Russian Consulate in Cape Town

Comment by Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov We have carefully read the statement by US President-elect Donald Trump, made after his meeting with Macron and Zelensky in Paris. President Putin has repeatedly said Russia was open to negotiations on Ukraine and welcomed peace initiatives, primarily those coming from countries of the Global South, as well as our BRICS partners, including China, Brazil, and South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, which are engaged in work on the humanitarian track. Our stance on Ukraine is well known. The conditions required to cease the hostilities immediately were laid out by President Putin in June this year in his speech at Russia's Foreign Ministry. What bears reminding here is that it was Ukraine that rejected negotiations, and the country still rejects them. Moreover, Zelensky has, by his own decree, banned himself and his presidential office from making any engagements with the Russian leadership. This particular stance of theirs remains unchanged. Yet, all Zelensky has to do to enter a trajectory of peace is to revoke this decree and issue an order to resume dialogue on the basis of arrangements made in Istanbul and with account taken of the realities taking shape on the ground. As for the data on both sides' casualties, these were obviously presented in accordance with the Ukrainian narrative and reflect the official position of Ukraine. The actual casualty figures are completely different. Ukraine's casualties are many times higher than Russia's. If such a casualty pace is maintained further, Ukraine's manpower will be completely depleted, and the country will have to lower the mobilization age to 18 years and step up the press-ganging practices. However, even all these measures will not change the catastrophic situation the Ukrainian forces are now finding themselves in. This is not news for Ukraine itself or for international observers.

⚡️ We are monitoring the dramatic developments in Syria with extreme concern. Following his talks with a number of participants in the armed conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, Bashar al-Assad decided to step down as the Syrian President and leave the country, instructing the government to transfer power peacefully. Russia was not involved in those negotiations. However, we call on all the parties involved to renounce the use of violence and resolve all governance issues through political efforts. In this regard, the Russian Federation maintains contact with all Syrian opposition groups. We urge all parties to respect the opinions of all ethnic and religious groups in Syrian society. We strongly support efforts to establish an inclusive political process based on Resolution 2254, unanimously adopted by the UN Security Council. We hope that these approaches will be taken into account by the UN and all stakeholders, including in the context of implementing UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen’s recent initiative for urgent inclusive intra-Syrian talks in Geneva. Additionally, Russia is taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety of our citizens in Syria. Russian military bases in Syria are on high alert. There is no serious threat to their security at the moment.

✍️ 7 декабря проживающие в Кейптауне соотечественники, сотрудники Генерального консульства и члены их семей приняли участие в одном из самых масштабных эколого-просветительских проектов нашей страны - Международном экологическом диктанте! 🌍Его миссия – формирование экологической культуры, популяризация экологических знаний среди населения и повышение уровня экологической грамотности! ✊Проект реализуется 6 лет подряд и в 2023 году к его написанию присоединились более 5 миллионов человек со всей территории России и 182 государств мира! 📚Основные темы Экодиктанта-2024: Красная книга, экотуризм и заповедные территории Российской Федерации. ❓ Участникам предстояло ответить на 25 тематических вопросов. Среди них – «Какой тип отходов можно перерабатывать практически бесконечно, не теряя качество?», «Что необходимо делать, чтобы дренажные воды полигона не попадали в грунтовые воды?» и другие. 🔗 Проверить свои знания можно и онлайн. Просветительской акция проводится по 8 декабря на портале Экодиктант.рус. #Экодиктант#МИДРоссии#РоссияЮАР

