Excerpts from the briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Moscow, November 2, 2023
Table of Contents
- International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists
- Ukraine update
- Moldova update
- Russian OSCE observers denied access to elections in Moldova
- US intelligence publicly admits supporting 1953 coup in Iran
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict update
- Evacuation of citizens from the Gaza Strip
- Israeli airstrikes on a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip
- Veliky Novgorod joins UNESCO Creative Cities Network
- Statement by International Olympic Committee on Israeli athletes
- The liberation of Kiev from Nazi invaders by Soviet troops
- 1941 military parade in Red Square
- Defence agreement between Finland and the US
- Conference Afghanistan – Between Past and Future: Towards a Just World and Sustainable Development
- Ending the genocide of the people in Gaza
- Western NGOs’ concern over the blocking of TV channels in Moldova
- Preserving Alexander Pushkin’s memory in Ukraine
- The West's stance on the Gaza massacre
- Israeli delegation’s symbolic gesture at the UN
- 6th China International Import Expo
- Armenian-Ukrainian contacts
- Certain statements by US officials
- American aid bill to Israel
- Russian authorities’ assessment of what happened in Dagestan
- The West’s activity in Central Asian countries
- Russian-Israeli relations
- “Plans” to relocate people from Gaza
- Russia's actions to help resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict
- Azerbaijan-Armenia talks
- US pressure on Kazakhstan's leadership
- United States violating international law and Syria's sovereignty
- Statements by John Kirby
- Russia’s response to US actions
- The Americans resolving domestic problems by fomenting conflicts abroad
- Conditions for Ukrainian citizens’ entry into Russia
- Protecting the rights of Russian citizens abroad
- Kiev regime's actions against dissenters
- Representative of the Bulgarian media summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry
International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists
On November 2, we will mark the 10th International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, declared at the 68th session of the UN General Assembly in commemoration of two French journalists kidnapped and assassinated in Mali on November 2, 2013.
The theme this year, Violence against journalists, the integrity of elections, and the role of public leadership, is designed to raise awareness of the main challenges faced by journalists in the exercise of their profession, including attacks and restrictions on the press. Regrettably, we have quite a lot to say on this pressing issue.
Targeted restrictions and illegal actions against the media have become commonplace in the “developed” democracies. Aggressive censorship, broadcasting bans and suspension, frozen bank accounts, intimidation, defamation, harassment by security services, the criminal prosecution of Russian and Russian speaking journalists, and other repressive measures used against the disagreeable media in the collective West and countries wishing to join the freak club constitute the backdrop for the debates on the protection of journalists held at the Western countries’ initiative. This is absurd.
The day is not the only date on the schedule of defenders of journalists’ interests. Many other such days are being established, but the number of crimes committed against journalists is growing even faster. The most shocking fact is that it is happening at the initiative of those who keep coming up with new proposals on making the work of the media safer while ensuring the freedom of the press.
Violence has become a routine method of influencing the media in the “developed” (or rather “underdeveloped”) democracies. A recent example is the arbitrary detention by the security service of Rossiyskaya Gazeta reporter Alexander Gasyuk and his deportation from Cyprus, which took place as if on cue. No measures have been taken after that outrageous attack on a media representative to restore justice, fight impunity or at least apologise to the Russian journalist. The same happened the other day to a Rossiyskaya Gazeta journalist in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian authorities broadly hinted that the scandal should be kept out of the media. Isn’t Bulgaria part of the community that stands for the freedom of the press and journalists’ rights? After the psychological harassment of and the illegal actions taken against our journalist, they urged us to remain silent and to pretend that nothing happened. How interesting.
The situation has been complicated by the relevant international agencies’ shameful disregard for this maltreatment of journalists, which is encouraging these countries’ authorities to continue to violate the rights of the media and journalists and to practice censorship.
The first to suffer are Russian journalists and military correspondents, who are being hunted. And nobody is making a secret of this. At the same time, EU and NATO countries appear surprised when we hit back in response to the harassment of the Russian media and infringements on their rights. But they look surprised when we say that we have a moral right not only to mirror their actions but also to respond to their sanctions and the information war being waged against the Russian media and journalists.
I recently talked with a man from a Western country. I had to tell him – I thought he was aware of the issue as an official, but he was not – that his country regularly voted for putting Russian journalists on various stop and sanctions lists. On the one hand, these people and countries call for paying even more attention to the protection of journalists’ rights, but on the other hand, they vote (or I would say, are forced to vote) for decisions against journalism and the Russian media.
The criminal Kiev regime has repeatedly hinted, with feigned pride, at its involvement in terrorist attacks against Russian journalists and public figures. They literally boasted that they had “successfully hit many media personalities.” This was not said by some anonymous bloggers or frontmen; this is an official quote from Kiev. They get ample support for that – millions, hundreds of millions, billions allocated to Kiev every day.
Here is another example – the odious Mirotvorets website, which went online in 2014 in order to lay the groundwork for extremist and terrorist acts. The website contains lists with the personal data of state and public figures. How many journalists are there? The lists include everyone who failed to act in line with the policy pursued by the current Nazi Ukraine. Not only Russians – there are people from NATO and EU countries there as well. But those countries never cared, even though there are their own citizens on those lists. The terrorist website remains active despite our efforts to get it blocked or at least condemned by Washington, London, Brussels, Paris or Berlin, which we have been doing for years. The Council of Europe notices literally everything – in fact, anything but this website, for some reason. Blocking and condemning it would contribute to combating impunity against media professionals, but the West – which hosts the website's hardware and is therefore responsible for it – is too accustomed to dividing journalists into our guys and bad guys.
Just the day before yesterday, three Izvestia reporters were seriously injured when Ukrainian militants again shelled civilian infrastructure in Donetsk. Journalists from TASS and the Zvezda TV channel were left miraculously unscathed by the attack. They travelled to the area to report on the aftermath of the missile strike at the railway station, when the place was attacked again. Does this mean the Ukrainian military deliberately took some time between the strikes to ensure there are more casualties among the responders and relief workers such as rescuers, medics and journalists? Who does that? Is this a military strategy of the regular army? That's how terrorists operate. This makes sense to them.
On this day, we consider it important to make this statement: we demand that the relevant international organisations conscientiously fulfil their duties and condemn the brutal murders of Igor Kornelyuk, Anton Voloshin, Andrey Stenin, Anatoly Klyan, Darya Dugina, Oleg Klokov, Vladlen Tatarsky (Maxim Fomin), Rostislav Zhuravlev and other journalists who died in the line of duty. We demand that NATO countries give their assessment of illegal and immoral actions against representatives of the media, primarily Russian journalists. This is not because we represent the interests of our country; it is because mostly Russian journalists have found themselves on the frontline of injustice, considering their numbers and impunity of the crimes committed against them. We honour the memory of all those who died and remember their names. We are trying to do everything we can to protect not only media representatives, but also journalism as an activity, or it is going to be completely ousted by propaganda at this rate.
We will continue to seek justice and bring to account everyone responsible for the deaths of journalists and violations of their rights.
The Kiev regime’s neo-Nazis continue targeting residential buildings and social infrastructure in Russian regions. On October 27, 2023, they opened fire at a school in Novochervonoye, Lugansk People’s Republic. It happened during a school party when, according to the local officials, there were about 20 children in the building. It is a miracle that no one was killed or injured.
On October 26 and 28, 2023, one civilian died and two were wounded when the Ukrainian Armed Forces shelled several communities in the Kherson Region. On October 29, 2023, the Ukrainian Armed Forces carried out a strike against Yasinovataya in the Donetsk People’s Republic, leaving three civilians wounded.
In the evening of October 31, 2023, Ukrainian fighters carried out a missile strike targeting Donetsk and used barrel bombs. They fired about 20 rounds from various artillery systems, including HIMARS GMLRS. Two people died, including an Emercom rescue worker who was on the site fighting a fire when a follow-up strike came flying in. Another 12 people were wounded, including Izvestia newspaper journalists and a cameraman from the Zvezda television channel.
Vladimir Zelensky’s regime has been unrelenting in its efforts to use bloody terrorist methods and has had no qualms acknowledging these crimes in public. In fact, they pride themselves on them and boast about what they did, as was the case after the attack against the Crimean Bridge or the assassination attempts targeting Russian public figures and politicians.
In the early hours of October 27, 2023, Oleg Tsaryov, a prominent public and political figure, faced an assassination attempt in Yalta which was ordered by the Ukrainian Security Service. But the West has been turning a blind eye to all these developments, just as it has for all these years. The Kiev junta wanted to avenge Tsaryov for his firm refusal to accept the aggressive Ukrainian nationalism, and his deep-rooted anti-Nazi position. We strongly condemn this barbaric crime. We will make sure that all those who were involved in it are identified and held to account.
The effort to incite the recent unrest in Dagestan provides yet another example of the Ukrainian intelligence agencies’ subversive activity. We have noted the well-known Banderite trail which consists of trying to provoke a violent clash on ethnic grounds and kill innocent people. These actions were designed to intimidate civilians and destabilise the political situation in Russia.
You may believe that it is only now that they started doing this, but this is not the case. We have said many times that this did not begin in 2022. For many years, we have been under pressure from Ukraine’s informational terrorism orchestrated by the Kiev regime. Our people received sham calls from fake law enforcement officers, fraudulent emails pretending to come from social institutions, banks, the Emergencies Ministry, etc. What can we call it if not telephone terrorism and attempts to destabilise our country? Let me remind you of one such terrifying fact: those who called and claimed that kindergartens and schools, not just ordinary social institutions, were mined are terrorists operating from Ukrainian territory, not phone scammers. Children had to be evacuated in order to check the buildings for explosives. But no one in the West or in specialised international agencies paid any attention. Thousands of children had to be taken outside and transferred to nearby buildings in order to wait out these incidents before they could go back or their parents could pick them up. The fact that this was not happening during the summer months only made things worse. Has anyone noticed? No at all.
