Briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Moscow, August 2, 2022
- Sergey Lavrov’s upcoming visit to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar
- Sergey Lavrov’s forthcoming participation in the meetings of foreign ministries heads in the ASEAN, EAS and ARF formats
- The 55th anniversary of ASEAN
- Update on Donbass and Ukraine
- Vadim Skibitsky's statements to UK’s The Telegraph
- Preparations for IAEA international mission to Zaporozhye NPP
- Developments in Kosovo
- Attempt to discredit the topic of Kosovo Albanian militants’ crimes
- US Congress’s initiative to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism
- President Biden’s statements on a strategic dialogue with Russia
- Anniversary of the US nuclear attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945
- Developments in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Discrimination against Africans in Europe
- Poland closes the Russian exhibit at the former Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp
- NPT Review Conference
- II BRICS International Youth Camp
- Anniversary of Jamaican independence
Answers to media questions:
1. North Macedonia transfers tanks to Ukraine
2. EU bans RT France broadcasting on its territory
4. Statement by the US on Al-Qaeda leader’s killing in Afghanistan
6. Settlements in national currencies between SCO member states
7. DPRK’s contribution to rebuilding LPR and DPR
9. Drafting of the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty
Sergey Lavrov’s upcoming visit to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar
On August 3, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will pay a working visit to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. He is scheduled to hold talks with the Foreign Minister of that country, Wunna Maung Lwin, and meet with the Myanmar leadership.
The parties are to discuss the status and prospects for the promotion of a whole range of Russian-Myanmar relations, including political dialogue, trade and economic cooperation, interaction in defence and security, and humanitarian contacts. They will also discuss topical issues on the regional and international agendas.
As we notified earlier, on August 4-5 in Phnom Penh, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will take part in the regular meetings of foreign ministries’ heads in the formats of the Associaiton of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), East Asia Summit (EAS) and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).
We expect that during meetings with ASEAN colleagues Sergey Lavrov will have a frank and engaged conversations on the entire range of dialogue partnership in keeping with the decisions of the 2021 Russia-ASEAN Summit. A special focus will be given to specific and mutually advantageous steps in security, trade and the economy, and socio-cultural and humanitarian areas.
The AARF agenda includes issues of preparations for and substantive filling of the 17th East Asia Summit to be held in Phnom Penh in November of this year. Russian initiatives in healthcare, tourism, and volunteering are at various stages of development and implementation.
The main objective of the ASEAN Regional Security Forum session is to preserve the forum as a platform for constructive, non-politicised cooperation on issues of concern to the regional community, despite the intention of the Association's Western partners to turn it into an arena of geopolitical confrontation. We hope that it will be possible to adopt the ARF work programme for the coming year and important thematic statements.
Sergey Lavrov will hold a number of bilateral meetings on the margins of the events. We will inform you about the working schedule and share not only information materials, but also photographs, so much beloved by our Western partners.
This year marks the 55th anniversary of ASEAN, which is a milestone event in the current period. The forum was established in August 1967.
For more than half a century, the Association has become one of the most highly respected international organisations and a major element of the rising multipolar world, a magnet for many key political and economic processes in the Asia-Pacific region.
ASEAN's unwavering commitment to the principles of broad and inclusive interaction and the harmonious coexistence of all members of the international community, regardless of differences in the form of government, economic structure, and cultural and civilisational norms, allowed it to create an integral system of cooperation-oriented multilateral mechanisms, which is a unique example of this kind of interaction in the world.
Russia has always shared the positive philosophy of ASEAN, which is the most important factor cementing our strategic partnership with the Association. This allows us, despite the current international turbulence, to continue joint work on the entire agenda, expand the range of interaction mechanisms, raise the level of sectoral cooperation, and deepen trade, economic and humanitarian ties. Cooperation with ASEAN is one of the key areas in Russia's foreign policy in Asia.
The Association's approach to international relations, based on a patient search for common ground and embodying the centuries-old political culture and ethics of Asian states, has been called the ASEAN Way. I think that the elites of many Western countries, who are experiencing a crisis of public confidence and the growth of public skepticism regarding ideologised foreign policy guidelines, have a lot to learn from the Association.
Taking a top-down, dismissive attitude, identifying oneself as “developed” and others as “developing” or “lagging”, selecting democracies, making lines for admission to the “correct” democracies – all this is over.
Today, the West has a lot to learn (if they give themselves the opportunity) from countries that use their own history and experience as a “guiding star” in turbulent international relations. The whole spectrum – from experience and professionalism to culture and traditions – manifests itself in this in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. As our friends, true partners, with whom the Russian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had numerous talks recently, said, “The West is suffering from amnesia.” In many ways, this is the answer to what is happening to them now.
To begin with, I would like to welcome the beginning of the implementation of the “grain agreements” reached in Istanbul on July 22 of this year. On August 1, the first ship (carrying maize) under the flag of Sierra Leone left the port of Odessa and set sail for Lebanon. We trust that Kiev will fulfil its obligations to ensure the safety of vessels at Ukrainian Black Sea ports and in its territorial waters. At the same time, to fully resolve the food problem it is necessary for Western countries to ensure that Russian fertiliser and food can reach world markets, i.e. that they remove the financial and logistical obstacles caused by anti-Russian restrictions that they have imposed.
This is exactly what is being publicly and loudly demanded by, for example, African countries, which are so “taken care of” by the West (primarily by Washington). The Africans say that Western countries are themselves creating the food problem, blocking payment options, transport logistics, and then telling stories about how the world is threatened by famine.
One gets the impression that the Western mainstream media has already become so far removed from normal objective work, having become a propaganda tool for liberal regimes, that these same regimes no longer receive reliable information from other parts of the world about what is happening in the international arena. Apparently, they do not hear in the West (they do not show it on TV) what leaders and professionals are saying about the food problem in African countries. They are perfectly aware of who is behind the aggravation of the situation.
