Embassy of Russia in Singapore

#HistoryOfDiplomacy 🗓 On February 4, 1945, the Yalta Conference of the Leaders of the anti-Hitler coalition — Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Franklin D. Roosevelt — officially commenced. The #YaltaConference stands as one of the most significant summits of the 'Big Three' Leaders during #WW2. The landmark talks in Yalta came to symbolise the successful cooperation of Moscow, Washington, and London in their common fightagainst the terrible evil the mankind had ever faced —the Nazi ideology. The historic agreements reached at the Forum defined the foundations of the post-war Yalta-Potsdam system of international relations, whose legal basis would be the #UNCharter. 💬 Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova: The participants in the Yalta Conference managed to overcome their differences, and, acting in the spirit of true solidarity, mutual respect and trust, abandoned their fleeting interests for the sake of defeating the common enemy and achieving a common victory, peace and freedom for all countries and peoples. *** 🌟 By early 1945, the Red Army had fully liberated the Soviet Union from the Nazi invaders and was mounting a decisive offensive: by January, the Nazi troops had been expelled from Warsaw, Krakow, Lodz, and most of Poland. The Soviet forces had secured strategically important bridgehead on the western bank of the Oder river and were preparing for the final battle of #WWII — the fight for the Reich’s capital — Berlin. As the Red Army advanced rapidly from the Vistula-Oder direction, UK-American units were pushing towards the Rhine river. Despite fierce resistance from elite units of the Nazi war machine, Germany’s defeat was inevitable. With the common Victory approaching, the discussing issues the post-war world order became a top priority for the Allied Powers. Thus, it was decided to convene a major conference, with the Soviet city of Yalta chosen as the venue (February 4-11, 1945). A central focus of the #CrimeanConference was the post-war future of the defeated Germany. The Allies reaffirmed their commitment to the eradication of German militarism and Nazism and to ensuring that “Germany will never again be able to disturb the peace of the world.” It was also agreed that Germany would be obliged to pay reparations for the damage inflicted by its aggression. During the Yalta negotiations, the 'Big Three' Leaders reached a compromise on the issue ofPoland’s borders.The Soviet delegation firmly advocated for Poland’s fundamental interests, upholding its right to independence and sovereignty. Churchill later described the Soviet Union’s historic role in liberating Poland from Nazism in his memoirs: But for the prodigious exertions and sacrifices of Russia, Poland was doomed to utter destruction at the hands of the Germans. Not only Poland as a State and as a nation, but the Poles as a race were doomed by Hitler to be destroyed or reduced to a servile station The considerable growth in the USSR’s international prestige significantly influenced the course and outcomes of the Yalta negotiations. This was due, in large part, to the Red Army’s remarkable successes on the battlefield. The image of the Soviet soldier as a Liberator was cemented, and the world recognised Soviet people's immense Sacrifice and Achievement in WWII The Conference produced several crucial documents, including the Declaration on Liberated Europe, which helped shape the international system for decades. The framework for the future #UnitedNations also took clearer form. Following Yalta, the Soviet Union secured agreement on the “principle of unanimity” among the five permanent UN Security Council members, embodied in the right of veto — #UNCharterIsOurRules. The Yalta agreements strengthened the unity of the anti-Hitler coalition in the final stages of World War II and contributed to the ultimate common victory over Germany. In the post-war years, ensuring the implementation of the Yalta decisions became a key objective of Soviet diplomacy. #Victory81#WeWereAllies