🎙 Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov gave interview to CNN on a wide range of issues, focusing on Russia-US relations, the West's hybrid war against Russia, the emerging multipolar world and the Ukrainian crisis, its true roots and essence (Moscow, December 4, 2024) Key talking points • The risks [of escalation between the USA and Russia] are high and they are growing. That's quite disturbing. I believe we have a great lack of restraint on the part of the West, United States in particular, where people seemingly underestimate our resolve to defend our core national security interests. • If not for the Trump-1 administration that simply destroyed the INF Treaty, which served well interests of both the US and Russia for several decades, then there would be no "Oreshnik" in our hands. • Our strong will to defend our interests by all means is there and it's unwavered and unshaken, irrespective of how many billion of dollars will be burned in this conflict by the US. ❗️ We will not be the first to escalate. We will not be the first to do something that would mean we have created a situation with point of no return past. • We at BRICS do not want to replace the dollar. We want to develop a system that would allow us at BRICS to serve what our economic operators need in parallel to what US and others have. The monopolism which US tries to maintain and insert and impose everywhere is dangerous for the US itself. • It's a polyphonic world order to use the word of President Vladimir Putin from his Valdai presentation.

❤️On December 6, 2024, the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Cape Town together with ANC Youth Leader in the Western Cape Biula Hevu ahead of the upcoming Christmas holidays, organized a visit to an orphanage located in the Township Khayelitsha in the southern part of Cape Town. 🎗️The visit was part of the Consulate’s traditional charitable initiativeaimed at supporting children who have lost parental care. 🎁During the visit, Consulate staff provided the children with essential food supplies, school uniform, household appliances as well as holiday gifts and toys. 🔨The director of the orphanage showed the results of extensive repairs of the burnt building carried out with the support of the Consulate General of Russia. 🏠Two years ago, the building was completely destroyed by fire, and now with the construction materials provided by the Consulate last year, the necessary restoration works have been fulfilled and the infrastructure of the orphanage was completely renewed. 💬“It is always a great honor for us to help children who find themselves in difficult situations, especially during such an important and warm time as Christmas. We are glad to contribute to the restoration of the orphanage and provide children with essential items for their comfortable living and education,” said the Consul General of the Russian Federation in Cape Town. 🇿🇦🇷🇺The orphanage continues its important work, providing shelter, care, and education to children who have suffered the loss of their families. This visit symbolized the ongoing Russian-South African cooperation in the field of humanitarian assistance and solidarity in supporting those in need. #RussiaSouthAfrica#RussianMFA

🎙Excerpt from Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview to Tucker Carlson(Moscow, December 6, 2024) ❓Question: This time President Trump was elected on the explicit promise to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. So I mean, he said that in appearance after appearance. So given that, there is hope for a resolution, it sounds like. What are the terms to which you'd agree? 💬Sergey Lavrov: Well, as regards the terms, I basically alluded to them. When President Vladimir Putinspoke in this Ministry of Foreign Affaires on the 14th of June he once again reiterated that we were ready to negotiate on the basis of the principles which were agreed in Istanbul and rejected by Boris Johnson, according to the statement of the head of the Ukrainian delegation. The key principle is non-block status of Ukraine. And we would be ready to be part of the group of countries who would provide collective security guarantees to Ukraine. ❓Question: But no NATO? 💬Sergey Lavrov: No NATO. Absolutely. No military bases, no military exercises on the Ukrainian soil with participation of foreign troops. And this is something which he reiterated. But of course, he said, it was April 2022, now some time has passed, and the realities on the ground would have to be taken into account and accepted. The realities on the ground are not only the line of contact, but also the changes in the Russian Constitution after referendum was held in Donetsk, Lugansk republics and Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. And they are now part of the Russian Federation, according to the Constitution. And this is a reality. And of course, we cannot tolerate a deal which would keep the legislation which are prohibiting Russian language, Russian media, Russian culture, Ukrainian Orthodox Church, because it is a violation of the obligations of Ukraine under the UN Charter, and something must be done about it. ☝️ And the fact that the West (since this russophobic legislative offensive started in 2017) was totally silent and it is silent until now, of course we would have to pay attention to this in a very special way.

