Briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Moscow, July 26, 2023
Table of contents
- Second Russia-Africa Summit
- Russia’s cooperation with African countries
- The Days of African Culture and Cinema Film Festival
- Ukraine update
- Day of Remembrance for Child Victims of the War in Donbass
- Upcoming UN Security Council meeting on the harassment of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
- Double standards of the UNESCO Secretariat
- Norway’s plans to develop mineral resources on the Spitsbergen (Svalbard) shelf
- Submitting a memorandum to the International Court of Justice
- 70th anniversary of signing the Korean Armistice Agreement
- 150th anniversary of Fyodor Tyutchev’s death
- Independence Day in Peru
- Baptism of Rus Day
- World Day Against Trafficking in Persons
- Burning of the Quran in Denmark: A provocative stunt
- The response of UNESCO and OSCE to the murder of Russian journalist Rostislav Zhuravlyov
- The activities of Christian Schmidt in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Moldovan authorities’ accusations against Russia
- The atmosphere among the German business elite
- Russian-Azerbaijani relations
- Armenia-Azerbaijan rapprochement
- Activities of the EU Observation Mission in Armenia
- Meeting of BRICS High Representatives for Security Issues
- Western attempts to build internet barriers
- The situation on the Korean Peninsula
- An appeal by a citizen of Kyrgyzstan
- Statements by the OSCE
- The situation with the Russian consulate in the Aland Islands
- The humanitarian situation in Nagorno Karabakh
- Forest fires in Greece
- Statements by the President of Belarus
- The lack of invitation for the President of France to the BRICS summit
- Fertiliser and grain deliveries to Africa
- Other formats of the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace settlement
On July 27-28, St Petersburg will host the second Russia-Africa Summit.
The event will highlight the development of comprehensive relations with African countries and the promotion of cooperation with our partners based on equality and mutual respect in the context of the development of a new, fair world order. The keynote of the second Summit is Russia’s readiness to provide all-round assistance to strengthening African countries’ sovereignty and protecting the principle of their sovereign equality.
The sideline events include a Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum, with a programme featuring more than 40 themed sessions on the main areas of Russia’s relations with African countries.
Compared to the Sochi format, where the first Russia-Africa summit was held in 2019, this year’s event will have a much larger humanitarian component, such as discussions on cooperation in the spheres of education, the training of personnel, healthcare, science, culture, media, sports and youth exchanges. The forum will also include a large exhibition with the participation of African partners.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, executive ministry officials and experts will attend the summit. We will keep you posted about this.
Russia’s cooperation with African countries
The spirit of mutual understanding and trust, which developed over the years of Soviet-African cooperation, continues to be a solid basis for Africa’s high respect for Russia and an important platform for building up our partnership in the new conditions.
It was at the insistence of the Soviet Union that the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples on December 14, 1960. The significance of that document can hardly be overestimated. Its approval at the UN created an international legal basis for assisting national liberation movements and accelerated the process of gaining independence by African countries.
The struggle against the modern manifestations of neocolonialism has always been closely monitored in our country and has been a priority in our relations with Africa. Russia is also helping African countries complete the decolonisation process and has called for an analysis of the issue of slave trading and the consequences of that deplorable human practice, including at the leading international organisations.
During the discussion of the Routes of Enslaved Peoples initiative at the 216th session of the UNESCO’s Executive Board, held in Paris in May 2023, Russia supported the African countries in their call for UNESCO to promote the issue of combatting the consequences of the slave trade more actively.
The relevant departments of the Russian Foreign Ministry and Russia’s Permanent Mission in New York contributed to the drafting of a UN General Assembly resolution on countering the modern practices of neo-colonialism. The resolution is scheduled to be discussed at the General Assembly in December 2023.
The United Russia national political party, with the active assistance of the Russian Foreign Ministry, continues vigorous work on the preparations for the Forum of the Opponents of Modern Neo-Colonial Practices, scheduled to take place in Moscow in late October 2023 as part of cooperation with the leading political forces of Asia, Africa and Latin America. It is expected that delegations of constructively-minded foreign parties and prominent representatives of the socio-political, scientific, expert and business circles of 70 states will take part in it.
The Russian Federation attaches great importance to the humanitarian needs of African countries and provides comprehensive assistance to the region.
Since 2020, Russia has increased its annual additional contribution to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) fund by $10 million to provide assistance to African countries. In 2022, as a result of the sanctions the collective West imposed against Russia, which affected interbank transactions, the transfer of these funds to WFP failed. In 2023, in accordance with the resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation, the amount will be distributed between Burkina Faso, Sudan, the Central African Republic and Ethiopia in equal shares of $2.5 million.
We contribute to alleviate the debt burden of the African countries. To date, the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative has written off more than $20 billion. We are implementing debt-for-development programmes with Madagascar, Mozambique, and Tanzania. We are negotiating this issue with Ethiopia.
