🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’sinterview with RT(Moscow, February 5, 2026)
Read in full
Key talking points:
#Europe#EU#Germany
• Over the past 45 days, many European politicians have addressed relations with the Russian Federation. Until recently, they were united in demanding firmness, not scaling back support or weapons supplies to Ukraine, and financing it to make sure Russia suffers a “strategic defeat” on the battlefield.
• Recently, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz made a comment describing Russia as the largest country in Europe. I must correct this immediately. Russia is the largest country in Eurasia – and in the world.
• The Americans have never wanted, and still do not want, to leave the Europeans to their own devices. Their goal is for Europeans to finance all their own military preparations by buying US weaponry, while the US naturally retains control and the role of ‘guardian’ over its NATO allies.
• As Euro-Atlantic structures have weakened (the EU having become a mere appendage of NATO, a status even formalised in documents) Germany’s rising profile has caused alarm, not only in our country but in many EU capitals. There is growing resentment and a palpable desire to prevent Germany from subjugating all others once more, especially as Germany’s being “back on track,” proclaimed by Friedrich Merz and his government, is openly linked to the country’s rapid militarisation and preparations for war.
• We do maintain contacts with some European leaders. They call and ask us not to publicise the conversations. Some engage in ‘undercover’ contacts here.
• I see no coherent position from Europe. They are trapped by their own rhetoric, locked into an uncompromising stance: ‘Russia’s strategic defeat,’ ‘Ukraine cannot lose, and Russia cannot win, otherwise Europe loses face.’
#NATO
• We have indeed been “burned” by our trust in those who swore that NATO would not expand eastwards, that Russia would not be marginalised, and that we would forge a common space from Lisbon to Vladivostok – a vast continent of peace and security.
• NATO first lost its reason for existence, then found renewed purpose in Afghanistan. When that purpose was publicly, shamelessly trampled before the eyes of the international community, action was needed. So, they regrouped, convened, and contrived the situation we witness today – declaring Russia a “pariah” and identifying Ukraine as the “optimal material” with which to provoke us, a pliable entity to be shaped as they saw fit.
#Ukraine
• This is nonsense and a quite telling one. What do I mean? For the past year, the West (Europe) has been saying the same thing over and over: there must be solid guarantees of security and an immediate ceasefire. But without addressing issues pertaining to settlement, these security guarantees will implicate that the ceasefire will be exploited to funnel more arms into Ukraine. They did not hear this reasoning; neither did they respond in any way.
• What kind of Ukraine we are willing to see as a neighbour for the long, even eternal term? It must be a friendly Ukraine. Not necessarily an ally, but a neutral and benign state. This, of course, implies respect not only for the rights of the people in the territory that will remain part of Ukraine, not only respect for their rights to access basic necessities, such as warmth, food, and water, but also respect for their, if you will, fundamental human rights, including language, education, and religion.
• That man [Zelensky] is devoid of shame or conscience, who thinks of nothing but his own survival. For that, he feels compelled to perform some scripted ‘sketches’ on the international stage, which he actually treats as a theatre.
• In Anchorage, we accepted the Trump administration’s proposal concerning Ukraine. If everything was as straightforward and decisive as presented, then it would imply that Ukraine had been set aside from our bright path towards future cooperation and prosperity.
⚡️Statement of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization regarding the Situation around the Islamic Republic of Iran
The Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (#SCO) express serious concern over the developments in the Middle East and the military strikes on the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The SCO Member States consider the use of force as unacceptable and advocate for the resolution of existing differences exclusively by peaceful means, based on dialogue, mutual respect, and taking into account the legitimate interests of all parties, in accordance with the norms of the international law and the principles of the UN Charter.
The SCO Member States underscore the need to ensure sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity of Iran, and call on all parties to exercise restraint and to refrain from actions that could aggravate the situation.
The SCO Member States strongly urge the United Nations and the UN Security Council to take immediate measures to counteract the undermining of international peace and security.
The SCO Member States express sincere condolences to the families of those murdered as a result of the attack and declare their solidarity with and support for the Government and the people of Iran.