The removal of financial and logistical obstacles is stipulated by the bilateral Memorandum of Understanding between the Russian Federation and the UN Secretariat on facilitating access of Russian food and fertiliser to the world markets. The agreements reached in Istanbul are of a package nature. This term is used by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. In this connection, we warn against attempts to “wrap up” or not implement the second part of the package. Otherwise, the world may lose tens of millions of tons of Russian grain because of the West’s irresponsible policy. No matter how hard the Western mainstream media tries, the recipient countries understand who is behind the hurdles to food delivery.
Meanwhile, the special military operation continues in Ukraine. Despite the Western countries’ support for the Kiev regime, we are consistently pursuing its goals and objectives to protect civilians in the DPR and LPR, to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine, and to eliminate threats to Russia’s security.
Peaceful life is already being restored in the liberated Lugansk and Kherson regions and the territories of the DPR that have been liberated from the neo-Nazis, the Kharkov and Zaporozhye regions, where industry, agriculture and social infrastructure are beginning to work. A master plan has been developed for the complete restoration of Mariupol over the next three years. This year, work will be carried out on 90 social facilities.
The activity of law enforcement and judicial bodies continues unabated – the perpetrators of crimes against civilians in Donbass will be punished to the fullest extent of the law, and not by primitive, caveman methods that do not deliver justice (not even by lynching), but rather spew hatred and aggression in the Kiev-controlled territories. You have seen gruesome footage of people being tied to poles, doused with chemicals, and beaten (including women, the elderly, and children) simply because someone thought that they were “not loyally committed” to the Kiev regime. No provocations by Kiev will prevent the normalisation of life in these territories.
Four days ago, the Ukrainian Armed Forces committed yet another war crime by carrying out a missile strike against a detention facility in Yelenovka using the American HIMARS multiple rocket launcher. The missile hit the building housing fighters from the Azov criminal group who surrendered in May 2022 at Mariupol’s Azovstal plant.
Why did the Kiev regime strike a detention centre for Ukrainian prisoners of war? The reason is that they started testifying and sharing information about the atrocities they had committed against Donbass civilians, exposing facts with numbers, dates and locations at hand. Having witnessed these crimes, these prisoners of war are now viewed as a threat to Vladimir Zelensky’s regime. Kiev, our so-called Western partners, and liberals around the world have been screaming for the past four of five months: “What Nazis?”, “There is no one there,” “No xenophobic crimes were committed there.” Now the fighters who left Azovstal presented evidence on what they were doing there. In fact, they were acting as part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces rather than on their own. Kiev believes them to be dangerous witnesses who must be destroyed. It is for this reason that they simply pressed the launch button and fired the US-supplied weapons using location data also provided by the US. So cynical, and so simple. At the same time, this sits really well with the Western approach: eliminate those who, only yesterday, served you in good faith, swore allegiance to you and performed your criminal orders believing them to be reasonable and consistent with Ukraine’s national interests.
We have already seen the same thing happen in other parts of the world. Take the Middle East – there was always a point at which Washington either betrayed all its proxies or eliminated them. The West created Osama bin Laden who studied in the West and benefitted from its support. Newspapers wrote about him saying that he was a man who chose the path of democracy. Then, he became an enemy and was killed, with Washington applauding the move. This is the way the United States settles its scores with all those who used to relay its will. Today’s Western mentality is all about villainy and hypocrisy.
The missile strike against the detention facility killed more than 50 members of the criminal groups that left Azovstal and surrendered. It is obvious that the prospect of Azov fighters uncovering the horrible truth about the combat methods and war crimes committed by the Ukrainian nationalists trained in NATO countries and using Western weapons, frightened the Ukrainian authorities and their Western curators because it would shock public opinion and stun Vladimir Zelensky’s regime. The fighters started sharing details on the “technicalities,” including recruitment, training, the goals they pursued, the weapons they received, and who called the shots. As soon as they opened their mouths, the Kiev regime decided to shut them up, despite the fact that these fighters had sworn their allegiance to Kiev. What is even more cynical is that despite the irrefutable evidence, the Ukrainian authorities tried to pin the blame for the missile strike on Russian and Donbass allied forces.
Russia calls on the international community to deliver a principled and impartial assessment of the crime perpetrated by the Ukrainian nationalists in Yelenovka. “Astonishing” statements by representatives of international organisations came to my attention. Asked by journalists what they thought about these developments, they responded that they lacked “first-hand” information. Did they have any on Bucha, or Kramatorsk? Which would-be first-hand sources are worthy of providing them with background information for their comments? I would like to see their list of first-hand sources. In other instances, nothing prevents them from quoting unverified social media accounts and data from NGOs. In this case, there was more than enough information out there, but for some reason it was not viewed as first-hand information. What an elaborate balancing act.
We hope that the specialised UN bodies and experts from the International Committee of the Red Cross who facilitated the evacuation of civilians from Azovstal in May 2022 will not shy away from our invitation to take part in an investigation of this situation.
In addition, we are looking forward to fruitful cooperation with UN and ICRC representatives in obtaining information on the conditions of detention of Russian, DPR and LPR military personnel in Ukraine. We are still seeing what used to be referred to as double standards. What we are witnessing now are not just double standards, but criminal negligence when covering and assessing the ongoing developments. ICRC representatives demand that they be given access in Russia to detention facilities for Ukrainian prisoners of war and members of the Ukrainian nationalist groups, especially from Azov, who surrendered. At the same time, they have remained silent on their efforts regarding Russian, DPR and LPR military personnel held captive in Ukraine.