🎙 Excerpt from Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview to Tucker Carlson(Moscow, December 5, 2024) ❓Question: In the last month since the election [in the US], you have all sorts of things going on politically in bordering states in this region. In Georgia, in Belarus, in Romania, and then, of course, most dramatically in Syria, you have turmoil. Does this seem like part of an effort by the US to make the resolution more difficult? 💬Sergey Lavrov: There is nothing new, frankly. Because the US, historically, in foreign policy, was motivated by making some trouble and then to see if they can fish in the muddy water. Iraqi aggression, Libyan adventure — ruining the state, basically. Fleeing from Afghanistan. Now trying to get back through the back door, using the UN to organize some ‘event’ where the US can be present, in spite of the fact that they left Afghanistan in very bad shape and arrested money and don't want to give it back. ❗️ I think this is, if you analyze the American foreign policy steps, adventures, most of them are the right word — the pattern. They create some trouble, and then they see how to use it. When the OSCE monitors elections, when it used to monitor elections in Russia, they would always be very negative, and in other countries as well, Belarus, Kazakhstan. This time, in Georgia, the monitoring mission of OSCE presented a positive report. And it is being ignored. 🤷‍♂️ So when you need endorsement of the procedures, you do it when you like the results of the election. If you don't like the results of elections, you ignore it. It's like when the US and other Western countries recognized unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo, they said this is the self-determination being implemented. There was no referendum in Kosovo — unilateral declaration of independence. By the way, after that the Serbs approached International Court of Justice, which ruled that (well, normally they are not very specific in their judgment, but they ruled) that when part of a territory declares independence, it is not necessarily to be agreed with the central authorities. And when a few years later, Crimeans were holding referendum with invitation of many international observers, not from international organizations, but from parliamentarians in Europe, in Asia, in post-Soviet space, they said, no, we cannot accept this because this is violation of territorial integrity. ☝️ You know, you pick and choose. The UN Charter is not a menu. You have to respect it in all its entirety.

📹On November 27, 2024, the Consul General of the Russian Federation in Cape Town, Alexei Malenko, participated in a press conference organized by ITAR-TASS, dedicated to the "BRICS Universe" project 🧑‍🚀This significant cultural project represents photographs of UNESCO Creative Cities of BRICS countries, taken from the International Space Station by Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Ivan Wagner. 🌍The "BRICS Universe" exhibition was presented in 10 Russian and foreign cities and attracted over 220,000 viewers. 🤝The exhibition provided a unique opportunity for visitors to appreciate the beauty of our planet as seen from space, and became an important element of cultural exchange among the BRICS countries. The project strengthened humanitarian ties and brought together people with shared spiritual and moral values. 🇿🇦The exhibition was opened in September,2024 at the IZIKO Museum in Cape Town with the support of the Russian space agency Roscosmos and the creative team from the G. M. Grechko Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium, becoming a significant event in the cultural life of the city. It is still available for the visitors of at the local planetarium, offering a unique opportunity for Cape Town residents to engage with the project and witness the cultural interaction within the BRICS framework. 💬"The Russian Federation's presidency in BRICS has opened a new chapter in strengthening the longstanding Russian-African cooperation. We hope that projects like “BRICS Universe” will serve as a foundation for the further development of intercultural dialogue and humanitarian ties between Russia and African countries," said Consul General Alexei Malenko in his remarks. 🎙️The results of the project, the importance of educational initiatives in promoting Russian space exploration, and the significance of humanitarian cooperation within the BRICS countries were also discussed by the Governor of the Ulyanovsk Region Alexey Russkikh, cosmonaut and Hero of Russia Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, Director of the G. M. Grechko Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium and project leader Galina Muromtseva, as well as the Consul General of Russia in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Andrey Petrov. 📷: Alena Bjahova, TASS #BRICS2024#RussiaSouthAfrica#BRICSUniverse#RussianMFA