First, this will not help the Kiev regime achieve its objective. Second, we will counter all these attempts and hold the perpetrators accountable.
We know all too well the workings of the Kiev propaganda after the improvised Bucha incident Vladimir Zelensky’s regime staged in late March and early April 2022. I would like to once again draw the attention of the international community to the fact that Ukraine has yet to produce definitive investigation results and publish a list of victims. Why did they stage this incident? We have talked about this many times. Let me give you one more proof point. When a tragedy happened in Odessa’s Trade Union House, with Ukrainian Nazis burning people alive by preventing them from leaving the burning building, the world knew all the victims by name. Books were published, documentaries filmed, indicating each and every person who perished there including their full names and birthdates. We saw and are still monitoring statements by their families. There are websites, social media accounts devoted to these victims where you can find photos and recollections of their loved ones. There is ample documentary evidence on what happened there. There is everything, including their graves, which is of course the saddest part of this story.
But what about Bucha? There is nothing, apart from press tours for Western television crews to shoot some B-roll featuring Western politicians. Where is the victims’ list, or photos, or films with witness testimonies? Nothing. I think all they have is plans to produce a feature film on this subject. They know their way around this. There is no documentary evidence apart from the footage that surfaced when this staged provocation was taking place.
There are international organisations that can officially request these lists. In fact, it is their duty. Not only did we refer this request to the UN Secretariat but we asked Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to do this. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has raised this issue with him many times. But UN officials keep looking the other way in shame and asking for our understanding. We do understand what is going on. But this is a question of making sure others understand it too, I mean those funding the Kiev regime, including the money it uses to perpetrate these crimes. Just as today, this provocation by the Kiev regime was designed to undermine the situation and any peacekeeping efforts, as well as derail the Russia-Ukraine talks that were taking place at that time and promote the idea of regularly sanctioning Russia.
Not only do we take note of all these developments but we also analyse them, while our law enforcement agencies are working on them. Russian courts of law have been relying on evidence gathered by the Investigative Committee of Russia to convict Ukrainian neo-Nazis who perpetrated grave crimes against civilians.
A Ukrainian Armed Forces commander who ordered to execute two civilians by firing squad in Mariupol in March 2022 received a 28-year prison sentence, while Ilya Mikhalchuk, a member of the Ukrainian military, received a 23-year sentence for ordering the killing of a civilian in Mariupol in April 2022.
Neo-Nazis Yevgeny Saveliyev and Alexei Fikliyents received 25-year prison terms for killing two civilians in March 2022 in Mariupol. Another Azov fighter, Sergey Pyurko, fired at an apartment in Mariupol from a grenade launcher in March 2022. A family with a small child was inside. He received a 26-year sentence.
Russia will carry on with its efforts to hold people involved in crimes of this kind accountable. Follow our updates.
Despite all the crimes committed by the Zelensky regime, the collective West has never stopped supplying it with modern weapons, munitions, feeding it intelligence, training the Ukrainian military, offering medical care and entertainment, providing political support, and keeping it motivated.
On October 26, 2023, the United States announced yet another military aid package for Ukraine worth $150 million. It includes funding for air defence systems, artillery, and anti-tank weapons. According to the Pentagon, the United States provided $43.9 billion to Ukraine as military aid since the beginning of the special military operation. But these are just the official figures. Nobody knows who got what and how much. Judging by the fact that these weapons have been surfacing in the Middle East, we understand that all this is part of a corrupt scheme.
The Danish government said that it intended to offer Kiev $523 million in military aid. In particular, it wanted to deliver artillery shells, tanks and armoured vehicles.
This means that the Anglo-Saxons persist with their unhinged policy to supply the Kiev regime with weapons by relying on their satellites, which de facto makes them accomplices to these bloody crimes. They are ready to sacrifice Ukrainian soldiers, stability and prosperity not just in Ukraine, since there is not much left there thanks to the Western efforts, but across the entire European continent for the sake of achieving their narrow-minded and selfish objectives.
The spiral of hatred and aggressive Russophobia continues to spin unhindered in Ukraine. It is not about us; it is driven by Nazism that has turned into terrorism based on nationalist sentiments. What will Europe, which is promoting the disease instead of trying to cure it in Ukraine, do about this? They will eventually turn to us for help, just as they are doing now with regard to the problems they themselves created in the North Caucasus in the 1990s. They want us to take back those whom they welcomed as heroes and “fighters for freedom and democracy,” giving them residence permits, long-term visas and even citizenship, and promoting them at socially significant platforms. They are asking us to take them back now. They don’t know what to do with them. They tell us that we can influence these people.
The West and North European countries have created diaspora enclaves where they accumulated hard-core terrorists and their accomplices with extremist views. They themselves have created the environment for the proliferation of this ideology. What do we have to do with that? Back then, they terrorised us with their assessments of the events in the North Caucasus, blaming us for quenching freedom there. I wonder if they are headed in the same direction now. They are already suffering the effects of what they themselves did when they created conditions for migration. I am not referring to the Middle East now, only to Ukraine. They cannot control Ukrainian migrants in the EU countries. They are not only giving them money but are encouraging them to think that they can do whatever they want with impunity. Can’t they think a little bit ahead and predict what will happen next? We have, but are the citizens of the EU countries aware of the looming problems? I don’t think so.
Former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Irina Farion, a notorious member of the far-right Svoboda (Freedom) party, said in a recent interview that Russian speaking people in Ukraine “deserve full and absolute utilisation.” How do you like that? There are more people like her. Mikheil Saakashvili has said that “the majority of Russians can’t be fixed mentally.” Do you now the roots of these statements? Nazis and fascists said the same, exactly the same, even though the list was longer. It included Slavs in general, Roma, Jews and other people who, according to the Third Reich and its “sympathisers,” could not be mentally fixed and hence deserved “full and absolute utilisation.” In fact, Irina Farion has called for exterminating millions of people only because their native tongue is Russian. This is unadulterated fascism.
Fascism is not limited to a historical period; it is an ideology, and the time and form of its reincarnation are a matter of all-permissiveness and impunity. There is no guarantee that what happened in the 1930s would never happen again, or that everything that looks like it is essentially not what it looks like. Not at all. That ideology manifested itself in different forms in different periods of history. The most dramatic manifestation took place in the 20th century, and now this ideology is rising in the form of neo-Nazism, a reincarnation of fascism. That ideology was only defeated through the united efforts of the world. It was defeated but not erased, and it is rearing its head again now.
Who stands behind this reincarnation? Why does this ideology feel so comfortable today? This is the result of years of the Western countries’ work to nurture the Nazi plague in Ukraine, which is infested with nationalism. What did they do it for? They wanted these forces to become the Western stronghold against Russia. They thought it would be fast, cheap and effective, and that they would be able to eradicate the plague after it served its purpose.
Meanwhile, Kiev continues to eliminate the Russian language in the cultural and humanitarian environment of Ukraine. Even the notorious 2019 law on the state language did not prohibit the use of other than Ukrainian national languages in everyday situations and for religious purposes. But they have now decided to deprive people of the few rights they had left after the adoption of the laws on total Ukrainisation.
It was reported in January 2023 that a total ban on the Russian language was adopted for students, faculty and administrative staff at the Kiev-Mogila Academy. As the rector put it, the internal public opinion will help make the academy a fully Ukrainian-speaking establishment. It goes without saying that Ukraine’s State Language Protection Commissioner Taras Kremen supported that initiative and expressed the hope that other universities would follow the academy’s example. Do you know what he is called in Ukraine now? The Sprechenfuehrer or Language Fuehrer. I think it's a perfect word.
In October 2023, the rector of the Shevchenko National University of Kiev announced that the Russian, Belarusian and Farsi language studies would be closed at the university. Why have they scrapped the Farsi courses? The university also banned the use of Russian sources in research papers. I wonder when they will prohibit Mendeleyev’s periodic table. Silk and porcelain are foreign inventions too.
Local authorities adopt their own decisions to prohibit the public use of Russian-language cultural products such as books, music, theatre and circus shows, as well as films. For example, the Kiev City Council adopted such a decision in July 2023. Vinnitsa followed suit in October 2023, banning Russian-made and Russian-language television shows, films, books and theatre performances.
But the most ridiculously outrageous thing happened in Kiev where, according to the media, a poster with rules of conduct, including a ban on the Russian language, was placed at a children’s playground.
This is the backdrop for a recent scandal that was caused by the results of a poll held by the Spilna Mova (shared language) public organisation, according to which 20 percent of preschool children in Ukraine don’t speak Ukrainian. Are we to blame? Only 15 percent of the polled children aged 5-6 said they regularly spoke Ukrainian. The majority of schoolchildren in Ukraine speak Russian during breaks between classes.
But language bans, the demolition of monuments to Russian writers and poets and the prohibition of Russian books, songs and films have had little effect. Ukrainian First Lady Yelena Zelenskaya, the desperate ambassador of famous Western jewellery houses, has asked Google to “de-Russify” search results for users accessing the site from Ukrainian territory and to ban the use of Russian-language content on YouTube video hosting recommendation algorithms. They think this will help.