2 March, 2026
📰Article by Russia' Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ‘The Helsinki Act’s 50th anniversary: Expectations, reality, and future’
Published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta on August 1, 2025
✍️ Marking the 80th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War and WWII in 2025 serves as an occasion for us to recall and reaffirm the importance of peace which came at such a high cost for our forefathers. We must also be mindful of how fragile this peace architecture is. In fact, its integrity hinges upon the ability of countries and their people to engage in coordinated collective action.
Back in 1945, the year of Victory, major powers realised the need to overcome their differences for the sake of the humankind as a whole. This paved the way for establishing the United Nations as one of the key derivatives of this vision. In fact, the purposes and principles set out in the UN Charter remain relevant to this day and are in step with the reality of an emerging multipolar world order.
But there is another international event which happened precisely 50 years ago and is worth commemorating. This is when the Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) was signed. It became a landmark event in consolidating the post-war architecture based on the framework resulting from the Yalta and Potsdam conferences.
☝️ Those camping on unfriendly positions towards Russia seek to diminish and sweep under the carpet the fact that our country, which was the USSR at that time, played a leading role in the Helsinki process, while also distorting the objectives the Soviet leaders were pursuing. We are facing groundless and unappealing accusations of undermining the European security framework, and politicians in the EU and NATO have made no secret of their intention to re-write the outcomes of WWII and do not shy away from concocting barbaric fakes for that purpose.
Key points:
• Western countries have breached all the OSCE agreements on arms control and confidence-building measures. Russia has appealed to the conscience of Western elites more than once, inviting them to coordinate reliable security guarantees based on fundamental commitment adopted within the OSCE.
• Europe is deeply immersed in Russophobia, and its militarisation is essentially becoming uncontrollable. There are more than enough facts of this. <...> This brings historical events to mind: with their current leaders, modern Germany and the rest of Europe are transforming into a Fourth Reich.
• In recent years, the West has openly shown absolute contempt for the OSCE’s principles & embarked on the path of suppressing rivals through economic pressure, including unlawful unilateral measures against Russia, Belarus and any other country that strives to defend its legitimate national interests. The OSCE marked a decisive end to practical cooperation between the East and the West.
• The scale of accumulated OSCE problems is immense. Burdened by them, the Organisation has been side-lined in international affairs. The Vienna platform no longer offers space for cooperation or security. The architects of the Helsinki Final Act did not envisage such a future for the pan-European process. It is high time to consider whether such an Organisation has any reason to persist.
• Today, the ideas of sovereign equality of states and their mutually respectful dialogue – strangled in the OSCE – are being realised through multilateral cooperation projects within the CSTO, the CIS, #SCO, and other regional frameworks across Eurasia.
• As a strategic objective, Russia envisions forming a flexible and resilient architecture of equal & indivisible security and cooperation in Eurasia, capable of addressing contemporary challenges.
• There will be no future for the OSCE if NATO and EU countries do away with the consensus rule and continue using this platform with its headquarters in Vienna as their private mouthpiece for spreading shameless propaganda campaigns to demonise Russia & any other parties who break ranks, while backing their underlings in Kiev.
Read in full
⚡️Statement of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization regarding the Situation around the Islamic Republic of Iran
The Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (#SCO) express serious concern over the developments in the Middle East and the military strikes on the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The SCO Member States consider the use of force as unacceptable and advocate for the resolution of existing differences exclusively by peaceful means, based on dialogue, mutual respect, and taking into account the legitimate interests of all parties, in accordance with the norms of the international law and the principles of the UN Charter.
The SCO Member States underscore the need to ensure sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity of Iran, and call on all parties to exercise restraint and to refrain from actions that could aggravate the situation.
The SCO Member States strongly urge the United Nations and the UN Security Council to take immediate measures to counteract the undermining of international peace and security.
The SCO Member States express sincere condolences to the families of those murdered as a result of the attack and declare their solidarity with and support for the Government and the people of Iran.
2 March, 2026
🛬 Președintele Rusiei, Vladimir Putin, în vizita la capitala Kazahstanului, Astana, pentru a participa la o reuniune a Consiliului șefilor de stat ai Organizației de Cooperare de la Shanghai (#SCO).
📍3 iulie 2024
📰Article by Russia' Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ‘The Helsinki Act’s 50th anniversary: Expectations, reality, and future’
Published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta on August 1, 2025
✍️ Marking the 80th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War and WWII in 2025 serves as an occasion for us to recall and reaffirm the importance of peace which came at such a high cost for our forefathers. We must also be mindful of how fragile this peace architecture is. In fact, its integrity hinges upon the ability of countries and their people to engage in coordinated collective action.