🎙 President of Russia Vladimir Putin's remarks at the Plenary Session of the Russia Calling! forum(December 4, 2024) 📄Read 📹 Watch Key points: • Our entrepreneurs, companies and entire industries faced serious challenges in 2022 as a result of actions taken by, let me put it mildly, some countries or more precisely, their leading elites. These countries have shown themselves to be unreliable partners. Many industrial and logistics chains, as well as cooperative ties that took decades to develop, have been endangered or even disrupted. • We often hear people from the political, military, or economic fields say that these countries set the task of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia, including in the economy and technology, to drastically weaken our country’s manufacturing industry, finance and services, to create an insurmountable shortage of goods on our market, to destabilise the labour market, and to lower the living standards of our citizens. It is obvious that these plans have failed to materialise. Following a challenging period, the Russian economy has not only fully recovered, but is also living through qualitative structural changes, which is vitally important and, perhaps, is the most important outcome of our work in the economy over the past two to three years. • Russia’s technological, production and logistics potential is making strides. Ties with promising partners are getting stronger. 📈 Last year, Russia’s gross domestic product grew by 3.6 percent, which is a well-known fact, and increased by 4.1 percent in January-October of this year. The growth mainly comes from the manufacturing industries and sectors with high added value. 💼 Russia has a record-low unemployment rate of just 2.3 percent. Compared to the majority of the world’s leading and developing economies, this figure is minimal. • Russia’s leadership in financial technologies positions us well to forge flexible partnerships with foreign counterparts, promote integration projects, and leverage the complementary strengths of our respective economies. I am also referring to the investment platform we are developing with our BRICS partners. This work is in its early stages but all the parties involved agree on its potential benefits and good prospects. It is expected to become an important instrument for supporting our economies and providing financial resources to the countries of the Global South and East. • Despite the political pressure, many of our partners, including those from Western Europe and the United States, have not left the Russian market. Some of these companies continue to operate as before, probably about half of them; others have transferred management to the persons and entities they control. About one quarter of those companies have really left, while some continue to procedure to exit the Russian economy. • Russia has not pivoted now to the Global South or East, no. Russia has engaged in this policy for a long time now, since the 2000s, mindful of the global development and global economic trends. We have been doing that for a long time now in an orderly and consistent manner. 🇷🇺🇨🇳 Our relations with China are not impacted by events that are taking place, for example, in Ukraine. China has long ago become our largest trade and economic partner, even before that.

💬 Russia’s MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova: ❗️ The Kiev regime continues to sabotage prisoner exchanges with Russia in every possible way, avoiding meaningful and result-oriented efforts in favour of endless international political theatrics. They seem to treat these delays as a media tool to advance their own interests. The real issue, however, is that they refuse to take back their own people. Zelensky has abandoned 630 Ukrainian citizens who were taken prisoner. They are now considered unnecessary / unwanted by Kiev. Yesterday, Russia's ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova published their names. All 630, complete list with full names and dates of birth. We provided detailed information about this during a special briefing on November 2 and the weekly briefing on November 27. However, due to the actions of the Kiev regime, the situation has remained unchanged. Let me remind you that earlier this year, the Defence Ministry of Russia proposed handing over 935 Ukrainian prisoners of war as part of exchange agreements. Despite this, the Ukrainian regime has refused to take back over 600 Ukrainian servicemen without providing any explanation. As of today, the list includes 630 Ukrainian POWs whom Russia is ready to hand over to Kiev without delay on a reciprocal basis. 👉List of Ukrainian prisoners of war. So, when you hear claims that Russia allegedly refuses to exchange prisoners and to return people to Ukraine, you should know that it is a lie. The figures and facts speak for themselves: the Kiev regime does not want to take back its own people.