The crimes committed by the
Last week, central
In the Zaporozhye Region, the Ukrainian Armed Forces shelled grain depots in Energodar and Kamenka-Dneprovskaya many times. We regret to note that yet again the Western countries and international structures have failed to notice this and failed to deliver their assessment of the shelling by
We noted the new “holiday” proclaimed by the
As Sergey Lavrov wrote in his article for Izvestia newspaper, staging provocations is a favourite method of Western politics. This becomes ridiculous when not just Slavic nations, but all countries understand the absurdity of these statements. Much has been said about the Ukrainian authorities falsifying history and the actual roots of
We can hardly speak of
Against this backdrop, accusations of
Once again, this confirms that
Vadim Skibitsky's statements to UK’s The Telegraph
As I have already said, I would like to elaborate on US weapons supplies and the
He said that the
He said that “US officials are not providing direct targeting information, which would potentially undermine their case for not being direct participants in the war.” However, he suggested there was a level of consultation between intelligence officials of both countries prior to launching missiles that would allow
No need to look anywhere else for evidence of
Let me remind you that representatives of the
Preparations for IAEA international mission to Zaporozhye NPP
We have taken note of IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi’s opening remarks at the NPT Review Conference on August 1, during which he reaffirmed the agency’s desire to conduct safeguards verification activities and to monitor nuclear safety and physical integrity at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. He said he was ready to lead such a team.
We have issued several detailed comments on the circumstances related to the implementation of the IAEA leadership’s initiative. It is important to emphasise once again that Russia has been committed to close and constructive cooperation with the IAEA from the very beginning. We have done a great deal to prepare for such a visit, which was not easy in light of the rapidly changing circumstances at the ZNPP and Ukraine’s subversive activities. We have scrutinised and tentatively coordinated all issues related to the organisation of the visit and its details, namely, the mission’s route, safety measures for the IAEA team and the involvement of top-ranking foreign specialists. However, we have not reached the implementation phase.
The question is who is raising obstacles to the implementation of the agency’s mission, and what right do they have to do this? I would also like to ask how long this arbitrariness will continue. It is a fact that the UN Secretariat played an unseemly role in this story by hindering the IAEA Director General’s’s initiative for political reasons. One of the explanations is that the UN leadership was envious of the IAEA initiative, which could allegedly overshadow the UN Secretariat’s efforts to settle several delicate issues related to Ukraine.
We would not like to believe in the possibility of such a state of affairs. These are petty intrigues rather than a mere politicisation of the matter. We urge the parties to stop this immediately and to assume responsibility for nuclear security at the ZNPP, which Ukraine is putting to the test daily, as if unaware of the risks this involves at a nuclear power plant.
Russia wholeheartedly shares the deep concerns connected with the risks that Kiev is deliberately creating at the station. No other acting nuclear power plant has been subjected to such regular and fierce attacks before. The Kiev players for high stakes do not seem to understand what their reckless games with fire could lead to. They don’t care either about themselves or about the risks they are creating to neighbouring European states, which have blocked their minds to what is happening near them and what this could lead to. If the worse comes to worst, there will be no time or place for politics or the food crisis. It will be a completely different story from the show they have staged with the Kaliningrad transit, closed borders and discussions of how many Russians will be granted visas and how many will be denied, and how they will cancel Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. Everything will be different if something happens at the ZNPP. This is what they must understand. To do this, they must start thinking. We know that thinking is a process that has been blocked by their American masters. This is a matter of survival, not just energy or food supplies (in plain English, where to get your next meal and how to keep warm). This is about preventing a new tragedy, which the West and other parts of the world described as a terrible disaster. We all remember the Fukushima nuclear accident. Why do it again? Why do they refuse to see what is happening in the heart of Europe?
On the other hand, if it is more important to them to count how many times Josep Borrell and Sergey Lavrov have appeared on television, as the EU foreign policy head is doing, there will be no time left to consider the ZNPP problem. I believe that there are more important matters than hype.
This is a case for doctors rather than political analysts or the political community as a whole. Doctors could probably explain why European politicians are indifferent to the matter of their own survival. But this can wait. First, we need to normalise the situation at the ZNPP. I have devoted so much time to this issue to attract the attention of the countries to the west of us.
Rafael Grossi hinted in an interview before the NPT Review Conference that he would work to remove any obstacles created by the UN Secretariat to the IAEA visit to the ZNPP, and that he would urge Ukraine to put an end to attacks at the plant, on its staff and the adjacent areas where the families of staff members and other civilians servicing the plant live. Can you imagine? I would like to tell those who may be unaware of this that the IAEA is a UN body. The main principle of the UN is that it must speak with one voice. We wholeheartedly support Mr Grossi’s resolve, and we are aware of the complexity of the matter at hand.
Russia will continue doing everything in its power to ensure the nuclear safety and physical integrity of the ZNPP and to protect the plant from Ukrainian attacks. We will continue to provide the fullest possible picture of developments at the plant to the general public and international organisations. We will forward objective information to the IAEA. We will continue to publish it officially in the IAEA Information Circulars. We hope to win the support of all the healthy forces who share responsibility and concern over the events at the ZNPP.
The Russian ambassador in Belgrade has already commented on the situation. But there are a lot of questions.
The developments in the Serb-populated north of Kosovo, where Pristina’s authorities took a high-handed decision to make it mandatory, as of August 1, for Kosovo Serbs to replace their identification documents and number plates, which nearly led to armed clashes with dire consequences, are a cause for major concern.
Tensions that flared up again were quickly defused. And it was, curiously enough, Western diplomats that had to intervene by persuading the Kosovo leadership to postpone their plans for a month. It is all obvious. It is not about some “merit” of the United States and EU, but about the fact that they have to correct the misdeeds of their own charges, who have long felt impunity, generate dangerous discriminatory initiatives and are not going to seek compromises.