The Kiev regime, which is trying to create a monoethnic neo-Nazi state, continues to use force to change the language identity of Ukrainian citizens.
On October 28, 2023, we marked the 79th anniversary of Ukraine’s liberation from Nazi occupation. On that day in 1944, the Red Army completed the East Carpathian Strategic Offensive Operation and crossed the border of the Soviet Union. We paid an extremely high price for liberating the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from the Nazi hordes. About 2.6 million Soviet soldiers died or were gravely wounded. According to various assessments, the Nazis killed up to 10 million civilians [in Ukraine], destroyed over 700 cities and towns and about 28,000 villages, and plundered or ruined tens of thousands of medical, education, cultural and industrial facilities and collective farms.
Today the Kiev regime continues to falsify history and is doing its utmost to make the current and rising generations forget about the heroism of the Soviet people, whitewash Nazism and glorify the Nazi criminals who are responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian, Polish, Jewish and other civilians.
We have no doubt that a day will come before too long when Ukraine is liberated from the yoke of the spiritual and ideological successors of that man-hating ideology.
We are closely watching the developments ahead of the upcoming general local elections to be held in 898 Moldovan residential areas and municipalities on November 5. The election campaign is in full swing; candidates are presenting their programmes and trying to win over voters.
The republic’s central authorities are also actively involved in the process, although in their own way. As their main slogan, the Moldovan leadership continues to use the claim about a non-existent “Russian threat,” to distract public attention from their own incompetence as leaders.
The State of Emergency Commission and the Information and Security Service of Moldova continue to purge the country from any form of dissent by persecuting political opponents in a wave of repressions that have nearly reached a tipping point.
On October 30, Moldovan officials suspended licences of six television channels that allegedly promote foreign interests. President of Moldova Maia Sandu is a citizen of Romania and yet the interests of other countries are promoted by Russian channels? Are you certain this makes sense? A citizen of Romania, being the leader of Moldova, has renamed the Moldovan language as Romanian. And yet, Russian channels are said to be promoting foreign interests. It is a looking-glass world. These people cannot be so certain that any fake news will do.
The Moldovan officials have blocked 31 news portals. All of them are claimed to be used for waging an information war against the Republic of Moldova and distorting information. Let me remind you that several days prior to that, on October 24, 22 Russian-language news websites were blocked.
These steps have already provoked a reaction inside Moldova. They have been called an abuse of the media space and another attack on independent media and the freedom of speech. Indicatively, even the local pro-Western non-government organisations expressed concern about the situation and questioned whether this sort of interference in the media is commensurate. Meanwhile, this and other incidents of grave violation by Chisinau of its international commitments to protect the rights of the media, being downright abuse of the very principles of the freedom of speech and the freedom of access to information, are characteristically ignored by competent international bodies. We understand why. These international bodies, including the OSCE with its set of authorised and specialised agencies, only operate for the sake of appearances. They simply keep the description of authorised and specialised, receive enormous funding, go on business trips, use their mandates (though it isn’t clear to what end) and hang out in office cafeterias. What happened to the infamous OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Teresa Ribeiro? They used to say they were practicing “quiet diplomacy,” except the results of this pseudo-activity turn out to be loud, scandalous and vociferous.
The Moldovan officials do not stop at infringing on the freedom of speech. On October 29, candidate for mayor of Chisinau Diana Caraman of the Communist Party was denied participation in television debates only because she was speaking Russian. And this despite the fact that 80 percent of Moldovan residents speak and use the Russian language on a regular basis. The absurdity is in something else, if we get back to the language. So, one cannot speak Russian. Why not? Six months ago, speaking Russian was prohibited because one was supposed to speak Moldovan. And now they are supposed to speak Romanian? How far will it go?
What is this if not linguistic discrimination and violation of the basic principles of democracy, rights and freedoms?
I recently learned that the sign language used by people with hearing impairments has country-specific schools. I used to think there is one sign language that is understood by all users everywhere. But apparently, as there are different spoken languages, there is also a significant difference between the sign languages in different countries. If a sign language belongs to the Soviet or Russian school, will it also be subjected to total discrimination?
I have spoken to members of non-governmental organisations that deal with the rights and opportunities for people with hearing impairments. This form of discrimination already takes place. Can you imagine how low the world has fallen? So many days have been spent, so many statements and press releases have been issued, so many NGOs have been created in the past decades to protect human rights. Every aspect has been shaped into videos, resolutions, commemorative dates, you name it – and yet, the reality is quite the opposite. People are losing rights every hour, deprived by the countries that are part of the organisations that developed the human rights agenda.
How does this agree with President Sandu’s notorious promises made back when she was running for president, which is to preserve the status of the Russian language in the country? It does not agree at all. She deceived people. She claimed she would promote harmonious coexistence of different cultures, languages, beliefs and views in Moldova. And now it has come to persecution based on ethnic, national and ideological factors.
Interestingly, the Russophobic orientation of the Moldovan leaders’ domestic political course has substantially grown after Chisinau received the EU membership candidate status. Why? Because Brussels does not want EU members whose citizens like Russia. It is just another homework task for Maia Sandu to complete in an effort to pander to the West. She was tasked with riling up Russophobia in the country. But Russophobia has never existed there. It is an artificially created nationalist environment that comes from the current Moldovan leaders. Nobody in the country (speaking of the overwhelming majority of citizens) has ever adopted such attitudes. Maia Sandu is a disgrace and a threat to the Moldovan nation.
This president believes that the republic’s European integration is possible without Transnistria, or in part, without consideration for the country’s territorial integrity. She also announced that, to solve the Transnistria problem, it is necessary to get rid of the self-proclaimed officials in Tiraspol and destroy the 5+2 negotiation format by excluding Russia and strengthening the role of the EU. Such statements are extremely dangerous to the stability in the region. Perhaps she does not realise that. Although I believe that she does, and it is exactly what they want from her, to create another site of chaos on the post-Soviet territory.
The lawlessness, the rabid Russophobia, the repressions against the media and the opposition have become the norm for Moldovan officials. The people of Moldova, who remember the promises Sandu made before she was elected, can see this and know very well that nobody gave her a mandate to such off-limits behaviour.
I wonder about the opinion of the monitoring missions, specifically, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. When they see channels being blocked and the media and political space being purged, how will they report it?
Russian OSCE observers denied access to elections in Moldova
On October 30, 2023, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights sent a note saying that the Moldovan authorities denied accreditation to six Russian short-term observers, participants in a monitoring mission of the organisation to the local elections on November 5. The decision was announced one day before they were supposed to start working. The reasons were not explained. The office is doing what they want.
Earlier, the Moldovan authorities denied accreditation to the employees of the Russian Embassy in Chisinau to act as observers from the diplomatic mission, also without explanation.
Yes, we have always emphasised that inviting international observers is a domestic issue of any state.
At the same time, the Republic of Moldova has international commitments related to observing elections. Thus, according to the 2002 CIS Convention on the Standards of Democratic Elections, Electoral Rights and Freedoms, Moldova took up responsibility to try to facilitate the access of international observers to electoral processes held at a level lower than the national one, including the municipal (local) level. A similar obligation is stated in the 1990 CSCE/OSCE Copenhagen Document. If President of Moldova Maia Sandu decided to withdraw from these obligations, she should have said so.
We consider the decision by the Moldovan authorities a violation of international commitments and another manifestation of their anti-Russia course.
We hope that the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights will give its response and assessment of this case.
Let me give you a historical example of how the external interests, goals and objectives are being fulfilled in the domestic space of sovereign states. We always say that Maia Sandu does all of this not because the Moldovan people want it, but because she follows orders from outside. One may ask, how it is possible to give orders from outside? How does the West manage to pull off such schemes? Here’s a historical example. Especially since official documentary confirmation of this case has appeared just recently.
US intelligence publicly admits supporting 1953 coup in Iran
The United States of America makes regular interventions in other’s internal affairs, confident in its impunity and license to do whatever it pleases. They are not even embarrassed to admit this, if only when it comes to past events. At the present stage, they believe they should refrain from declaring direct involvement in domestic political events in a number of countries, at least for the time being.
But when the events in question become history, they assume they can talk openly. Seventy years after the coup in Iran, the US Central Intelligence Agency has admitted responsibility for the removal of the legitimate government in Tehran in August 1953. Historians, political scientists and experts have written about this earlier, arguing that the coup was the work of American and British specialists in exporting “democracy”. But now the CIA has confessed and even recorded a podcast about those events.
The CIA intervention in Iran was called Operation Ajax. It began with a months-long broad propaganda campaign against elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh who pursued an independent policy in the interests of the Iranian people. That certainly could not have suited the United States. They planted biased articles that accused him of all manner of evil: corruption, atheism, communist sympathies, anti-monarchist views (Iran was ruled by the Shah at the time). As you can see, they did what they always do, starting with a massive and large-scale campaign. It has been years; they are interfering in different countries today, but the approach remained the same. To orchestrate the coup, the Americans generously financed the military, but also bribed the Islamic clergy supporting the Shah and hired figures from the underworld. On August 19, 1953, the legitimate prime minister was overthrown.
However, as further events showed, Washington and London won a Pyrrhic victory. The US and UK’s flagrant interference in Iranian affairs eventually contributed to triggering the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
The scenario used in Iran in 1953 is very reminiscent of what happened in Ukraine in early February 2014. We remember everything and can remind everyone else.