Back in 1945, the year of Victory, major powers realised the need to overcome their differences for the sake of the humankind as a whole. This paved the way for establishing the United Nations as one of the key derivatives of this vision. In fact, the purposes and principles set out in the UN Charter remain relevant to this day and are in step with the reality of an emerging multipolar world order.
But there is another international event which happened precisely 50 years ago and is worth commemorating. This is when the Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) was signed. It became a landmark event in consolidating the post-war architecture based on the framework resulting from the Yalta and Potsdam conferences.
☝️ Those camping on unfriendly positions towards Russia seek to diminish and sweep under the carpet the fact that our country, which was the USSR at that time, played a leading role in the Helsinki process, while also distorting the objectives the Soviet leaders were pursuing. We are facing groundless and unappealing accusations of undermining the European security framework, and politicians in the EU and NATO have made no secret of their intention to re-write the outcomes of WWII and do not shy away from concocting barbaric fakes for that purpose.
Key points:
• Western countries have breached all the OSCE agreements on arms control and confidence-building measures. Russia has appealed to the conscience of Western elites more than once, inviting them to coordinate reliable security guarantees based on fundamental commitment adopted within the OSCE.
• Europe is deeply immersed in Russophobia, and its militarisation is essentially becoming uncontrollable. There are more than enough facts of this. <...> This brings historical events to mind: with their current leaders, modern Germany and the rest of Europe are transforming into a Fourth Reich.
• In recent years, the West has openly shown absolute contempt for the OSCE’s principles & embarked on the path of suppressing rivals through economic pressure, including unlawful unilateral measures against Russia, Belarus and any other country that strives to defend its legitimate national interests. The OSCE marked a decisive end to practical cooperation between the East and the West.
• The scale of accumulated OSCE problems is immense. Burdened by them, the Organisation has been side-lined in international affairs. The Vienna platform no longer offers space for cooperation or security. The architects of the Helsinki Final Act did not envisage such a future for the pan-European process. It is high time to consider whether such an Organisation has any reason to persist.
• Today, the ideas of sovereign equality of states and their mutually respectful dialogue – strangled in the OSCE – are being realised through multilateral cooperation projects within the CSTO, the CIS, #SCO, and other regional frameworks across Eurasia.
• As a strategic objective, Russia envisions forming a flexible and resilient architecture of equal & indivisible security and cooperation in Eurasia, capable of addressing contemporary challenges.
• There will be no future for the OSCE if NATO and EU countries do away with the consensus rule and continue using this platform with its headquarters in Vienna as their private mouthpiece for spreading shameless propaganda campaigns to demonise Russia & any other parties who break ranks, while backing their underlings in Kiev.
Read in full
⚡️Statement of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization regarding the Situation around the Islamic Republic of Iran
The Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (#SCO) express serious concern over the developments in the Middle East and the military strikes on the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The SCO Member States consider the use of force as unacceptable and advocate for the resolution of existing differences exclusively by peaceful means, based on dialogue, mutual respect, and taking into account the legitimate interests of all parties, in accordance with the norms of the international law and the principles of the UN Charter.
The SCO Member States underscore the need to ensure sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity of Iran, and call on all parties to exercise restraint and to refrain from actions that could aggravate the situation.
The SCO Member States strongly urge the United Nations and the UN Security Council to take immediate measures to counteract the undermining of international peace and security.
The SCO Member States express sincere condolences to the families of those murdered as a result of the attack and declare their solidarity with and support for the Government and the people of Iran.
2 March, 2026
🎙Remarks by President of Russia Vladimir Putin at SCO Plus meeting(Tianjin, September 1)
💬 President Putin: President Xi Jinping, colleagues.
It is a pleasure to extend a warm welcome to all participants of today’s meeting in the SCO Plus format. This is not our first gathering in such an expanded format, bringing together the Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, leaders of observer states and SCO dialogue partners, honoured guests invited by the current chair, and the heads of leading international organisations.
This clearly reflects the growing interest and attention of the international community in the multifaceted work of the #SCO. More and more countries are seeking open and equal dialogue.