The EU and Kosovo diligently pretend to be independent actors, to make decisions and act accordingly. Let us look at what is actually happening. Brussels has a sufficient mandate to resolve contentious issues between the parties. However, there is a strong impression that the EU cannot do without “prompting” from Washington, even when the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, calls for dismantling the barricades. The impression is that this is a purely intra-European conflict. True, Serbia is not an EU member, but it is surrounded by EU members. It is has a regular dialogue with the EU, both on EU engagement and on the situation around Kosovo. The impression is that Brussels cannot resolve even its own internal European conflict, despite it having all the tools to do so without being on a short leash with Washington. This leads to the question often asked by Western journalists: to what extent can Europe, in the form of the EU, do anything and act as an independent player? Other parts of the world – Asia, Africa, Latin America (I will tell Brussels in confidence) – show more independence than countries that live (as they claim) in democratic systems and praise liberalism as their ideology.
The problem remains. The root of the problem is Pristina's failure to honour its commitments and sabotage of its negotiations with Belgrade.
This makes the inability of the EU, which was mandated by the 2010 UN General Assembly to act as a mediator, to encourage Kosovars to engage in dialogue in good faith and ensure the establishment of a Community of Serb Municipalities of Kosovo as a form of protecting local Serbs' rights and freedoms, particularly glaring.
The dangerous experiments will continue until the West becomes fully aware of the real threat this poses to the fragile stability in the Balkans. Responsibility for this lies entirely with the West and, above all, with Washington. We urge the United States and the European Union to stop encouraging Pristina radicals in their anti-Serb frenzy and to put an end to provocations against Kosovo Serbs and Belgrade.
Attempt to discredit the topic of Kosovo Albanian militants’ crimes
The Albanian parliament adopted a resolution challenging “groundless” accusations regarding organ trafficking in Kosovo and Albania – an egregious scandal of the Kosovo crisis in the late 1990s. The document calls on the Albanian government to disavow the December 2010 report to the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly by former PACE member Dick Marty. The Albanian parliament wants to erase those facts, which were the result of the investigation presented to PACE.
We are talking about numerous atrocious crimes against Serbs, Albanians and members of other ethnic groups. They were kidnapped and murdered in order to remove their organs, which were then sold on the international “black transplantology” market. When we speak of and list the ethnic groups, it is important, out of respect for the peoples and for understanding the geopolitical situation. But for the people of the 21st century, of those generations that live and have grown up with an understanding of what human rights are, it is impossible savagery. It is not even barbaric. If you go back to the origins, people did not treat each other like that back then. People before modern civilisation did not do that. Can you imagine what was going on? There's a lot of literature and documentaries on that subject. You should take a look. It's scary. This is a tragedy of modern Europe that had such rot at its core.
In due course, they gathered evidence that Kosovo Liberation Army fighters were behind it all.
The political declaration of the Albanian Parliament is absolutely unacceptable. It is aimed at undermining the work of the Specialist Chambers for the investigation of the Kosovo Liberation Army crimes and at closing criminal cases against its leaders, including, incidentally, the former Kosovo “president” and “speaker of parliament.”
By and large, this is an attempt to blur one of the reference points on the international agenda in terms of the political, legal and moral assessment of the Kosovo conflict.
We remain firm in our position that all those involved in these atrocities must face a harsh and just punishment. We expect the EU to fulfil the relevant commitments it undertook when it set up the Specialist Chambers.
US Congress’s initiative to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism
The US legislators, including the “flying” House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are at a loss for new anti-Russia sanction instruments, having used all their available tools, which for the most part proved ineffective. They are considering a new “powerful weapon”: the declaration of Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Senators and Congresspeople may regard this use of national legislation, which contravenes international law, as a terrible punishment, which might force Russia to accept the US “rules-based order.” This is naïve. They forget that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, and a logical reaction to their irresponsible move would be the severance of diplomatic relations, which would push Washington beyond the point of no return with all the ensuing consequences. The United States must understand this. I hope the “flying” speaker will return to base and possibly consult those who are at the very least interested in diplomacy as a profession. We would like to believe that the Biden administration is aware of this, despite its eccentricities.
It is surprising that the American political class, especially on the Capitol Hill, is unable to soberly assess the current geopolitical realities which have no place for the former US hegemony. Because of inertia, Washington continues to divide the world into “bad” and “good” countries, states, democracies and systems, arbitrarily bearing down on undesirable regimes, presented as dictatorial or terrorist, even though they are no longer capable of doing this.
They bombed Yugoslavia, killed civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq and destroyed Libya as a state. But they came against resistance at some point. They have failed to dismember Syria, and Afghanistan is a telling fiasco. The United States, which is sending more and more weapons to Zelensky’s regime, is in for a humiliating defeat in Ukraine. Everyone is aware of this.
We look forward to seeing what the Congress’s initiative will lead to after the “flying” speaker returns home. They should know that we are ready for any turn of events, and if Washington decides to cut short relations with Moscow, we will survive this. There should be no doubt about that.
President Biden’s statements on a strategic dialogue with Russia
We have taken note of Joe Biden’s statement ahead of the Review Conference for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). He said that his administration was ready to expeditiously negotiate a new arms control framework to replace New START. However, in light of “Russia’s unprovoked aggression in Ukraine” which constitutes an “attack on fundamental tenets of international order,” Russia should demonstrate that it is ready to resume work on nuclear arms control with the United States. I would like to ask: Is the US self-imposed isolation from Russia over? That was sarcasm. But let’s take a look at the current situation. Let’s talk about Russia.
Russia has always called for international security and strategic stability to be strengthened, provided we are talking about the international order the US President mentioned in the White House statement, including through coordinating an arms control framework during a strategic dialogue with the United States. We proved our intention by offering initiatives and taking practical steps to relaunch bilateral interaction on strategic matters after the Biden administration assumed office. At the practical level, we proposed creating a new level of security that would include all offensive and defensive weapons (both nuclear and conventional ones) that have a bearing on strategic stability.