President Viktor Yanukovich, who led Ukraine until October-November 2013, was legitimately elected twice. The first time he won the vote, he was prevented from actually taking office, and a third round of voting was invented. That was crazy, but they did it. When he won a second time, they had no other choice but to inaugurate him. For three years, Yanukovich led Ukraine being not just accepted – he symbolised hope and a new democracy in Ukraine. He attended EU summits and everyone took pictures with him. He was the West’s best friend – but only until the moment he said he needed some time (six months or so) to evaluate all economic consequences of integration with the EU. It was a big step to take. He had to figure it all out. He never said he was refusing to integrate with the EU, just asked for time to figure out how to do it with minimal costs for Ukraine. In an instant, he was labeled a corrupt official and strangler of freedoms. He was not accused of communism, but he was erased from Western politics. In one day, in one second, a person who, like Vladimir Zelensky now, was welcomed at every political event and EU summit, was thrown down from his high pedestal. That blatant interference by the West brought a neo-Nazi regime to power in Kiev, and turned the country into an instrument of Washington’s aggressive policy. The immediate aftermath was different, but the essence was the same – a disruption of the internal development of the state, of natural processes and the course of history. That was followed by complete disintegration, society and state institutions in disarray. Each country resists this kind of external influence in its own way. There were worse scenarios – take Libya, which literally collapsed and ceased to exist as a state entity, became a territory with a grim future and a difficult present. This was a little sketch of how they go about it.
Israeli-Palestinian conflict update
The situation in the conflict zone has taken an extremely negative turn with the confrontation entering a new dangerous phase on October 28, 2023. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) launched a ground operation in Gaza Strip and advanced several kilometres into its territory. The number of victims is growing exponentially. According to the available data, the unprecedented escalation in this confrontation has already claimed the lives of over 8,000 Palestinians and 1,500 Israelis since October 7, 2023, and the number of those wounded on both sides is nearing 30,000. These are preliminary data. I think they will be revised to better reflect the actual situation down the road, and unfortunately, we expect these numbers to be revised up rather than down.
The humanitarian disaster has been gaining momentum against the backdrop of the military escalation. When someone refers to a humanitarian disaster in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict zone, you must understand that it is there to stay for a long time, not just days or months. It is in its early days and its ramifications will be felt for years and decades to come unless concrete steps are made to de-escalate. The unrelenting strikes on residential neighbourhoods and civilian infrastructure in Gaza forced about 1.5 million people to flee their homes. It is the civilians who are the first to suffer from the Strip’s blockade. The enclave is suffering from an acute shortage of fuel, food, and medical supplies. Hospitals are overwhelmed, and drinking water has become scarce.
The need for humanitarian aid deliveries from outside Gaza is extremely high and is constantly growing. However, the effort to ensure stable humanitarian access to the besieged enclave have so far failed, which is attributable among other things to the way the crossing on the border between Egypt and Gaza is functioning. Representatives of international humanitarian organisations have recognised that the humanitarian aid that is delivered into Gaza covers less than three percent of its needs.
The issue of evacuating from Gaza about 1,000 compatriots who asked us to help them has yet to be resolved. We remain proactively involved with Israeli, Egyptian and Palestinian authorities and contact Egyptian and Israeli ambassadors in Moscow several times a day on this matter, while also staying in touch with international organisations in order to be able to launch the evacuation campaign as quickly as possible.
There is a growing risk of this conflict spilling over across the region. The continuing escalation along the so-called Blue Line on the border between Lebanon and Israel, as well as the occupied Syrian Golan Heights is a matter of grave concern for us. The continuing Israeli strikes by the IDF targeting Syrian territory further complicate the situation. The provocative military manoeuvring by the United States in the Eastern Mediterranean is having a destabilising effect on the Middle East.
Russia reaffirms its unwavering belief in the need to consolidate international efforts for achieving a ceasefire as quicky as possible, delivering humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza and steering the conflict onto the political and diplomatic track. On November 1, 2023, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a meeting with heads of Arab diplomatic missions in Moscow to discuss ways to overcome this crisis.
Unfortunately, the United States adopted a lopsided politicised position, making it impossible for the UN Security Council to act on the Palestinian issue. The Americans and their allies have been consistent in blocking two Russian draft resolutions and vetoing the Brazilian UN Security Council draft resolution demanding a ceasefire. As a result, this subject had to be referred to the UN General Assembly which held the 10th Emergency Special Session on October 27, 2023. An overwhelming majority adopted a resolution drafted by the Arab group calling for a lasting truce and cessation of hostilities, ensuring humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip, freeing civilians, and settling the conflict based on the two-state solution. We proceed from the premise that further efforts, including within the Security Council, must be based on the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly.
Evacuation of citizens from the Gaza Strip
On November 1, the first residents of the enclave in need of urgent medical assistance, as well as a group of foreign nationals, were evacuated from the Gaza Strip to Egypt via the Rafah Crossing Point. With the ongoing hostilities, the border crossing’s operation has been reduced to a few hours in the daytime. This imposes significant limitations on its capacity.
In this connection, in coordination with the Egyptian, Israeli and Palestinian parties, we are continuing our active efforts to ensure the speedy evacuation of a group of Russians and their family members, as well as citizens of other countries who have requested our assistance, from the enclave. We expect to complete in the near future all the formalities necessary to organise their safe passage to Egyptian territory. We shall keep you promptly informed of this.
Israeli airstrikes on a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip
We are deeply shocked by the information about the large number of deaths of civilians as a result of the Israeli bombardment of the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian side, there were at least 400 victims of those strikes.
We once again reiterate that all parties involved must respect international humanitarian law and any violent actions against civilians and strikes against residential buildings and civilian infrastructure are unacceptable. We reaffirm our principled position in favour of an immediate long-term ceasefire, consistent humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip, necessary assistance to all those in need and release of hostages.
It is precisely this approach, aimed at alleviating suffering and minimising civilian casualties, that formed the basis for the UN General Assembly resolution adopted on October 27. We believe it necessary to continue intensive work to de-escalate the situation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone as soon as possible based on the position of the majority of the international community as set out in this document of the UN General Assembly.
Veliky Novgorod joins UNESCO Creative Cities Network
On October 31, 2023, the results were announced for the UNESCO Creative Cities Network programme. We congratulate Veliky Novgorod which has joined this prestigious network in the Music category. It is the fifth Russian city in the network after Ulyanovsk (literature), Kazan (music), Kargopol (crafts and folk art) and St Peterburg (gastronomy).
It is symbolic that Veliky Novgorod received the status of a UNESCO music city in the year that marks the 150th anniversary of birth of great Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, who was born in the Novgorod Governorate.
We are confident that Veliky Novgorod will make a significant contribution to the activity of the network and will become one of the world’s key platforms for creative development, intercultural exchange and professional communication in the field of music.
After the latest expansion, the programme unites 350 cities from over 100 countries.
Statement by International Olympic Committee on Israeli athletes
We have noted the statement by a representative of the International Olympic Committee, who urged officials and athletes to not allow discrimination against Israel against the backdrop of the Gaza Strip conflict. It was said that the IOC adheres to the concept of individual responsibility and that athletes cannot be responsible for the actions of their governments. It was stated as an official position of the International Olympic Committee.
We cannot help but regard this statement as out of touch with the IOC’s deeply discriminatory attitude towards Russian and Belarusian athletes and the collective responsibility principle in accordance to which they are treated for purely political reasons. While hiding behind awkward and hypocritical words about being concerned about the integrity of global sporting events, the IOC’s leadership is forcing a direct ban on admitting Russian and Belarusian athletes to sporting competitions on sports federations, national Olympic and Paralympic committees and the Olympic movement in general. They impose various political conditions for participating in competitions and use other blatantly discriminatory measures, thus undermining the main principle that sports and politics do not mix.
We completely agree that the principle of collective responsibility should not be applied and that athletes cannot be made responsible for the actions of their governments. This is a principle of global sports, the Olympic movement, all relevant resolutions of the UN General Assembly and other international organisations. But they must apply not towards one, five, fifteen or hundred states, nationalities and ethnic groups, but towards all of them.
In this regard, we demand that the International Olympic Committee clearly and explicitly ban the practice of double standards and starts treating absolutely all athletes without discrimination.
We strongly insist that the rights of all Russian and Belarusian athletes who suffered from the IOC’s deliberate politicisation of the sports agenda be restored. The failure to fulfil these demands will mean that the IOC leadership admits that its actions towards Russian and Belarusian athletes were from the very beginning dictated by considerations of discrimination and segregation on political, national and ethnic grounds.
The liberation of Kiev from Nazi invaders by Soviet troops
On November 6, 1943, units of the Red Army’s 1st Ukrainian Front, commanded by Army General Nikolai Vatutin, liberated the capital of Soviet Ukraine from the Nazis during the Kiev offensive military operation.
In the late autumn of 1943, the Soviet high command managed to ensure superiority by orders of magnitude in manpower and equipment along the main axis of attack. In the early morning of November 3, following a 40-minute artillery barrage, the 38th Army, commanded by Colonel General Kirill Moskalenko, attacked from the Lyutezh bridgehead. It became possible to deploy 300 artillery systems per every kilometre of the front for the first time during the Great Patriotic War.
On the first day of the offensive, Soviet forces breached enemy defences. In the early hours of November 5, elements of the Red Army, including the 1st Detached Czechoslovak Brigade, commanded by Colonel Ludvik Svoboda, entered Kiev. Fearing possible encirclement, the enemy started withdrawing its units from the city.