In addition to its ten full members, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation also engages two observer states – Mongolia and Afghanistan – as well as 15 dialogue partners.
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith on his country’s unanimous admission as a partner of the SCO, as decided by the Heads of State Council.
Applications from more than a dozen other countries seeking observer or dialogue partner status are currently under consideration. <...>
Since its founding in 2001, the SCO has actively worked to promote peace, security, trust, and cooperation across our common Eurasian continent. In this context, we have carefully considered the proposals put forward by President Xi Jinping for establishing a more effective and functional system of global governance. Such efforts are particularly relevant at a time when certain countries continue to pursue dictatorial practices in international affairs.
Russia supports President Xi Jinping’s initiative and is eager to engage in a substantive discussion of the proposals presented by our Chinese friends.
It seems that the SCO is capable of playing a leading role in shaping a more just and equitable system of global governance. Such a system should be based on the primacy of international law and the core provisions of the UN Charter, be truly balanced, take into account the interests of the widest possible range of countries, and ensure opportunities for their sustainable development and security.
The SCO is also actively advancing trade, economic, investment, and financial cooperation. It is noteworthy that, despite continuing challenges in the global economy, the combined GDP of the SCO member states grew by more than five percent in 2024, surpassing global averages. Industrial output rose by 4.6%. Cooperation is steadily deepening in such sectors as energy, finance, agriculture and food security, infrastructure, high technology, innovation, and transport.
It is equally important that the SCO participants consistently uphold historical and cultural values as well as civilisational diversity. On this basis, people-to-people ties are expanding, and cooperation in science and education, healthcare, and sports continues to strengthen. <...>
We would also like to invite delegations from all your countries to take part in the St Petersburg International Forum of United Cultures, which opens next week, as well as the Russia – a Sports Power forum, scheduled to take place this November in Samara.
🤝 I am confident that today’s meeting will be fruitful, strengthen the bonds of friendship among all the countries represented here, and help advance wide-ranging cooperation across many spheres.
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🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s answers to questions from Belarus 1 television channel (June 30, 2024)
❓ Question: President Alexander Lukashenko emphasised that the relationship between Belarus and Russia serves as an example for other countries. In your opinion, where is Belarus’s support for Russia most evident right now? Would you like to see even more support?
💬 Sergey Lavrov: We don’t frame the question as where Belarus can support Russia. Our alliance and strategic partnership are based on reciprocity. All decisions made by the presidents regarding the development of the Union State and its foreign policy activities are founded on the principle of reciprocity and a balance of interests.
Everything we do is mutually beneficial. This principle ensures the success of the allied relations between Russia and the Republic of Belarus across all areas of our cooperation.
❓ Question: Are there any plans for personal meetings between President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko in the near future?
💬 Sergey Lavrov: There are such plans.
❓ Question: Do you mean the SCO or some other events?
💬 Sergey Lavrov: They will definitely meet at the #SCO Summit.
http://tiny.cc/12uxyz
🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions following the SCO Foreign Ministers Council meeting (Astana, May 21, 2024)
Key talking points:
▪️ At a group meeting of the heads of delegations with President of Kazakhstan and during the Ministerial Council meeting (https://t.me/MFARussia/20291), we expressed our deepest condolences and solidarity with the Iranian people, as well as confidence that Tehran will continue its foreign policy, including with regard to its active participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
• The #SCO remains one of the supporting pillars of the multipolar world order. It is well positioned to become a driving force behind transforming Eurasia into a single continental space of peace, stability, mutual trust and progress.
• Security can be reliably ensured only by the Eurasian countries themselves, without the intervention of extra-regional forces. We observe such attempts on the part of the United States, the European Union and NATO, which strive to assume responsibility for everything that happens in the region.
• We are all aware of the importance of intensifying the work of the SCO, considering its weight and role in Eurasia, and its partners, including the OSCE, the CIS, the EAEU, and ASEAN.
• Developing common approaches to ensuring Eurasian security and cooperation by the countries of this continent is a crucial goal. We underscored that the SCO could well catalyse these processes with the involvement of other partners in the region.
• The SCO has two observers and 14 dialogue partners. Recently, Laos and Algeria have applied for partner status. We discussed improving the efficiency of interaction with these countries within the SCO Plus format.