At first, the resumption of dialogue and joint efforts to promote it offered grounds for optimism. We regularly informed the public about that. There was a serious setback when we mentioned the need to coordinate reliable security guarantees on Russia’s western border and across the Euro-Atlantic region based on equal and indivisible security. Washington turned down our initiatives and indicated that it would continue to reconfigure the strategic picture of the world in its favour, disregarding the interests of Russia or any other country, as we understand them. It reaffirmed its resolve to ensure decisive military superiority for itself by continuing with NATO expansion, which is damaging to us, and by turning Ukraine into an anti-Russia bridgehead.
We believe that the United States must decide now if it is ready for dialogue on strategic stability based on equality, mutual respect and a balance of national interests. So far, we only see Washington moving to and fro. At first, the US administration tried to isolate itself from us and to cut all contacts. Suddenly, it is talking about a new arms control agreement to replace New START. Is this an election manoeuvre or opportunistic rhetoric? This isn’t a question for us, it is a question for them. They themselves must decide what they really want.
Anniversary of the US nuclear attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945
On the eve of the 77th anniversary of the US nuclear attacks on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we believe it is appropriate to recall one of the main provisions of the Joint Statement on Preventing Nuclear War and Avoiding Arms Races, which was adopted on January 3 by the leaders of the five nuclear-weapon states in accordance with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. It states that nuclear weapons – as long as they continue to exist – should serve defensive purposes, deter aggression and prevent war.
This provision looks especially relevant in the context of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki tragedy, because the nuclear bombardment of Japanese cities was actually the US testing nuclear weapons in a live situation and their effectiveness on urban facilities, infrastructure and agglomerations, on living people, civilians. Let me also note that in relation to this topic, the emphasis has recently been placed primarily on “the exceptional suffering of the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki” without any mention of who actually made it happen. As if people had to suffer, because this is just a natural phenomenon. I saw that “bombs just fell from the sky” in comments now circulating in Japan. This is how they describe what happened, that is, these bombs were not dropped, but they simply “fell from the sky, from above.” Unfortunately, the Japanese authorities are pushing this topic. Perhaps they seek to blunt Tokyo’s role in starting World War II, as well as the actions of the Japanese military during this conflict. It is hard to say, but it is all ahistorical.
For Russia, as the successor state of the USSR, which was a victim of aggression during World War II and lost 27 million lives, such a formulation is completely unacceptable. It is also extremely sensitive for many other countries that suffered from militaristic Japan’s aggression.
In today’s difficult international situation, it is critical to understand the significance of the abovementioned joint statement of the five nuclear states. It reaffirms that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought” and states that the countries – parties to this agreement consider it their primary responsibility to prevent war between states possessing nuclear weapons and to reduce strategic risks. It is essential that all nuclear powers uphold their commitments to these landmark understandings. Then the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will never be repeated elsewhere.
Developments in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Moscow is concerned about the escalating tensions in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
We condemn the protesters’ attack on the facilities of the UN Stabilisation Mission in the DRC in the province of North Kivu on July 25-26. As a result of the series of attacks, three peacekeepers from India and Morocco were killed, and several others were injured. We hope that the DRC authorities will thoroughly investigate this incident, as well as the earlier crash of a MONUSCO helicopter, which also resulted in the death of a Russian citizen, Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Mizyura, a crew member and commander of the group of Russian military observers.
We call on the MONUSCO leadership and the Congolese Government to take additional measures to improve the security of peacekeepers.
The hotbed of chronic instability in the east of the DRC has a decisive impact on the security situation throughout the African Great Lakes region. The unrelenting activity of numerous illegal armed groups causes concern. The events around the MONUSCO headquarters reaffirmed that the absolute priority is to ensure peace and stability in the region via political means. In order to do this, it is necessary to put an end to hostilities and continue the dialogue between all sides of the conflict.
We believe that the key to solving the problems in the east of the DRC is constructive cooperation between the countries in the region. Russia praises the peacekeeping efforts of President of Angola João Lourenço, Chairperson of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, who initiated the holding of a trilateral meeting with President of Rwanda Paul Kagame and President of the DRC Félix Tshisekedi in Luanda on July 6, which was aimed at searching for ways to settle the conflict in the region. We are carefully monitoring the Nairobi process that began in April.
We hope that the resolute attitude of the DRC’s neighbouring countries to overcome the current escalation in the east of this country will make the DRC Government and illegal armed groups agree to sit down at the negotiating table. We believe it is necessary to continue work on the full implementation of the fundamental 2013 Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework in the eastern regions of the DRC and the Great Lakes Region. We support the activities of the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region Xia Huang to establish an interstate dialogue in order to lower tensions in this part of Africa.
Discrimination against Africans in Europe
Russian speakers are being discriminated against, the Russian language has been banned and Russian culture and literature have been cancelled in many European countries, namely in the EU in connection with the situation in Ukraine. This problem has gained this proportion only recently. At the same time, we see new manifestations of racism against Africans in Europe. This is evidence of the human rights problems for people of colour.
I would like to remind you about the openly racist treatment of Africans in 2021. For example, the Africans who tried to enter Poland in search of shelter were pushed back by the police in an unacceptably harsh manner. On July 28, 2022, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Felipe Gonzalez Morales, said during a news conference following his visit to Poland and Belarus that some African migrants were “subject of violence and pushbacks from both sides.” He said that at least 19 migrants from the Middle East and Africa had died in the border area since the beginning of the migration crisis in the region, and that the use of water cannons against asylum seekers by Polish border guards was excessive and disproportionate.
The same is happening to those who are running from the Ukrainian conflict. Attitudes towards them depend on skin colour, where people of colour are sent to the back of the queue. In February and March 2022, Ukrainian border guards prevented African students from boarding Poland-bound trains and otherwise tried to stop them from leaving the country. A Beninese student was subjected to discrimination in Germany; she was kept at the police station for over 10 hours without any reason. These are isolated examples of the overall situation.
In March 2022, the Ukrainian military prevented Tanzanian students from leaving the city of Sumy. A small group of students managed to leave the city but were denied entry to the EU at the Ukrainian-Polish border. Media coverage of the incident forced the Foreign Minister of Tanzania, Liberata Mulamula, to contact her Ukrainian counterpart to request the unconditional evacuation of her compatriots.