The retreating Nazis continued to use standard scorched earth tactics and destroyed economic and administrative buildings in Kiev, as well as the Dormition Cathedral of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the Youth Theatre, the Conservatoire, the building of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic’s Academy of Sciences, multiple historical structures, schools and hospitals. The invaders torched the city in order to hamper the Soviet advance deep inside their defences. Today, Kiev lauds people affiliated with this pro-Nazi collaboration ideology as national heroes.
Those involved in the battle for Kiev recalled that local residents who had endured a 24-month enemy occupation filled the streets and joyfully welcomed Red Army soldiers. Moscow hosted an artillery salute marking the city’s liberation.
Red Army officers and soldiers displayed mass heroism while fighting to liberate the Ukrainian capital. In all, 65 units and elements received the honourary designation Kiev. About 700 generals, officers, sergeants and soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and 17,500 soldiers were decorated with orders and medals. The 1st Detached Czechoslovak Brigade received the Order of Suvorov 2nd Class.
The two-year enemy occupation cost Kiev dearly. Out of 400,000 people left in he city, only 180,000 welcomed the liberators in November 1943. During the occupation, about 100,000 people were deported to Germany for forced labour. Many of them never came back. They vanished into thin air, and no one was able to locate them again. Tens of thousands also died from starvation and cold, were killed during ethnic cleansing campaigns or were executed as hostages. Many others fled to nearby villages in order to avoid starving to death. Almost 1,000 buildings housing state and public institutions, as well as about 2,000 buildings with shared flats and 3,600 private homes, were demolished in the city. All bridges across the Dnieper River were also destroyed.
Does this remind you of a manic desire to destroy the Crimean Bridge? This amounts to undisguised Nazism. At that time, the Nazis destroyed infrastructure facilities in Kiev. Today, their followers are trying to destroy all civilian infrastructure in the same manner. In my opinion, the Crimean Bridge vividly confirms this. At that time, the Nazis destroyed the city’s water supply system. This is also echoed in present-day events like when the Kiev regime repeatedly cut off the flow of water to Crimea and damaged the relevant civilian infrastructure, thus impacting the people of Crimea. Later, they imposed a railway blockade and closed off routes leading to Donbass, then part of Ukraine. They did this to stop two-way freight traffic. At that time, there were no modern money transfer systems or bank services, but now they do exist. The Kiev regime has stopped these operations for many years thus impacting their fellow citizens. The only difference is that, during the Great Patriotic War, the Nazis did this with regard to people whom they viewed as aliens. They believed that it was necessary to enslave such people (to serve Germany and the Third Reich) or to exterminate them. Today, the Kiev regime is saying that these territories still belong to Ukraine, and that their residents are citizens of Ukraine, too. They are also using Nazi-style coercive methods against these people. In fact, the Nazis used the same methods against those subject to mental correction or extermination.
Commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front Nikolai Vatutin played a decisive role in planning, organising and conducting the Kiev military offensive operation. On February 29, 1944, he was severely wounded during a clash with Bandera’s supporters and died in a hospital on April 15, 1944. In 1948, a monument to Vatutin with an inscription in Ukrainian reading “To the Hero of the Soviet Union General Vatutin from the People of Ukraine” was installed at his grave. On February 9, 2023, Ukrainian authorities who glorify Bandera and Shukhevich (whose supporters wounded Vatutin in 1944) decided to dismantle the monument. However, the inscription was in Ukrainian.
By liberating Kiev, the Red Army achieved a major strategic success that greatly influenced the war’s outcome. The Nazi war machine suffered another powerful blow, with Germany and its allies rushing to flee the territory of our Motherland. This process became irreversible.
1941 military parade in Red Square
On November 7, 1941, when the enemy was on Moscow’s doorstep and threatened to seize the city, a military parade was held in Red Square to mark the anniversary of the October Revolution. The event had huge political significance because it demonstrated the resolve of the Soviet people and the Armed Forces to defend Moscow and route the enemy. It inspired the Red Army and people on the home front to fight the Nazi occupiers.
Every time I speak about this, it brings to mind the footage of that parade, and every time the emotion brings me to the verge of tears. I cannot help it. The people who marched in the square knew that there was little chance they would survive – it was 1941, and the enemy was approaching Moscow. But they set an example for the nation and stood up against the enemy to which Western Europe had capitulated, sworn allegiance and supplied with everything Nazi Germany needed. Like our grandfathers back then, today our brothers, wives, fathers and sons have assumed responsibility to prevent any future repetition of the tragedy that befell the world 80 years ago.
Today, our men fighting on the battlefield are showing the world how to fight selflessly against the misanthropic logic and ideas of national and ethnic superiority, and the feeling that some people can enslave others simply because they want to live a better, richer and more comfortable life. These historical facts and figures are available in a great deal of books, archives, documentary and feature films based on true stories.
It may seem that the Foreign Ministry has no business commenting on things you can read about in textbooks, novels and articles. But the trouble is that the world has contracted the virus of historical amnesia, which is spreading faster than Covid-19. Regrettably, even the descendants of those who fell fighting that disease are not immune to it.
To maintain public attention, we speak about those historical facts every week, translate the relevant materials into foreign languages and make them available to our embassies and through them, to the international community. We will continue to do this.
We regard it as our duty to past generations and, more importantly, to future generations. We are doing this not only because we must remember our forefathers – this is part of our cultural code – but so that future generations do not turn into mankurts, people who have lost touch with their ethnic homeland, but develop active immunity against historical amnesia.
Supreme Commander-in-Chief Josef Stalin said at the 1941 parade that the Nazis had failed to seize Moscow and that the Soviet Union’s mission was to liberate the peoples of Europe from the Nazi yoke.
The troops marched from the square to the frontline. They not only defended the capital but also pushed the enemy 160-200 kilometres back in a counteroffensive.
That parade made headlines throughout the world, reinforced the anti-Hitler coalition, inspired admiration and respect for the Soviet people and the Red Army, and strengthened the Soviet Union’s international prestige. Years later, the May 9 parade held to commemorate those who fought in the war was ridiculed, mocked and maliciously belittled – no, not by the people of Europe but by their governments, who told us that we have no right to it. Oh no, we have every right.
The British newspaper The News Chronicle wrote: “The arrangement of a traditional parade in Moscow at a time when there were hot battles on the outskirts of the city is a great example of courage and bravery.” And the Daily Mail, which was much more objective than its current analogue, reported that Stalin organised in the famous Red Square “one of the most brilliant displays of courage and confidence that has ever taken place during the war.”
Today we celebrate November 7 as the Day of Miliary Glory when we pay tribute to the participants of the 1941 parade in Red Square and to all those who defended our homeland from the enemy.
The Victory Museum in Moscow has posted an online exhibition titled The Parade that Changed History, dedicated to the November 7, 1941 military parade. It includes photographs from the museum’s archives and the Russian State Documentary Film and Photo Archive, the footage of the parade, and personal documents of participants in the parade.
Maria Zakharova: It is old news. I hope you remember that we already commented on it on May 3, 2023.
I can confirm that we will be forced to take response military-technical and other measures to eliminate the threats to Russia’s national security that arise in this connection.
As we said, the concrete measures will depend on the practical actions to implement the said treaty, including the deployment of American contingents at Finland’s military bases.
Maria Zakharova: This initiative solely belongs to this political association. The Foreign Ministry has nothing to do with the organisation of this meeting. I saw various opinions about it. In Afghanistan and in its disjointed opposition they have various assessments. So, I want to reiterate that this is a party event that has nothing to do with the Foreign Ministry and Russia’s bodies of executive authority.
In principle, we believe that such conferences should be held with the participation of the Afghan authorities and opposition to consolidate Afghan society at a united national platform and help them arrive at intra-Afghan reconciliation.
I think that judging by the assessments in Afghanistan, they believe that this event has different goals from what I mentioned. In our opinion, such forums should be thoroughly prepared with consideration of all positions of the key political players in Afghanistan.
Maria Zakharova: I would say you have largely answered your own question. You cannot defeat Nazism by turning into Nazis. You cannot defeat terrorism by becoming a terrorist. You cannot resist evil by becoming evil yourself.
You are right in saying that it is unacceptable to use illegal methods in fighting for justice and truth. But it is so tempting sometimes. It seems so potentially effective. But you just can't. When applied to the information industry I work in, I am often asked why we cannot act the same way as the Kiev regime. Look at the information war they are waging. Yes, they are. And yes, it can be amazingly effective at times. Only it has an underside. It is as significant as the positive side, only with a negative value. It is the same here.
What do we want? Do we want peace and de-escalation in that land, or continued bloodshed? As you can see, unfortunately, this is where the years-long Western political experiment, primarily American and British, has led. Our approach is in favour of peace, and peace must be sustainable.
We are well aware that this cannot be achieved overnight. No one has a magic wand. But we know what we want to achieve and how it can be achieved, and that’s a start. We talk about it endlessly. We have been reiterating it and we will continue to do so.
A lasting peace must be based on a two-state solution, that is, establishing two states, each with its own capital, abiding by the principles of peaceful and safe coexistence. What steps need to be made? There are international legal mechanisms for that, plenty of them, in fact.
We certainly admit that this cannot be done today, right now, because the process cannot be steered towards negotiations before it is de-escalated. So, de-escalation comes first. After that, talks need to begin within a solid international legal framework. Can more steps be taken in addition to that? Of course. Should everything achieved to date be taken into account? Certainly. Has any part of that lost its relevance or validity? I know that many people would like this to be so. If prior decisions are no longer relevant, the process will need to be “restarted” or “reconfigured,” as the West likes to put it. This way they can have the entire history of this international legal settlement cancelled. But that is not going to happen. International law or history cannot be cancelled. And those trying to do this have already made a lot of trouble in other regions around the world, including this one.