📺 Remarks by Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the General Debate of 80th Session of the UN General Assembly. Key points (Unofficial translation): • 80 years ago the most terrible war in human history came to an end. More than 70 million people fell victim to hostilities, hunger and disease. In 1945 the course of world history changed forever. We hold sacred the memory of brotherhood-in-arms with all Allies who then stood on the side of truth in the struggle against the forces of evil. • #UNCharterIsOurRules The principles and the Charter agreed upon by the founding fathers of our Organization still serve as a bright beacon for international cooperation. • We advocate for the unconditional observance of the principle of equality. In it lies the guarantee that all countries can take their rightful place in world affairs, regardless of their military power, population size, territory or economy. • Russia strongly condemned the Hamas militants’ attack on peaceful Israelis on October 7, 2023. However, there is no justification for the brutal killing of Palestinian civilians, just as there is no justification for terrorism. • The Arabic language is not banned in Israel, nor is Hebrew in Arab countries or Iran – but the Russian language is banned in Ukraine. Let me recall that Article 1 of the Charter speaks of the need to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion. Europe remains silent, obsessed with the utopian goal of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia. • The rights of Russians and Russian-speaking people in the territories still under the control of the Kiev regime must be fully restored. On this basis we are ready to discuss the security guarantees for Ukraine. • Russia and the US bear a special responsibility for world affairs, for avoiding risks that could plunge humanity into a new war. • The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (#SCO) and #BRICS play a special role as mechanisms for coordination of countries of the Global South and East. • NATO is already cramped in Europe, and it is expanding into the Pacific Ocean, the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, undermining the universal ASEAN mechanisms and creating threats not only to China and Russia but also to other countries in the region. • Speaking of the future, we must not forget the lessons of the past – especially when Nazism is once again raising its head in Europe, militarization is gaining momentum under the same anti-Russian slogans. This causes particular concern given that a number of political figures, now in power in Brussels and certain EU and NATO capitals, seriously discuss World War III as a possible scenario. • We call on member states and the Secretariat’s leadership to scrupulously follow all the Charter’s principles – without exception and without double standards. Then the legacy of the UN’s founding fathers will not be wasted. Watch / Read — English subs included 👆

🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview to Tucker Carlson (Moscow, December 6, 2024) Read in full Watch on Youtube Key talking points #RussiaUS • We would like to have normal relations with all countries especially with the United States. We don't see any reason why Russia and the United States cannot cooperate for the sake of the universe. • The Ukrainians would not be able to do what they're doing with long-range modern weapons without direct participation of the American servicemen. We don't want to aggravate the situation, but since ATACMS and other long-range weapons are being used against mainland Russia as it were, we are sending signals. <...> [The US and its allies] must understand that we would be ready to use any means not to allow them to succeed in what they call strategic defeat of Russia. They fight for keeping the hegemony over the world on any country, any region, any continent. We fight for our legitimate security interests. • We don't want to aggravate the situation, but since ATACMS and other long-range weapons are being used against mainland Russia, we are sending signals. We hope that the last one, a couple of weeks ago, the signal with the new weapon system called #Oreshnik was taken seriously. • When the United States 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. <...> 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 that they cannot accept this because this is violation of territorial integrity 🤷‍♂️ The UN Charter is not a menu. You have to respect it in all its entirety 👉#UNCharterIsOurRules • I think [Donald Trump] is a very strong person. A person who wants results. Who doesn't like procrastination on anything. But this does not mean that he's pro-Russian as some people try to present him. The amount of sanctions we received under the Trump administration was very big. #Ukraine • We strongly prefer peaceful solution through negotiations on the basis of respecting legitimate security interest of Russia, and on the basis of respecting the people who live in Ukraine, who still live in Ukraine being Russians. <...> No military bases, no military exercises on the Ukrainian soil with participation of foreign troops. <...> 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. • We are not talking about exterminating anybody's population. We don't have any intention to exterminate Ukrainian people. They are brothers and sisters to the Russian people. • It is becoming clear that there is a fatigue in some capitals, and there are talks every now and then that the Americans would like to leave [Ukraine] with the Europeans and to concentrate on something more important. #Syria • The Americans in the east of Syria groom some Kurdish separatists using the profits from oil and grain sold, the resources which they occupy. <...> The information [on who's backing Islamist groups] which is being floated and it's in the public domain mentions among others the Americans, the Brits. Some people say that Israel is interested in making this situation aggravate. So that Gaza is not under very close scrutiny.

🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the International Symposium 'Inventing the Future' (Moscow, November 4, 2024) Key talking points: • The global balance of power is undergoing transformative changes, driven by the objective trends in the world economy where the influence of the states of the Global South and the Global East, and indeed the World Majority, is growing. • The economic resurgence enables an increasing number of non-Western nations to consistently bolster their sovereignty and to pursue a nationally oriented agenda in both foreign and domestic policy. • Following the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, Washington and its allies, as part of the hybrid war they are waging, have launched an aggressive sanctions campaign against Russia. In the past decade, more than 21,000 sanctions have been imposed on our country across various domains, including economy, finance, trade, investment, media, culture, sport, and broadly, people-to-people contacts. These neo-colonial practices of the West primarily impact the developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. • The adverse effect of this campaign against the undesired is that the West is undermining itself. <...> Western capitals have conveniently forgotten principles such as fair competition, the inviolability of property, the presumption of innocence, among others. • When economic pressure fails to sway truly sovereign nations, the West, led by the United States, resorts to threats, blackmail, and even the use of force. • It is sad to state that the ruling elites in many European countries evidently see no future for themselves in a multipolar world and are looking instead to the overseas hegemon to save them. • The West is never satisfied with what they have. The war they started against Russia in Europe wasn’t enough. • NATO now plans to conduct “defensive” operations in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait which lie thousands of miles away from its shores. Any right-minded observer knows that this path will lead nowhere. • The obsession [of the West] with controlling absolutely everything has led to a rash of tragedies in the Middle East. • This year, yet another independent UN member — Yemen — came under an aggression of the West [Anglo-Saxons]. The Syrian Arab Republic is still reeling from the shock of American interference. The United States has effectively blocked all multilateral mechanisms aimed at promoting the Palestinian-Israeli settlement. • The serious challenges facing the world call for a united effort based on equality, rather than submission to those who seek global dominance. • Establishing direct contacts and horizontal ties among all regional integration entities and with #BRICS which already includes the key countries that are regional leaders, is a significant step towards multipolarity. • Another area of focus is the de-dollarisation of the international financial and economic system. I wish to remind you that the share of national currencies in Russia's transactions with the #SCO and #EAEU countries has surpassed 90%, and with the BRICS nations, we are approaching 65%. This figure continues to grow. 🇺🇳 People often ask: what will multipolarity rely on in terms of international legal foundation? There’s no need to look for new principles; they are all there in the UN Charter 👉#UNCharterIsOurRules. The problem is that our Western partners have never fully respected these principles. Read in full https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1979085/?lang=en

📹#UNGA79 🤝 The Russian delegation, led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, has concluded its participation in the High-Level Week of the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly: 35 meetings, including 28 bilaterals "on the margins" of the UNGA. A recap of what you might have…or might not have missed 👆 #ICYMI 👉DAY 1 👉DAY 2 👉DAY 3 🎙 Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov's remarks at General Debate of the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly: 💬 Russia will always be on the side of collective work, truth and law, peace and cooperation in the interests of reviving the ideals laid down by the founding fathers. This is the aim of the Group of Friends in Defence of the Charter of the United Nations 🎙 Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions 💬 Our view is well known. The only beneficial way to reinforce the Council is by considering candidates from Africa, Asia and Latin America. Increasing the number of Western countries and their allies is out of the question. #UnCharterIsOurRules