About 300 Kenyans, including over 100 students, were stopped at the Polish-Ukrainian border. The Foreign Ministry of Kenya had to coordinate a temporary, simplified entry procedure for its citizens with Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.
Civil activists tried to sound an alarm with reports about the discrimination of Africans and members of other racial groups and minorities by Ukrainian, Polish and Romanian authorities. We are talking about the residual principle used during the assignment of places in evacuation buses and trains, denial of rights to cross the border, poor living conditions in refugee camps and even beatings.
We have also taken note of the privileged attitude afforded to Ukrainians in EU countries, which has typically denounced a policy of double standards towards Asian and African refugees.
In March 2022, the central Ethiopian government newspaper published an article on racism and the tragedy of Africans fleeing the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. According to the article, people in difficult circumstances were discriminated against based on skin colour. The facts cited have been denounced as outrageous examples of bare-faced racism in the centre of Europe where tolerance and lenience are promoted as fundamental human values.
The item titled Double Standards of the Crisis in 'Civilised' Ukraine, published on March 5 in the Ethiopian newspaper Fortune, described the hypocritical attitude of Western countries, which are willing to take in Ukrainian refugees because they are “people with blue eyes and blond hair” but turn their backs on the African and Middle Eastern refugees who need their help.
In addition to the traditional problem of racism, which has not been overcome in the West, there is also the problem of hypocrisy. Europeans are not sincere in their desire to help Ukrainians. The current campaign is based on time-serving political motivations and will end as suddenly as it has begun. For the first few months, the front pages of the Western media posted images from Ukraine, both real ones and fake images. But almost all of that disappeared overnight. The situation has changed, the order has changed, people have become bored, and nobody has provided an alternative. This is a combination of xenophobia, racism and nationalism deeply imbedded in Western mentality, plus a feeling of superiority, political opportunism and hypocrisy.
The African journalism community and some government officials regard these cases of discrimination against Africans as a manifestation of latent racial prejudice.
There have been reports of the derogatory attitude towards Africans who were forced to give their places in queues at border crossings to Ukrainians. This is off-the-scale cynicism and barbarity. One could never imagine this happening in the 21st century. Moreover, physical force and weapons were used against these Africans. A video on social media shows officials unceremoniously separating Ukrainians and Africans. Is this a slave market or a new interpretation of the situation with refugees? How can this happen? What next? Will they measure noses and ear types? The West has seen this before.
In a video shared on social media, a Nigerian woman holding a child was ordered harshly to give her place to another person. There are many similar videos.
A volunteer working on the Ukrainian-Polish border said refugees were treated on the basis of race at the Polish border crossing in Medyka: Africans were told to take the pedestrian crossing, which took between 14 and 50 hours, while Ukrainians and Poles were allowed to use the vehicle crossing. This is being done by the authorities of states that claim to protect human rights and pose as the main defenders of freedoms in the modern world.
How long will our European “partners” continue to lecture others and cancel the cultures and languages of entire nations, while preserving their imperial thinking and neo-colonial ambitions? Time goes by, but the problem remains.
Poland closes the Russian exhibit at the former Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp
As our diplomats recently discovered, on May 1, 2022, without official notice to the Russian side, the administration of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Polish State Museum, located on the site of the former Nazi death camp in Auschwitz, closed the permanent exhibit titled, ‘Tragedy. Courage. Liberation in Block 14,’ installed by the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
I would like to appeal to the leaders of Poland who made this decision. Do you understand that the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum is not Disneyland, where you can just change signs, paint shop windows in different colours to satisfy viewers, invent new attractions, and remove the old ones? We should not change history simply because the current political situation prompts it, or to shape it in such a way as to promote one's own goals, which were previously unacceptable. This is not an entertainment museum, not a private collection, or not even an education in areas of interest to a large audience. This is the tragic history of the world, which must not be repeated. We have a chance to avoid repeating it only if the lessons of the fatal mistakes that Europe went through in the first place are taught to children, to young people, and to the public in general. You have no right to take scissors and glue to historical craftwork.
As a pretext, the Polish museum administration mentioned the expiration of the operating contract between the Polish and Russian museums in late-April 2022. Perhaps some might believe this, but things are a little different. For more than two months, and despite earlier agreements, the Polish side avoided contact on this issue both with its partners at the Moscow museum and with Russian diplomats who made efforts to resolve the situation that had arisen due to the illegal Western sanctions. These facts unambiguously indicate that we are facing yet another cynical attempt by official Warsaw to eradicate the memory of the tragedy of World War II, the enormous sacrifices of the Soviet people and their liberation mission.
The desire of the Polish authorities to “cancel” Russian culture for the sake of the political situation, coupled with an obsessive desire to distort the history of the liberation of Poland, acquired a pathological form in scoffing at the tragedy of the victims of Nazism in this situation with the Russian museum exhibit at Auschwitz. We consider the search for common sense in the actions of the local Russophobic political elite to be in vain. This is self-destruction.
No matter how much Warsaw “closes,” “bans” or otherwise “eliminates” the memory of the achievements of the Soviet heroes-liberators who stopped the inhuman “death factory” at the Auschwitz concentration camp and saved humanity, Europe and Poland from the Nazi plague, this memory will be eternal.
On August 1, 2022, the 10th NPT Review Conference started in New York to review the fulfilment of the treaty since 2015.
President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin sent greetings to the Conference participants.
Russia has consistently advocated strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation regime based on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The Treaty is one of the foundations of the international security system. The over 50-year history of this document confirms its relevance for all member states, including both nuclear and non-nuclear states.
The conference is an appropriate format in which to discuss current trends in the nuclear non-proliferation regime, as well as the contribution that the NPT makes to maintaining international peace and stability.