We share your concern over the unfolding humanitarian disaster in Gaza. I have already shared our assessment of the tragedy. I never tire of repeating that everyone in the region is exhausted. Israelis, Palestinians, residents of neighbouring states, refugees who have fled the region, and concerned people around the world are all exhausted. Everyone is on the brink. Everyone has their own limit. In the Gaza Strip, this is a life-and-death line. In Israel, it is about the safety and security of their loved ones. The concerned people around the world, unfortunately, are facing the possibility of peaceful protests escalating into violence. The world has come to a dangerous point.
We believe that the previous American and British approaches will only aggravate the situation. The policy of providing the parties with weapons or money to buy weapons, and counting on a military scenario has not worked. Worse than that, it backfired. It led to a colossal number of civilian casualties. I believe that at some point, the US and UK must be held accountable for their crimes in this region and in the context of this crisis. They are directly responsible for what they have done on this land. Great Britain must be held accountable in a historical perspective, and the United States, as a state that endlessly interferes in the region’s internal agenda, trying to reshape its present and future according to its own patterns, instigating conflicts, and so on.
We call for more vehement international efforts to achieve an early ceasefire and steer the situation to a political and diplomatic track. We are confident that this approach is the only possibility to stabilise the conflict zone and alleviate the suffering of the people living there. Any unilateral steps that go beyond the framework of international law, especially the use of force, are fraught with further deterioration of the situation, including the humanitarian aspect.
I would also like to point out the need to respect and take into account the views of the countries that are neighbours of Israel and Palestine. Because they are bearing the brunt of this humanitarian disaster. In other words, if people take a personal blow and become part of a humanitarian disaster, these neighbouring states certainly have to shoulder the burden of its consequences, as countries and societies.
You know better than I do that these states have not yet recovered from the American and British experiments in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen. For example, the West has made countless attempts to restore order in Egypt according to their own pattern. These people have suffered enough over the past ten years, and they should not just have a say in this, but theirs should be one of the decisive voices in planning and implementing a peace settlement in the region. Because these countries have borne the brunt of numerous humanitarian disasters.
Maria Zakharova: I believe these isolated voices will drown in the Sandu government’s anti-Moldova activity. Most importantly, a reaction should have come long ago rather than now and occasionally. The entire scope of the crimes against democracy committed by this government must be evaluated.
In this case, these feeble attempts by Western NGOs to pretend they are concerned only highlight their absolute lack of involvement and interest in taking a realistic look at things.
What does it mean, they demanded substantiating evidence? In other cases, they demand nothing but simply issue statements and call for cancelling such decisions. They launch entire campaigns. But here, they decided to raise demands. In one particular case.
Therefore, if these organisations truly want to get to the bottom of the matter, they should take a systematic approach to critically reviewing and analysing the situation in Moldova, rather than pretending once a year that they take interest in similar matters, after being persistently asked to voice their position. It must be systematic work, something they do with regards to our country when everything is examined with a magnifying glass. They see what exists but mostly what does not. They should take an objective approach to Moldovan affairs, then we will believe that it is not an act, and they are actually interested.
Now is the time not to demand evidence but to realise that, with its indiscriminate bombing, Maia Sandu’s government is ruining democracy in its own country.
Maria Zakharova: I want to give you an example. I once visited Mexico City. Somebody told me a story that in the 17th century, pyramids were discovered 50 kilometres from the Mexican capital. Those were ritual structures similar in size and scale to the Egyptian and Chinese cultural and ritual structures. They were over 2,000 years old and built in ancient times.
I was stunned. How could it be that a country that loves and honours its culture discovers a colossal ancient site within 50 kilometres of the capital? How could it have gone unnoticed? It turned out that the site was not just abandoned; nobody even thought that something could be there. They started digging there completely by chance and encountered a colossal complex stretching for several kilometres. Now it is known as Teotihuacan.
What do I mean? For some reason, people sometimes forget their own cultural landmarks and monuments of enormous scale. We don’t know why it happened in the past and will never know.
Now we are witnessing this in Ukraine. It will not have equally big consequences because we have modern means of communication. They might as well root out everything related to Alexander Pushkin. Neither he nor world literature will see any harm. The only harm done will be to the generation of kids born and raised in the nationalist ideology of the Kiev regime. They are not dealing a blow to our common culture or Russian culture or anybody else’s. They are dealing a blow to their own future generations.
This is not the only example of colossal cultural complexes disappearing from the face of a country and people later discovering entire cities or ancient settlements below modern buildings, something that once blossomed, produced fruit and was an extraordinary manifestation of ancient cultural life. Some places have been forgotten for several centuries and even millennia. Today Ukraine shows us how it might have happened in the past. In addition to observing, we should draw conclusions as well.
Maria Zakharova: As far as negotiations are concerned, we see an opportunity for launching them, but not at the present time. This is what Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in his October 28, 2023, interview with the Belarusian Telegraph Agency: “It is highly improbable that they will sit down at the negotiating table just yet. The Israelis are particularly bitter, as can be seen from numerous official statements made by their top officials, including the prime minister, the defence minister, the minister of the economy and other Cabinet members. The Palestinians are in a highly agitated state as well, considering the thousands of fatalities and wounded civilians resulting from Israel’s retaliation.”
He went on to add that once we overcome the acute phase in this crisis, international efforts must focus on facilitating the resumption of a full-fledged negotiating process between the two sides to bring about a political settlement for the Palestinian issue based on the recognised international legal framework.
To put it briefly, we need the negotiating process, and it will materialise. When will it happen? It is clear that not now. What we need today is for the situation to de-escalate. This must become a focal point not only for specific countries, but also for the international legal framework in general.
Why has the West taken this position? It would take many volumes to answer this question. It may be that the West believes that it is somehow exceptional and can write history as it pleases, even within the territory of sovereign states. It may be that the West has lost its diplomatic skills and is no longer able to handle a negotiating process under international law or achieve a peaceful settlement, while placing its bets on force and money, hoping to resolve the issue one way or another.
This is what happens in healthcare. You may have all the equipment, treatments and resources you may need, but you will never be able to use them if you do not have the skills and even more importantly the will to make your patient feel better. Everything matters: the tools, the treatment and the resources, including funding. Still, there are two key components here: knowledge, know-how and professional skills, as well as the famous “do no harm” Hippocratic oath – everything you do must be done for the patient’s benefit. But the United States lacks these two components. You can see that it either prioritises its own dominance as if it was an empire or seeks to exploit external developments for its own benefit, gain, political ambition or domestic politics.
Maria Zakharova: I believe that the answer to your question is quite simple. This may be a challenging subject, but the answer is straightforward, even if it comes in several parts.
First, I have always been all for demonstrating graphic and visual evidence during UN Security Council meetings, news conferences or various symposiums. This can include visual content, the physical objects that are being discussed, and everything that can be used as evidence. This can also include bringing in people, witnesses and participants by videoconference. I am all for it. But this must be evidence, witness testimony referring to a specific case instead of trying to make a show out of a meeting on an extremely serious topic for today’s world. Israel may have referred to historical events, the tragedy of the past, but this has nothing to do with what is happening today.
Second, this is a challenging topic burdened by so much political speculation we are witnessing today. I believe that if we really want to commemorate victims and are sincere in honouring their memory, we cannot forget those who sacrificed their lives for the sake of saving people back then. I am referring to the liberators, the Red Army, the soldiers, volunteers, partisans, those who worked in the rear not only in our country but also in other Allied countries who saved World War II victims and sought to make sure that there are fewer of them, those who sacrificed their lives in exchange for the lives of other people or for their sake by volunteering for the front. Turns out, as we have been saying all this time, that only victims are remembered while people who sacrificed themselves out of their own free will for the sake of their contemporaries and future generations are forgotten. It is as if there were no such things as liberating people from concentration camps, or saving people doomed to be burned in gas chambers, liberating cities, villages and other communities where people underwent atrocious experiments, including medical experiments. It is as if millions of people have not died for the sake of stopping this Nazi and fascist frenzy. In many Western European countries the memory of these people has been desecrated.
For so many years now, we have been calling on Israel to be proactive in preserving the historical memory of the fighters who liberated the world from Nazism. If ethnic background matters so much, I suggest considering this issue through this lens. There was a very diverse mix within the Red Army in terms of the ethnic background of those who served there, including Jews. We asked the Israeli authorities how come we are the only ones left to perpetuate this memory? When I say that we were left alone, I am referring to the CIS space, since our colleagues, our partners and allies within the Commonwealth are committed to these efforts too. But apart from that, there is nobody else. There are just these rare NGOs and the civil society in various countries, including in Israel, while on the state level…
If Israel and its people really care about this topic, they need to work on it and be sincere in their efforts. Let me remind you what we have already written. I even published an article and it was translated into Hebrew to say that if you look at the primary source, which means the first UN General Assembly resolution on the Holocaust, and all other resolutions reaffirming it, it says that the victims of the Holocaust were people of various ethnic and social backgrounds. So we need to be honest about this topic instead of making a political show out of it. We need to show responsibility when dealing with the historical memory instead of casting it into oblivion. We cannot betray the generations which sacrificed their lives so that others live instead of wasting themselves on political speculation or posturing.