🎙 Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov's remarks at the General Debate of the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly 📍New York, September 28, 2024 💬 A few days ago, this building hosted a forum called the Summit of the Future. Russia was supportive of the idea of the Secretary-General to convene it, since the crisis of our Organisation is deepening and something needs to be done about this. We devoted our efforts to preparing the summit. However, we were realistic in our expectations. There have been many ambitious events in the modern history of the United Nations which ended up with loud declarations which were soon forgotten. <...> The current UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, just like Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon before him, has put forward an initiative under the slogan of a new start for global cooperation. This is a wonderful idea. Who could disagree? But what global cooperation is there to talk about, when the West has trampled all those unshakeable values of the globalisation that speakers on the podium talked so much about, trying to convince us that they would give everyone equal access to the goods of modern civilisation? Where is the inviolability of property, the presumption of innocence, freedom of expression, access to information, fair competition in markets under fair and constant rules? The Secretary-General speaks of global cooperation at the very moment when the countries of the West have unleashed a veritable war of sanctions against more than half, if not the majority, of the countries of the world, and the US dollar, promoted as an asset and a good for all humanity, has been crudely turned into a weapon. <...> It is not late to breathe new life into the United Nations. But this can be achieved through restoration of trust based on the charter principle – sovereign equality of all states – rather than out-of-touch summits and declarations. However, while the trust is undermined, including through actions by the West to create its subordinate narrow formats to resolve crucial issues bypassing the UN such as control over the Internet or determination of legal frameworks to use AI technologies. These issues touch upon the future of the entire humanity and they have to be considered on a universal basis, without discrimination and aspiration to achieve unilateral benefits. Thus, everything has to be agreed on a fair basis involving all UN members. Key points: • The world faces massive challenges which require united efforts rather than confrontation and desire of global domination. • It is obvious for the world majority that confrontation and hegemonism do not solve a single global problem. They just artificially restrain the impartial process of forming a multipolar world. • Russia will always be on the side of collective work, truth and law, peace and cooperation in the interests of reviving the ideals laid down by the founding fathers. • The unprecedented level of hypocrisy and aggressiveness of the western policy against Russia not only brings to naught the idea of global cooperation promoted by the Secretary General. • The UN Secretariat cannot remain aloof from efforts to establish the truth in situations that directly affect global security and must act impartially in accordance with Art. 100 of the Charter, acting impartially and avoiding the temptation to play into the hands of certain states, especially those who openly call for the world to be divided into a flowering garden and a jungle, or for a democratic table to be set for dinner and those on the menu instead of cooperation. • A more equitable world order unconditionally presupposes increased representation of the Global South in the UN Security Council. We reaffirm our position in support of Brazil and India provided a positive decision is reached in the framework of the well-known initiatives of the African Union. #UNGA79#UNCharterIsOurRules

⚡️ Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview for a documentary titled "The UN from the 20th to the 21st Century" (Moscow, September 25, 2024) Key points: • Less than a year after the victorious powers established the UN based on the noble principles formulated in its charter, it became clear that the West, acting contrary to these principles, intended to launch a war against the Soviet Union, and not merely a cold war but an all-out war. These plans hatched by the then "Anglo-Saxons" [nations of the Anglosphere led by the US & UK] have long become public knowledge. • Once NATO was created, the Soviet Union circulated a large document which demonstrated the detrimental effect of that and the danger of building walls between the East and the West, especially in Europe, and called for respecting the #UNCharter and for working towards this. Our call was not heeded. ✊ However, we kept fighting for justice and the implementation of the principle of sovereign equality of nations. Decolonisation was a bright stage and a major embodiment of that principle. The Soviet Union was the main initiator of the 1960 Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. Following its adoption, the number of UN states increased by 80-90 members. • They tell us that the main goal today is to ensure the territorial integrity of Ukraine. It is a misleading interpretation of the UN Charter, where the right of nations to self-determination is put before territorial integrity. • Even before demanding respect for territorial integrity, the UN Charter demands respect for human rights without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion <…> Now that Zelensky’s Nazi regime, which the West nurtured, has banned both the language and religious rights of a large number of its own population, the West has put away the banners it was waving for decades. ❗️The top priority now is to ensure the achievement of the initial goals and principles of the UN Charter in their entirety and as a whole, rather than selectively or occasionally. • The reform of the UN Security Council is not a one-off event. It’s a process which has been ongoing since the time the United Nations came into being <...> Nevertheless, it relies on principles that must be preserved at all costs. The main principle is that the Security Council reform should be based on a broad-based agreement among states. It does not say “consensus,” but it does state “broad-based agreement among states.” 🌍🇮🇳🇧🇷 We have invariably supported the legitimate aspirations of India and Brazil to secure permanent seats in the Security Council. However, African aspirations must be met as well. Africa has common collective positions, which we respect. And we would have like that. • Our position implies providing additional seats for Asia, Africa, and Latin America. We are open to some of these seats being permanent, but we need to achieve general agreement before we can move forward. It is a complicated process. I don’t see any chance for bringing this process to a swift and expedited completion any time soon. • Since the UN was created, there has never been a time, a region, or a situation that involved the United States in one way or another, where the country would actually respect that principle. Every time, everywhere they acted as a hegemon, or like a "bull in a china shop". • When they wanted to punish Russia, the West abandoned all the principles which it was feeding to us and which it declared sacred. The same is happening to the principles of the UN Charter. The West is trampling and destroying them without a moment’s hesitation. ➡️ Read in full https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1971107/ #UNGA79#UNCharterIsOurRules