🇷🇺Fundamentals of State Policy of the Russian Federation on Nuclear Deterrence I. General Provisions 1. These Fundamentals are a strategic planning document in the area of ensuring defence that reflects official views on the essence of nuclear deterrence, identifies military risks and threats intended to be neutralized by the implementation of nuclear deterrence, as well as defines the principles of nuclear deterrence and the conditions for the transition of the Russian Federation to the employment of nuclear weapons. 2. Assured deterrence of a potential adversary from aggression against the Russian Federation and (or) its allies is one of the highest state priorities. Deterrence of aggression is ensured by the totality of the military might of the Russian Federation, including nuclear weapons. <...> II. The Essence of Nuclear Deterrence 9. The Russian Federation exercises nuclear deterrence toward a potential adversary, defined as individual states and military coalitions (blocs, alliances), that consider the Russian Federation as a potential adversary and possess nuclear and (or) other types of weapons of mass destruction or significant combat capabilities of general purpose forces. Nuclear deterrence is also exercised toward states that provide territory, air and (or) sea space under their control, as well as resources for preparing and committing aggression against the Russian Federation. 10. Aggression by any state from a military coalition (bloc, alliance) against the Russian Federation and (or) its allies isconsidered as the aggression by this coalition (bloc, alliance) as a whole. 11. Aggression against the Russian Federation and (or) its allies by any non-nuclear state with the participation or support of a nuclear state isconsidered as their joint attack. III. Conditions for the Transition of the Russian Federation to the Employment of Nuclear Weapons 18. The Russian Federation reserves the right to employ nuclear weapons in response to the employment of nuclear and (or) other types of weapons of mass destruction against itself and (or) its allies, as well as in the event of aggression against the Russian Federation and (or) the Republic of Belarus as participants in the Union State with the employment of conventional weapons, which creates a critical threat to their sovereignty and (or) territorial integrity. 19. The conditions that enable the possibility of nuclear weapons employment by the Russian Federation are as follows: a) receipt of reliable data on the launch of ballistic missiles attacking the territories of the Russian Federation and (or) its allies; b) employment of nuclear or other types of weapons of mass destruction by an adversary against the territories of the Russian Federation and (or) its allies, against facilities and (or) military formations of the Russian Federation located outside its territory; c) actions by an adversary affecting elements of critically important state or military infrastructure of the Russian Federation, the disablement of which would disrupt response actions by nuclear forces; d) aggression against the Russian Federation and (or) the Republic of Belarus as participants in the Union State with the employment of conventional weapons, which creates a critical threat to their sovereignty and (or) territorial integrity; e) receipt of reliable data on the massive launch (take-off) of air and space attack means (strategic and tactical aircraft, cruise missiles, unmanned, hypersonic and other aerial vehicles) and their crossing of the state border of the Russian Federation. 20. The decision to employ nuclear weapons is made by the President of the Russian Federation. 21. The President of the Russian Federation may, if necessary, inform the military-political leadership of other states and (or) international organizations about the readiness of the Russian Federation to employ nuclear weapons or of the decision taken to employ nuclear weapons, as well as of the fact of their employment. <...> Read in full

⛓Today the world marks International Day for the Abolition of Slavery Slavery is one of the most terrible and tragic episodes in the history of mankind. For over four centuries, the Western countries had been enriching themselves by exploiting millions of innocent men, women and children, taken by force from the African continent. Portugal, France, Britain and the Netherlands played the predominant role in the slave trade. A mass-scale human trafficking to America began in the 17th century, with slaves reaching up to 40 percent of the population in some states by the time the US gained independence. In the northern states, slaves were generally used as house servants or labourers, and in the South they were forced to work on plantations for growing indigo, tobacco, cotton, or rice. The US laws regarded slaves as personal estate and protected slaveholders’ rights. Thus, the exploitation of slaves played a pivot role in the emergence of the US capitalism. The renouncing of slavery in the US was slow and painful. It was accomplished only in 1865 after the end of the bloody Civil War. However, slavery was not thoroughly eradicated, with most southern states approving laws that allowed plantation owners to attach former slaves to their estate. In addition, segregation laws were adopted in some parts of the country that deprived African Americans of a number of civil rights. These restraints were lifted only in the 1960s. 🇺🇳 According to UN data, approximately 17 million individuals were forcibly taken from Africa throughout the history of the slave trade, marking it as one of the largest crimes in human history. At the same time, an immense damage inflicted on the Africa’s economic potential is estimated at $777 trillion by the African Reparations Commission. Today, the West prefers to hush up these tragic events. The descendants of the colonialists are yet to pay compensation for the damage inflicted; moreover, they have not even apologised for it to the peoples of Africa. Combating neo-colonialism is a priority for Russia in fostering cooperation with the African continent. Russia supports African states in their efforts to finally complete the decolonisation process and advocates for a thorough examination of the consequences of the slave trade within leading international organisations.