🇧🇾 Starting from the July summit, Belarus will become a full-fledged SCO member. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko will take part in all events of the Astana summit without exception. The Belarusian minister attended our discussion.
🇲🇳 Mongolia is the obvious next candidate for SCO membership.
Read in full: http://tiny.cc/wi87yz
⚡️Statement of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization regarding the Situation around the Islamic Republic of Iran
The Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (#SCO) express serious concern over the developments in the Middle East and the military strikes on the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The SCO Member States consider the use of force as unacceptable and advocate for the resolution of existing differences exclusively by peaceful means, based on dialogue, mutual respect, and taking into account the legitimate interests of all parties, in accordance with the norms of the international law and the principles of the UN Charter.
The SCO Member States underscore the need to ensure sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity of Iran, and call on all parties to exercise restraint and to refrain from actions that could aggravate the situation.
The SCO Member States strongly urge the United Nations and the UN Security Council to take immediate measures to counteract the undermining of international peace and security.
The SCO Member States express sincere condolences to the families of those murdered as a result of the attack and declare their solidarity with and support for the Government and the people of Iran.
2 March, 2026
📰Article by Russia' Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ‘The Helsinki Act’s 50th anniversary: Expectations, reality, and future’
Published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta on August 1, 2025
✍️ Marking the 80th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War and WWII in 2025 serves as an occasion for us to recall and reaffirm the importance of peace which came at such a high cost for our forefathers. We must also be mindful of how fragile this peace architecture is. In fact, its integrity hinges upon the ability of countries and their people to engage in coordinated collective action.
Back in 1945, the year of Victory, major powers realised the need to overcome their differences for the sake of the humankind as a whole. This paved the way for establishing the United Nations as one of the key derivatives of this vision. In fact, the purposes and principles set out in the UN Charter remain relevant to this day and are in step with the reality of an emerging multipolar world order.
But there is another international event which happened precisely 50 years ago and is worth commemorating. This is when the Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) was signed. It became a landmark event in consolidating the post-war architecture based on the framework resulting from the Yalta and Potsdam conferences.
☝️ Those camping on unfriendly positions towards Russia seek to diminish and sweep under the carpet the fact that our country, which was the USSR at that time, played a leading role in the Helsinki process, while also distorting the objectives the Soviet leaders were pursuing. We are facing groundless and unappealing accusations of undermining the European security framework, and politicians in the EU and NATO have made no secret of their intention to re-write the outcomes of WWII and do not shy away from concocting barbaric fakes for that purpose.
Key points:
• Western countries have breached all the OSCE agreements on arms control and confidence-building measures. Russia has appealed to the conscience of Western elites more than once, inviting them to coordinate reliable security guarantees based on fundamental commitment adopted within the OSCE.
• Europe is deeply immersed in Russophobia, and its militarisation is essentially becoming uncontrollable. There are more than enough facts of this. <...> This brings historical events to mind: with their current leaders, modern Germany and the rest of Europe are transforming into a Fourth Reich.
• In recent years, the West has openly shown absolute contempt for the OSCE’s principles & embarked on the path of suppressing rivals through economic pressure, including unlawful unilateral measures against Russia, Belarus and any other country that strives to defend its legitimate national interests. The OSCE marked a decisive end to practical cooperation between the East and the West.
• The scale of accumulated OSCE problems is immense. Burdened by them, the Organisation has been side-lined in international affairs. The Vienna platform no longer offers space for cooperation or security. The architects of the Helsinki Final Act did not envisage such a future for the pan-European process. It is high time to consider whether such an Organisation has any reason to persist.
• Today, the ideas of sovereign equality of states and their mutually respectful dialogue – strangled in the OSCE – are being realised through multilateral cooperation projects within the CSTO, the CIS, #SCO, and other regional frameworks across Eurasia.
• As a strategic objective, Russia envisions forming a flexible and resilient architecture of equal & indivisible security and cooperation in Eurasia, capable of addressing contemporary challenges.
• There will be no future for the OSCE if NATO and EU countries do away with the consensus rule and continue using this platform with its headquarters in Vienna as their private mouthpiece for spreading shameless propaganda campaigns to demonise Russia & any other parties who break ranks, while backing their underlings in Kiev.
Read in full