🎙Statement by Foreign Minister Sergey #Lavrov during the #UN Security Council meeting on multilateral cooperation in the interest of a more just, democratic and sustainable world order, New York, July 16, 2024 (excerpts): 💬Today, the very foundations of the international legal order - strategic stability and the UN-centric system of international politics - are put to the test. We won’t be able to resolve the mounting conflicts unless we understand their root causes and restore faith in our ability to join forces for the common good and justice for all. 👉Let’s face it: not all countries represented in this chamber recognise the key principle of the #UNCharter which is the sovereign equality of all states. Speaking through its presidents, the United States has long declared its exceptionalism. This applies to Washington’s attitude towards its allies, whom it demands to be unquestioningly obedient even to the detriment of their national interests. Rule, America! This is the thrust of the notorious “rules-based order” which presents a direct threat to multilateralism and international peace. ❗️The most important components of international law - the UN Charter and the resolutions of our Council - are interpreted by the collective West in a perverse and selective manner, depending on the instructions coming from the White House. Numerous Security Council resolutions have been ignored altogether, among them Resolution 2202, which approved the Minsk agreements on Ukraine, and Resolution 1031, which approved the Dayton Agreement on peace in BiH on the basis of the principle of equal rights of the three constituent peoples and two entities. We can discuss endlessly the sabotage of the resolutions on the Middle East. Just think back to what Antony Blinken had to say in an interview with CNN in February 2021 taking a question about what he thinks about the decision of the previous US administration to recognise the Syrian Golan Heights as part of Israel. In case someone is not sure what his answer was, I will refresh your memory. The Secretary of State said, “Leaving aside the legalities of that question, as a practical matter, the Golan is very important to Israel’s security.” This is despite the fact that UN Security Council Resolution 497 of 1981, which you and I are well aware of and which no one has cancelled, qualifies annexation of the Golan Heights by Israel as illegal. However, according to those very “rules,” to quote Mr Blinken, “legal questions are something else.” And, of course, everyone remembers the statement by the US Ambassador to the UN that Resolution 2728 adopted on March 25 demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip “is not legally binding,” meaning that the American “rules” supersede Article 25 of the UN Charter. <...> 🔗Read in full: https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1962040/ #UNCharterIsOurRules

🌐 April 24 marks the International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace. Established by the UN General Assembly resolution 73/127 of December 12, 2018, it seeks to promote the values of the United Nations and reaffirm the faith of our peoples in the purposes and principles enshrined in its Charter. 🇺🇳#UNCharterIsOurRules From Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the UN Security Council’s open debates “Effective multilateralism through the Defence of the Principles of the UN Charter” (New York, April 24, 2023): 💬 For a little less than 80 years of its existence, the UN has been carrying out the important mission entrusted to it by its founders. For several decades, a basic understanding by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council as regards the supremacy of the charter’s goals and principles guaranteed global security. • Today, our UN-centric system is going through a deep crisis. The main reason is a striving by some UN members to replace international law and the UN Charter with a certain “rules-based” order. • Our Western colleagues have been inconvenienced by holding talks based on universal formats, such as the UN, for a long time now. In order to provide an ideological substantiation for the course on undermining multilateralism, they initiated a concept of united “democracies” as opposed to “autocracies.” • Summits for Democracy, the Alliance for Multilateralism <...> – all these and other non-inclusive projects were designed to thwart talks on the corresponding matters under the auspices of the UN. ❗️ Let's call it what it is: no one authorised the Western minority to speak on behalf of all humankind. Please act decently and respect all members of the international community. 👉 It is our common duty to preserve the United Nations as the hard-won epitome of multilateralism and coordination of international politics. The key to success lies in working together, renouncing claims to anyone's exceptionalism and showing respect for the sovereign equality of states.