. ✍️ Alexander Griboyedov is better known to the wider public as the author of Woe and Wit, an immortal masterpiece of 19th century literature which has retained its relevance to this day.

As it is known, large-scale illegitimate restrictive measures have been introduced against the Russian Federation and Belarus by a number of unfriendly countries. The joint efforts help the Union to withstand unprecedented pressure. Pressure is still being put on our allies in order to discredit and weaken the #EAEU. Unlike the "collective West", Russia does not require its partners to "be friends with us against someone." At the same time, the de-dollarization of the economies of the Union member states is one of our priority. The share of overall payments in national currencies in mutual settlements between the #EAEU countries has already reached 75%. There is also a supranational regulatory body, the Eurasian Economic Commission (#EEC), that operates on a permanent basis within the EAEU. 🗳️Decision-making in the bodies of the Union that include Supreme Eurasian Economic Council (SEEC), Eurasian Intergovernmental Council (EMC), Eurasian Economic Commission Council is possible only by consensus. Each country has one vote, regardless of its economic potential, population or size of membership fees to the Union budget. Thus, the #EAEU is based on the principles of equality, mutual respect and consideration of the interests of all its participants. The existing close cooperation serves as a powerful source for economic development and, at the same time, contributes to the preservation of the national identity and state sovereignty of each member state. 📈Statistics data proves that participation in the Union brings substantial benefits to each member state. The growth of the combined GDP of all member states for the period from 2016 to 2022 was 9.6%. Almost 0.7% (more than 10 billion USD) is the contribution of Eurasian integration, which is a tangible and significant integration effect. All the member states recognize a positive effect resulting from the work of the Union. The results of several years of the Union's functioning prove that this integration project is successfully developing and brings concrete benefits to the economies, business communities and citizens of the countries involved. It is of great importance that international cooperation within the #EAEU is built on the basis of equality and mutual respect. #RussiaMFA#EAEU

💭The Southern African Customs Union that operates in South African subregion is one of the oldest in the world. It was founded by South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, Namibia joined it later. 🗺️Being thousands of kilometers away from South Africa and with the direct participation of the Russian Federation another economic mechanism was established in 2015 - the Eurasian Economic Union ( #EAEU ) that unites Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan as member states. The EAEU ensures the freedom of movement of goods, as well as services, capital and labor, and pursues a coordinated or even common economic policy in various fields. 📍The Union was established on the basis of the interaction experience accumulated by the member states within the framework of the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States), the Eurasian Economic Union, the Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Space. Moreover, the members used the best world practices, advanced international experience, including the EU and the WTO (World Trade Organization). 📄In particular, the norms, rules and principles of the WTO were taken into account while elaborating the Treaty on the EAEU and are taken as a basis for the preparation of agreements on preferential and non-preferential trade of the Union with third countries. 🤝According to the Treaty which is the basic document of the Union its main mission is to improve the well-being of the member states citizens. To this end, Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are constantly working on forming a common market of the Union, which has to ensure the freedom of movement of goods, services, capital and labor. There are now more than 184.3 million consumers within the #EAEU. The total GDP of the member states is over 2 trillion USD. #RussianMFA#EAEU

📄 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation has compiled and issued a Report'On Violations of the Rights of Russian Citizens and Fellow Citizens in Foreign Countries' ☝️ We note with regret that the problem of violation of the rights of Russian citizens and compatriots abroad still has no signs of any improvement so far and, moreover, the negative trends continue due to the efforts of the collective West. <...> All such violations of the rights of Russians, such as denial of a wide range of services (educational, medical, banking, etc.), the introduction of measures against Russian business and seizure of property of Russian citizens, suspension of Russians from sports and culture events, hypocritically forcing them to public repentance and condemnation of the actions of Russian authorities (here one should also point out double standards applied by international sports organizations against Russians and representatives of some other countries in similar situations). <...> In the light of the support for the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev demonstrated by the “collective West”, Poland, the Baltic states,Ukraine itself and some other countries pursue the most Russophobic course. The common feature for all of them was, under the pretext of “condemning Russian aggression,” to fight against monuments and memorials commemorating the Red Army soldiers who perished in the battles for the liberation Europe from Nazism. That fight they, as the genuine followers of the ideology of Nazism, brought almost to paranoia and manic persecution of any symbol commemorating fighters against fascism. We would like to note in this regard, that, in addition to this report, the above-mentioned actions, which contradict the decisions of the Nuremberg Tribunal, are also covered in the Ministry's report on the manifestations of the glorification of Nazism in the world. <...> In a number of countries (first of all in the Baltic states, the United States, Canada and Ukraine), members of the Russian-speaking community who promote the preservation of cultural, linguistic and historical ties with Russia and advocate constructive relations with our country face pressure and repression on the part of the authorities. In addition, the authorities in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine intensified their efforts to squeezing the Russian language out of all educational institutions, thus trampling on the right of the residents (and citizens among them) to education in native language. Furthermore, the threat of mass deportation of Russian-speaking residents by the authorities of the Baltic states is still maintained: the first attempts on their part to solve, once and for all, the "Russian problem", as well as the unprecedented – especially for the XXI century – issue of widespread statelessness in their territories, have already been recorded. <...> We continue to record cases of foreign authorities' obstructing the activities of Russian journalists and persons representing Russian media. <...> ⚠️ We would like to emphasize: all such actions demonstrate the desire of the Western countries to eradicate alternative points of view and prevent the realization of one of the basic rights of their citizens, i.e. the right to freedom of expression, which includes the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of state borders. This report has been prepared based on the information and analytical materials provided by Russia's missions abroad using data from both Russian and foreign media and other open sources, including the conclusions and recommendations of the international human rights organizations and mechanisms. It takes stock of and systematizes the reports of hundreds of compatriots about the infringement of their rights abroad, including those received through hotlines organized by diplomatic missions. We also continue to exchange information with Russian specialized non-governmental organizations that conduct relevant monitoring within their purview. Read in full

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the International Symposium Inventing the Future 📉Confidence in the dollar is dwindling. Regardless of how events unfold, we will continue to bolster the mechanisms of the #EAEU and the #SCO and deepen ties with members of other integration structures both on the Eurasian continent and globally, paving new avenues for mutually beneficial, genuinely equitable cooperation. This approach yields dividends for all participants without exception. 🤝In this regard, we will persist in promoting the concept of the Greater Eurasian Partnership. Its development will provide a tangible foundation for the realisation of another initiative by Russian President Vladimir Putin, aimed at constructing an architecture of equal and indivisible security in Eurasia. This architecture will be open to all countries and associations on our continent without exception which are ready to collaborate in finding universally acceptable solutions. The highly productive International Conference on Eurasian Security, recently held in Minsk with participation from numerous Eurasian countries, associations, and delegations from across the continent, including Western Europe, was specifically dedicated to this topic. 🗺️We aspire that the countries of the Eurasian continent – the largest, fastest-growing, and richest in natural resources – determine their own destinies without external interference and resolve their issues in such a manner that Greater Eurasia will contribute to the construction of a sustainable multipolar world. #EAEU#SCO