It is of fundamental importance to ensure conditions under which the Conference could be held in a non-confrontational atmosphere and, following its results, the member states would reaffirm their readiness to strictly follow the obligations they assumed.
Let me remind you that Russia is open to active cooperation with all countries in the interests of a successful forum.
II BRICS International Youth Camp
The II BRICS International Youth Camp is taking place in the Ulyanovsk Region from August 1 to 6. The organisers are the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs and the Ulyanovsk Region Government.
The purpose of the camp is to bring together experts, youth leaders and relevant organizations from the five countries in resolving problems of regional development, as well as to strengthen youth cooperation between the countries in the association. More than 60 representatives from the BRICS countries will gather at the camp in a full-time format.
This year the main theme of the event is the environment and sustainable development. The program includes panel discussions where representatives of the young people in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will discuss the issues of sustainable development in the BRICS countries, in particular the issues of maintaining environmentally protected areas.
Holding the youth camp in the Ulyanovsk Region is becoming a tradition. The gathering will provide the participants with a good opportunity for self-development, to establish useful and friendly contacts, to bring foreign guests closer to Russia, and to strengthen the atmosphere of mutual understanding and trust between the peoples of the five countries.
Today the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website posted a video message by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov to the participants in the II BRICS International Youth Camp.
Anniversary of Jamaican independence
August 6 marks the 60th anniversary of Jamaica's declaration of independence (1962).
A relatively young Caribbean nation by historical standards, it has had its share of dramatic challenges. One of the centres of Western colonial expansion at the time of exploration of the New World, and later a target of US neo-colonialism, it has taken a long and winding road to its present democratic image.
Currently, at a time when Western countries are striving to restore an ideologised policy of imposing regimes and rules written to suit only their own ideology in the Caribbean, the Jamaican mindset of severing the country from the British crown and establishing a republican form of government is noteworthy.
Today, Jamaica is a modern state that has forged its own identity and defined its own direction for development, which is distinguished by its adherence to the principles of multilateralism, international law and its fundamental principles such as equality, mutual respect and consideration for the interests of other states. It is a culturally distinctive country that has produced great names in contemporary music including composer and singer Bob Marley, and in sports such as runners Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and boxer Mike McCallum, to name a few. They are all known and loved in our country.
Jamaica is one of our key partners in the Caribbean. Diplomatic relations between our countries were established in 1975, shortly after Kingston gained independence. Russian-Jamaican interaction, both bilaterally and through CARICOM (Caribbean Community, the trade and economic union of central and northeastern Latin America), is built on traditions of friendship, solidarity and mutually beneficial ties. Cooperation in investment is growing. The successful experience of the Russian United Company RUSAL in the mining sector is an example of this. We are open to further comprehensive cooperation with this country and its people.
In connection with the upcoming celebration, we would like to wish peace, wellbeing and prosperity to the people of Jamaica.
I spent a couple of days in Jamaica. When I worked at the UN in New York, I had an opportunity to go there. It's a beautiful country, a fascinating place. Amazing, friendly, interesting people, who love music and their culture.
Answers to media questions:
Maria Zakharova: Indeed, we learned about Skopje’s decision to this effect on July 29, 2022. The North Macedonia Defence Ministry quickly tried to back away from the announcement by saying that it was referring to third-generation tanks from a battalion that was to be dissolved soon, while the tanks became obsolete and were up for replacement with newer models.
While the North Macedonian authorities are talking about the “innocuous” delivery of obsolete equipment, it remains a fact that Skopje contributes to pumping more weapons into Ukraine and in doing so zealously serves NATO, which is its primary goal. This in turn allows the Kiev regime to engage in its criminal activity against the civilians in Donbass longer. People who preach democracy and human rights must know this. All this makes the situation worse. We believe this to be a big mistake by North Macedonia’s leaders.
Maria Zakharova: What this ruling means in practice is that the EU’s highest court has officially recognised that the media are facing political repression. The court recognised the political persecution of the Russian media to be legal and justified. This is a landmark ruling. Sometimes courts issue rulings that are viewed in a positive way, when everyone applauds and says they were long overdue. Here we have a situation with this landmark ruling that is the total opposite – instead of a positive, it is a negative. However, this does not make it less important in any way since it reflects what is currently going on across the liberal world. These regimes are not democracies. Even if they use the democracy label, it doesn’t mean that’s what they are. These are liberal regimes, or should I say liberal dictatorships. This is the way the EU currently interprets the fundamental right to freely access information. Moreover, they pretend that this kind of justice is “impartial.”
The judges were not ashamed to argue that a complete ban on the network’s broadcasting “pursues an objective of general interest” with “the ultimate aim of exerting pressure on the Russian authorities.” Is that an actual court or a kangaroo court? Is this an independent branch of the EU (the judiciary) or just its tool? Are we talking about the lack of political bias and impartiality or about political bias and partisanship? They answered these questions, leading to several conclusions that deserve our attention and careful review.
First, the court believes that the very existence of pluralist media somehow threatens the general interest. Second, it appears that the EU does not see an issue with introducing total censorship against a specific media outlet for purely political reasons in terms of compliance with the high democratic standards of a “united Europe.” Third, the EU court recognised attempts to impact policies by other states by singling out and punishing its media to be legal and acceptable. What a bold acknowledgement. The court could not rule otherwise considering the political pressure it came under from EU countries and supranational bodies like the EU, NATO and their affiliated bodies. They seemingly lack any evidence or materials proving that the Russian mass media committed any violations. This is the problem here. Had the Russian media violated any local laws regarding accreditation or visa regulations, or had they exposed the Russian media or journalists for spreading fake information or disinformation, they would have used these data in the ruling. They did not hide the fact that they didn’t even discuss these things. All they wanted was to exert pressure on Russian policy.