But what should the others wear to the UN Security Council? What should our permanent representative wear? A Great Patriotic War-era helmet maybe? How do you make sure that the world remembers what happened back then? There are UN General Assembly resolutions for this purpose, as well as historical documents, and our principled position. We need to demonstrate responsibility and honesty when dealing with this issue. It is important that we support each other.
Maria Zakharova: The China International Import Expo is one of major fair events in Asia. Our country has been involved in its activities from the very beginning. Even at the first Expo in 2018, Russia had its own pavilion as the guest of honour. The Russian delegation was then headed by the Prime Minister.
Russian businesses have traditionally shown significant interest in this platform, which provides excellent opportunities for promoting Russian goods to the Chinese consumer market. Moreover, Russian-Chinese mutual trade is growing rapidly. China has been our main trade partner since 2010. This year, Russia ranks sixth in the list of China’s main trading partners. We can see the most positive dynamics in the supply of agricultural products, which in terms of value have taken second place in Russian exports to China, losing only to hydrocarbons. They are deservedly in high demand among our Chinese friends, and Expo is becoming one of the platforms for promoting them.
In May, Shanghai hosted a major bilateral event dedicated to business cooperation between our countries, the Russian-Chinese Business Forum, which involved about 1,500 people. We are confident that the 6th China International Import Expo will be equally successful, and perhaps even more so (I sincerely hope so), and its Russian and Chinese participants will establish new contacts and conclude mutually beneficial agreements.
Maria Zakharova: We consider this Copenhagen-format meeting in Malta as a demonstrative anti-Russia gesture by official Yerevan. Let me remind you that earlier the Prime Minister’s wife Anna Hakobyan went to Kiev, Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan met with Ruslan Stefanchuk in Dublin, and, finally, Nikol Pashinyan had talks with Vladimir Zelensky in Granada. I am sure Yerevan must be aware that this is demonstrative flirtation with those who aggressively oppose Russia. There is no other definition.
It is regrettable that the current leadership of the republic is persistently and deliberately destroying our allied relations, which not so long ago were called the most important factor of Armenia’s stability and prosperity.
As for a number of media in Armenia (paid through resources affiliated with government agencies and representatives of the executive authorities) and their anti-Russia rhetoric, there is nothing to talk about. This is an openly Russophobic context on the verge of nationalism with regard to our country. I could never have imagined anything like this. I read and watch a lot of things, but this is not just an insult but real undisguised Russophobia. We clearly understand who is responsible for these resources. If they think we do not know who is paying for all this, then they are very mistaken.
Maria Zakharova: We have already commented on this. These events were orchestrated by the West-sponsored Kiev special services; whether directly, indirectly or implicitly, but the West is involved in them one way or another.
Such statements by the White House are yet another provocation that aims to incite nationalist sentiments. We view this as another attempt to destabilise the situation in our country. These are lies and false historical, non-existent parallels that simply cannot be expressed by official authorities of constitutional states.
To what extent is the US a constitutional state? Many are asking themselves this question. One way or another, if this state claims that its system is based on law, it has no right to such allusions.
Maria Zakharova: I cannot and will not comment on draft bills, because commenting on them (and there are plenty of them in this area alone) would take forever.
Once the bill is adopted and official executive or legislative authorities actually engage in it, we will comment. So far, I see no point in discussing it.
Maria Zakharova: We consider this an anti-Russia move to misinform Israeli citizens.
Currently, anti-Israeli rallies, protests and events are taking place in NATO member states not just in support of Palestine but clearly expressing anti-Israeli slogans, with people carrying banners and making addresses. The protesters are displaying a high level of aggression, making threatening statements. A great number of people are taking part in these events – we are not talking about thousands or tens of thousands, but hundreds of thousands and millions of people in several NATO states. But I have yet to see official Tel Aviv making statements advising Israeli citizens against traveling to these countries.
To emphasise once again: these are not rallies of a neutral nature but political meetings and support events where people chant horrific anti-Semitic slogans, which we fully reject. With a large number of Jewish people living in Russia as well as those who hold both Russian and Israeli citizenship here, we consider this unacceptable. Why do the Israeli Foreign Ministry and other official bodies (you mentioned the Security Council) fail to issue corresponding warnings for their citizens about traveling to these other countries?
I believe that such actions and statements are aimed against our country and have nothing to do with the actual state of affairs. As a matter of fact, Russia has responded to the events in Makhachkala at all levels: state, political (involving all branches of authority), and public.
Dagestan spoke out in the most decisive manner at all levels – from its leadership and representatives of all faith denominations to the general public – to condemn these riots, calling them a disgrace. Our response was definitive.
We hope that officials in Israel convey this position to the country’s citizens. Russia’s Ambassador to Israel Anatoly Viktorov has informed Israeli officials of our position on numerous occasions.
Maria Zakharova: This is simple. Of course, every state, including the Central Asian states, has the right to carry out their foreign policy and implement their contacts on the international stage (bilateral, multilateral, etc.).
There is an anti-Russia agenda that the Western states and their leaders incorporate into their interactions, in particular, with the Central Asian countries. When it comes to this, we certainly regard it that way. We regard this even more strictly.
If we are talking about building bilateral relations or the role of bilateral contacts in international or regional affairs, we are all for it if it is aimed at constructive solutions. Either it is none of our business, or we are all for it; or, if our assistance is needed, we will provide it. If we are not asked, then it is a bilateral matter. But if it is part of the anti-Russia agenda from the Western leaders, who are endlessly busy discrediting us both publicly and behind the scenes, then we regard it this way or more harshly.
We believe that our friends in Central Asia will not succumb to such provocations. We understand very well that they also know that the West is trying to implement an anti-Russia agenda in the region and cause a split in long-standing and strong ties with our country.
Let me give an example of what we regard as this kind of approach: regular trips to the capitals of the countries located here taken by emissaries of the United States and the European Union. They are not engaged in building bilateral ties. They lecture the countries and peoples in these states on how not to communicate with Russia. Just like that. Sometimes they simply try to intimidate them by saying that if they communicate with Russia, then certain actions will be taken against them. This is humiliating for the Central Asian states, questioning their right to sovereignty and independent policy.
These Western representatives demand compliance with the illegal anti-Russia sanctions. I am sure that our friends in Central Asia understand all this and will act not on orders from the outside, but in line with their national interests.
We will continue to promote interaction with our Central Asian neighbours in the same vein.
Maria Zakharova: We operate on the premise that we enjoy strong bilateral ties and contacts that have stood the test of time. They are not without their share of issues, but we maintain a trust-based dialogue that covers numerous issues.
Many of our citizens hold both Russian and Israeli citizenship. Many Russian nationals live in Israel and there are numerous Russian families with connections in Israel. Given the uniqueness of these relationships, we are under obligation to maintain excellent bilateral relations. We have weathered many trials together. We are familiar with the challenge of international terrorism first-hand from our own history. There is no doubt that bilateral relations have a promising future and will continue to expand.
Regarding specific issues that are either genuine problems or misunderstandings, we are working hard to resolve them. I believe Hamas is among the issues that we should focus on in order to avoid any questions coming our way. Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov’s meeting with representatives from Hamas’ political wing in the region did not raise any questions from Israel. Similarly, contacts between the United States and Hamas leave Israel unemotional as well. These contacts exist, but they carry them out in different ways. In this case, there should be no questions, considering that we have provided public clarifications and assessments as to why we are engaging with them. Hostage and evacuation issues need to be addressed.
I would like to point out once again that reportedly Washington maintains official contact (I am not talking about NGOs or individual members of civil society) with Hamas. We are aware of the fact that these contacts are aimed at freeing hostages and they do not elicit an emotional reaction from Israel. There should be no double standards.
If questions arise (I am not referring to you, but to the Israeli side), our embassy in Israel is there to help. Our ministry boasts a large number of specialists in the region who are prepared to provide answers to questions from the Israeli side in a mutually respectful manner (which is very important) 24/7. There is no need to rush and grab microphones, accuse or point fingers at anyone. This approach is unproductive and is viewed by a significant portion of our society as anti-Russian.
Maria Zakharova: Importantly, Egypt has already provided an assessment. I suggest that you review (if you haven’t already) the Egyptian leadership’s reaction to these proposals. Official Cairo’s position is clear: President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of the Arab Republic of Egypt vehemently rejected the possibility of relocating Palestinians from their land or any attempt to resolve the Palestinian issue at the expense of the countries of the region. I covered this issue quite extensively today.
We also believe that provocative statements like this do nothing but encourage radical sentiment and mutual bitterness and drag out the cycle of violence. If such plans were to be implemented, the aftermath of mass displacement would be calamitous and worsen the situation in the region. The catastrophic consequences would affect Palestinians and Israelis, as well as the entire region.
We not only understand the suffering of the Jewish people, but we sympathise as well. This is precisely why we are insisting on the importance of overcoming the root causes of the situation. It is odd to hear someone say that proposals for the forced deportation of the Palestinian people from their ancestral land are put forward by those who consider themselves the heirs to the idea of rebuilding the Jewish state on its historical land.
To reiterate, we see the entire set of factors that have led to the escalation of the problem. We say there is no point in exacerbating it, but it is critical to take specific steps that lead to a resolution. Indeed, occasionally it may sound unlike populist slogans. It may not sit well on the ear or cater to short-term political expediency. This is genuinely the path forward to normalising the situation and achieving lasting peace.
We have said it before and we will say it again that a sustainable and lasting settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be achieved on an internationally recognised basis, which assumes the creation of an independent and viable Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with its capital in East Jerusalem to coexist in peace and security with Israel.
Question: Could Russia serve as a mediator in the exchange of hostages between Hamas and Israel?