Rulings of this kind serve as an eloquent demonstration of the irreversible depreciation of European standards and values and signal the decline of the EU’s justice system, now guided by momentary political considerations. The court opted to serve Brussels’ politics instead of impartiality or justice. Turning to the EU General Court for justice does not make sense anymore. Considering this ruling, no journalist or media outlet on EU territory can feel protected. For them, all declarations and statements signed by EU countries in their national capacity or as an integrated structure within the OSCE, UN and other institutions are nothing more than pieces of paper.
Question: Has Serbia asked Russia for help in settling the conflict in Kosovo?
Maria Zakharova: No.
Maria Zakharova: Let me get the details so I can share more information with you.
Maria Zakharova: I believe that they have answered their own question (I am referring to the United States). We do not even have to add anything to that. This is a provocation. Throughout its history, the United States has staged thousands of provocations and incidents like this. Do you know what sets this one apart? The international community, and we, the citizens, ordinary people, or you as journalists, had no way of catching them red-handed. They staged their provocations, instigated conflicts, and then used their propaganda machine to talk about violations of international standards, saying that freedom is in danger and democracy is under attack. Decades had to go by before society was able to learn the truth. This happened in the 21st century with leaked conversations, the publication of classified documents including those from intentional leaks, etc. Everyone could see what Washington was up to when it engineered new provocations. By the way, Julian Assange, who is now being tortured and kept in detention, had to sacrifice his freedom, and we can even say his life, for releasing a large body of documents on the West’s provocative actions. Julian Assange has been treated inhumanely.
Today, we can follow American provocations as they unfold almost live. Last time I checked, hundreds of thousands of people were tracking Nancy Pelosi’s flight path. I do not remember the last time an American politician faced so much mockery and ridicule. People are tracking the flight paths in real time, they compare them against the stated destinations and political declarations, and are asking questions. Everyone is mocking these moves, covering their faces with their hands. The Americans do this because they are ashamed of their leaders. Horrified, they ask each other: “What if this provocation goes the whole nine yards?” Yesterday, I received questions from US nationals who wrote: “Can you at least tell us what could happen if this provocation goes all the way?” People are afraid. They understand that what the administration and these political forces are doing is irresponsible, and they understand that there is a lack of coordination in today’s Washington. In fact, no one can understand what they actually want except for these erratic moves to spread chaos everywhere.
Does this make any sense? Have they calculated their moves? People in the United States and around the world are horrified by the fact that people who are unable to take strategic decisions that would benefit the entire world, and who cannot even explain what they are doing, while engaged in never-ending provocations, staging incidents and spreading chaos, stand at the head of the United States, a nuclear power with a plethora of military bases around the world and nuclear weapons deployed in Europe. For these reasons, we view the possible, eventual and undeclared visit by Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan as yet another provocation on behalf of the US administration in its effort to add to the pressure it wants to exert on Beijing.
We believe any settlement in the Taiwan Strait to be the exclusive domestic affair of China. Of course, as an Asian-Pacific power, Russia hopes that the settlement of the Taiwan issue will not come at the expense of regional peace and stability.
Russia reaffirms its principled position on the Taiwan issue: we proceed from the premise that there is only one China and the government of the People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate government representing all of China with Taiwan as an integral part.
We discuss Taiwan-related matters with our Chinese partners at various levels whenever the need arises, including at the highest level. In particular, Russia reaffirmed its commitment to the One China policy and spoke out against independence for the island in any form in the Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China on the International Relations Entering a New Era and the Global Sustainable Development, which was adopted following talks between the leaders of our two countries on February 4, 2022.
Maria Zakharova: Various countries have long relied on national currencies in their bilateral trade and economic relations for carrying out mutual transactions. There is nothing new about this subject for the SCO. Adopted by the SCO leaders as part of the Russian presidency, the 2020 Moscow Declaration of the SCO stated, among other things, the intention of the SCO member states to expand the practice of using national currencies and increasing the share of these in mutual transactions.
By proactively working together, the SCO member states (for now, except India and Uzbekistan) drafted a roadmap for gradually increasing the share of national currencies in their mutual transactions. It sets forth the main modalities and algorithms for delivering on this objective: stages for creating conditions that would make this system of settlements operational and measures to stimulate settlements in national currencies. Once the document is adopted, which is expected to happen in Samarkand, the member states intend to undertake about 20 practical steps to this effect within the next three years (through 2025).
Cooperation in this sphere is designed to promote the interests of the SCO member states, primarily those who are involved in these agreements. At the same time, it is obvious that considering global economic connectivity, this cooperation will have a positive impact and will reinforce global financial stability.
Question: Head of the DPR Denis Pushilin talked about
Maria Zakharova: Being a permanent member of the UN Security Council,
We consider it positive that your agency took an interest in Donbass recovery in general, that is definitely among our items of interest. Of course, the recovery will require great effort and investment after the massive devastation inflicted by the Ukrainian authorities. People must live in habitable conditions without fear for their lives, and with confidence in their future. The people of Donbass must live like this, because this is how all people should live, and also because they have gained that, apart from other things, and their right by birth, they have also gained the right to a normal life through suffering. Therefore, any participation by the international community in this process will be of great importance and of particular value: constructive, creative, and aimed at restoring a peaceful life.
Question: Head of Transnistria Vadim Krasnoselsky said that he believed the recognition of
Maria Zakharova: If we are talking about our diplomatic position, it is well-known. As a guarantor and mediator in the Transnistrian settlement process,
We are ready to help restore the normal work in the 5+2 format as the appropriate conditions are formed, and the tactics of “small steps” is implemented in the interaction between the banks of the
At the same time, we believe that pressuring Transnistria is counterproductive and can derail the settlement process. Everyone must decide on these parameters and the way they choose. Pressure, intimidation, and blackmail will backfire.
Question: In a recent interview, Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan said there is a concept for signing a peace treaty with
Maria Zakharova:
The delimitation of the Azerbaijani-Armenian border is also an important area of
We presume that specific dates for these events will be set by
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