Maria Zakharova: Russia traditionally maintains contact with all parties to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and remains an impartial mediator that factors in the interests of both sides.
Claims like “Russia is choosing one side over the other” are not accurate. We are for a peaceful and lasting settlement. To achieve this, we are taking appropriate steps and engaging in dialogues with both the Palestinians and the Israelis, which allow us to address the most important and often challenging issues directly. I answered a similar question earlier today.
In our contacts with the stakeholders, we discuss the general situation inside Gaza and surrounding it, as well as workable ways to cease hostilities, free hostages, deliver humanitarian aid, and address the situation of foreign citizens, including Russians, in the Palestinian enclave, and evacuation issues in general, among other issues; we do it in a trust-based and constructive atmosphere. We believe discussing specific scenarios publicly is impractical for a variety of reasons.
Maria Zakharova: We welcome any contact that contributes to easing tensions or friction between Baku and Yerevan, as well as anything that benefits the parties and the region as a whole.
For our part, we proceed based on the roadmap for normalising Azerbaijani-Armenian relations, which remains the set of trilateral agreements at the highest level from 2020-2022. This includes the signing of a peace treaty between the two countries, the unblocking of economic and transport ties in the South Caucasus, border delimitation, and dialogue at the civil society level.
For further progress on all these tracks, we are prepared to organise a trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia in Moscow in the near future.
Maria Zakharova: He is talking about the Americans.
Maria Zakharova: This is being handled by the related agencies – the Russian Ministry of Defence and the US Department of Defence. They have the details.
We have repeatedly pointed out the unacceptability of the crude interference in the affairs of the region, especially with the use of military force.
As for Syria, we constantly point out that the United States is occupying part of Syria illegally, and in defiance of the SAR’s demands to leave their sovereign territory. The aims and objectives of the Americans are to plunder Syria’s natural resources, which belong to the Syrian people, not to the United States.
Maria Zakharova: When it comes to protesting in such cases, we send notes of protest and summon ambassadors. But given that the United States is an unfriendly country that makes unfriendly moves almost daily, there is no point in summoning the ambassador unless we want him to move to Smolenskaya Square permanently. We most certainly do not.
We send notes of protest. We make demarches, send the relevant documents through our embassy in Washington, and forward reprimands to American diplomats in Moscow.
If you want to know more about diplomatic formats, there is a wide choice of books on the subject. I could recommend Diplomatic Protocol in Russia by Anatoly Borunkov. We also regularly report on the methods we use.
On the other hand, we also need to be mindful of the context of the aggressive hybrid war unleashed by the West against our country, which sometimes necessitates mirror responses that might be outside protocol, but in line with reality.
As for our embassy’s comment you quoted, it is not a form of protest; it is just a comment describing the essence of the issue, our view on this matter.
The best way to respond to public accusations or fake stories today is to respond publicly as well. The idea is not so much to tell the US Department of State that they are using false rhetoric (I do not think there is any point in saying this, because this is their credo), but simply to refute the misinformation.
Maria Zakharova: It depends. We are working on this politically within international platforms, too, working out response measures and applying them. We also conduct information and awareness work, which is extremely important. We all are writing a chronicle today for our future generations to read. They need to know the truth.
But we have to respond on every level. This includes military-political measures and exclusively military measures of a defensive nature, different ones, I cannot list them all right now. In this case, we need to act together. What the United States is doing with regard to our country and the world indeed amounts to aggressive behaviour by a group of political adventurers who have lost all restraint. That's what I would call it.
Maria Zakharova: You are absolutely correct. We have talked, written and published many materials about this many times.
The Second World War really helped the United States overcome the consequences of the Great Depression. It has used that formula many times since then, solving domestic economic problems by sparking major conflicts outside its national territory. Many White House administrations have done this. Sometimes they failed to overcome domestic crises, like in 2008, when the global financial crisis was provoked by the American mortgage crisis. In other cases, Washington used aggressions it provoked abroad and the occupation of foreign territories to gain resources to continue their “democratic development.” We don’t regard it as such. We see this as rapacious imperialism.
I am not sure that it would be right to draw parallels. It is more than mere parallels; it is the same scenario. Parallels are when there are two or three similar events. What we see here is a systematic approach that they have used time and again. The Middle East is a long-suffering region, which has suffered every time the West has used its aggressive policy to deal with its own problems, for example, to overcome crises, change a policy, or replenish its domestic economic or political resources.
I would like to provide several hard facts about the involvement of American business and companies in WWII and their close economic ties with Hitler. During the Nuremberg Trials, the economics minister of Nazi Germany Hjalmar Schacht said that the Third Reich had also received foreign funding and mentioned two US majors, Ford and General Motors. The Americans signed a secret “silence for freedom” deal with him. Contrary to the protests of Soviet representatives, Schacht was set free and lived to the venerable age of 93. But it was too late: the word was out.
Henry Ford, who symbolised the American Dream, received the Grand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle from the Nazis. His plants in Germany rolled out up to 70,000 lorries a year for the German army, which were assembled by prisoners, including from the Auschwitz camp. They were doomed.
The iconic German car maker, Opel, belonged to General Motors. This is how researcher Bradford Snell describes the corporation’s role: “General Motors was far more important to the Nazi war machine than Switzerland. Switzerland was just a repository of looted funds. GM was an integral part of the German war effort. The Nazis could have invaded Poland and Russia without Switzerland. They could not have done so without GM.”
The Standard Oil giant helped Adolf Hitler through its subsidiaries by supplying oil products and participating in developing synthetic rubbers and synthetic fuels. IBM produced accounting and monitoring devices for the Nazis, including for oil production. I already mentioned this, but I will repeat: this company’s equipment was used to track schedules of trains en route to death camps, among other things.
Banks: JPMorgan Chase & Co, then Chase National Bank, through which multi-billion transactions were processed, and Berlin could buy US dollars and perform financial operations overseas. Chase cooperated with Germany’s Allianz bank even when it came to insuring the property and lives of the security guards at the Third Reich’s concentration camps.
At its German plant, Kodak produced fuses for drop bombs and was not above using POW labour.
Before nationalisation by the German government, the Coca Cola plant in Cologne diligently supplied soda drinks, including to German troops. The famous Fanta was actually invented by the Nazis.
Answering your question, I would like to refer you to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview for the Belarusian News Agency on October 28, 2023, in which he specifically said that “with respect to Ukraine, the West has been promoting its selfish interests, forging it into a tool of aggression against Russia in violation of all NATO non-expansion obligations and its obligations to ensure equal and undivided security within the OSCE, to prevent some countries from building up their security at the expense of others.”
This is the West’s systematic approach. History might as well be forgotten. If it were up to them, all the monuments would be demolished, all the textbooks would be rewritten and films would be made about events that never took place. Films on the events that happened must be pushed to the back of the shelf so that these companies and this systematic approach could not be associated with that era, as if it never existed.
Maria Zakharova: Please read carefully the Presidential Executive Order No.734 dated September 29, On the Procedure for Citizens of Ukraine Entering and Exiting the Russian Federation, as well as announcements made during the Foreign Ministry’s briefing on October 4, on the adoption of this Executive Order.
Everything is fully explained there: no visas are required for Ukrainian citizens either to enter Russia or to stay here.
Maria Zakharova: We know about the case only from media publications.
Any citizen of Russia can ask Russian diplomats for help and assistance, for example, employees of the consular department of the embassy or the embassy hotline, or employees of our Consulate General.
All citizens can use this opportunity, regardless of whether they possess the things you mentioned or not. This is the right of every Russian citizen and the responsibility of our foreign missions.
Maria Zakharova: I don’t know about this case, but I know about a huge number of other cases. Arson of movable or immovable property, persecution, sometimes physical violence, including the murder of people who never intended to have anything to do with the Kiev regime. They simply defended their convictions and their rights that are envisaged in Ukrainian legislation, and were subjected to all these terrible ordeals.
There is a huge number of such cases. Today I spoke about Russian journalists. We can recall Ukrainian citizens, journalists, and public figures (such as Oles Buzina). Some of them were killed, maimed or thrown into dungeons. No one knows about their fate. There are many such cases. These are the primary characteristics of the Kiev regime: violence, nationalism, impunity, propaganda of the deprivation of rights and bullying of every kind against those who retain the desire to live according to the law and profess universal human values.
Maria Zakharova: I wish members of the Bulgarian media attended our media events, instead of being summoned to the Foreign Ministry.
We have never seen the correspondent you mentioned, nor have you, I believe, considering that we all here get free access after obtaining accreditation, which is available to all media outlets. He might have been here at one time but I have not seen him for many months.
My second point is that I hope Bulgaria will not stage a performance entitled “we don’t understand what it is all about”. What we are talking about are the efforts to work out retaliatory measures in connection with Sofia’s illegitimate actions against a Rossiyskaya Gazeta correspondent, who is a Russian national.
I want to remind you that he was summoned to some Bulgarian security service, where they talked to him, threatening to revoke his accreditation, revoke his visa and even expel him from the country. Later they carried out all their threats. We will respond to this. We will inform you about the way we will do this. Regrettably, Bulgaria does not need to show surprise.
We are well aware of other forces that are pulling Bulgaria’s strings. Now this takes us back to the same question: is Bulgaria an independent state, capable of standing up for its sovereignty, or will it delegate its policy to its Big Brother, the Anglo-Saxon duet, and take actions aiming to destroy relations between Russia and Bulgaria that also violate its international obligations? Is there anything to wonder about? No, there isn’t.
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