Cooperation with Africa in education is expanding, in particular in the sphere of training national personnel. In total, about 34,000 African students are currently studying in Russia, of which more than 6,000 receive funding from the federal budget. In the 2022/23 academic year, 2,124 Africans were admitted to Russian universities. In the 2023/24 academic year, it is planned to increase the number of scholarships to 4,720. A separate programme is in force for law enforcement officers and security forces in African countries.
The Russian-Guinean Research Centre for Epidemiology and Prevention of Infectious Diseases was opened at the Centre for Microbiological Research and Treatment of Epidemiological Diseases in Kindia (Republic of Guinea), where representatives of the relevant Guinean agencies are trained in biological safety, laboratory diagnostics, and prevention of especially dangerous and socially significant infections under the guidance of Russian specialists.
Through the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor), a programme has been developed to assist African countries in ensuring the sanitary and epidemiological well-being of the population, as well as the prevention and control of infections in 2023-2026 (provision of material, technical, scientific and methodological support, training, assistance in the development of laboratory infrastructure, capacity building in the field of preparation for epidemics).
We have always considered the Arab world, including its North African part, a natural ally of Russia, playing a significant role in world affairs and possessing the richest cultural, economic and political potential. Promotion of a trust-based dialogue and diverse mutually beneficial cooperation with each of the countries in the region is entirely in the interests of both Russia itself and its North African partners.
In the context of confrontation with the collective West, our interaction with the states of North Africa is of particular importance. Despite unprecedented pressure from the United States and its allies, up to and including outright blackmail, the countries of the region, guided primarily by their fundamental interests, have taken a balanced and responsible position on the Ukrainian issue.
Today it can be said with confidence that the Westerners’ attempts to isolate Russia and bring discord into our relations with the countries of the Middle East and North Africa have failed. We continue to have regular and intensive contacts with their leadership. Despite the illegal sanctions imposed against Russia, the trade with our key partners is growing.
The era of Western dominance is over. The unipolar world order is being replaced by a multipolar one, which is based on civilisational diversity, the true sovereignty of peoples, equality of states, and recognition of their right to choose their own path of development and social structure. Today, we are working together on its development. We do it on equal terms, respecting each other.
However, the foundations of a polycentric world order were laid much earlier. This happened when various countries, including those on the African continent, got rid of Western colonial oppression; the Soviet Union actively facilitated this process. Today, we are witnessing another crusade by the United States and its allies against the entire non-Western world. This crusade aims to hamper the assertion of a multipolar world order. It is necessary to rebuff this drive.
We do not doubt that Africa can become a centre of the polycentric world. It has all the required potential for this. African states are implementing a sovereign policy with increasing confidence. They are displaying an ability to address their problems independently, including with the help of pan-African mechanisms and regional integration associations.
Together with our African friends, we are hoping to draft a global non-discriminatory agenda and to set forth topical issues that are important to us, and that meet the interests of most African countries. We need to search constructively for ways of resolving them. We need to strengthen international law aspects of interstate relations and to create new conditions for peaceful coexistence based on common goals and values.
We are interested in intensifying joint work with others of like mind to create a multi-sectoral infrastructure that is not controlled by the West. This work also aims to create mechanisms of economic interaction and to accomplish specific common development objectives. We consider it necessary to work towards weakening the US dollar as the almost exclusive legal tender for mutual payments and as a reserve currency. The reason is simple: The United States is using it as a tool for obtaining competitive advantages and for conducting its aggression.
We consider it important to conduct consistent joint work against the imposition of Western liberal “cultural” standards as universal as well as the attempts to outlaw traditional moral values and erode the norms of morality and the foundations of society.
The Days of African Culture and Cinema Film Festival
The First Days of African Culture and Cinema Film Festival, now taking place in St Petersburg and Moscow ahead of the Second Russia-Africa Summit, is part of the Africa: Together Into the Future cultural and educational festival. It is also part of the St Petersburg Seasons Festival and is organised by ROSKINO, with the support of the Russian Ministry of Culture.
On July 25-31, the festival will feature free screenings of African films, specifically, the five best recent films from Angola, Kenya, Tanzania and the Republic of South Africa, which were shown at various international film festivals and won a number of awards. Photo exhibitions, workshops and poetic soirees will also take place.
According to organisers, the festival aims to create additional opportunities for popularising Russian, African and joint projects in the sphere of creative industries in Russia and African countries. Festival events are aimed at acquainting our audiences with modern African culture in its entire diversity.
The Kiev regime has recently switched to terrorist activity akin to that of ISIS and al-Qaeda, which is primarily due to the obvious failure of the counteroffensive by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, undertaken with the generous sponsorship of the United States and other NATO countries.
The Crimean Bridge came under attack on July 17, 2023, and two Ukrainian drones tried to hit targets in Moscow on July 24, 2023, while 17 drones targeted sites in Crimea. Russian air defence and electronic warfare systems successfully intercepted these attempts. There were no casualties. Earlier, on July 20, 2023, a Ukrainian drone attacked Razdolnoye in Crimea. Unfortunately, this time there were casualties – a 14-year-old girl, an 8th grader, died. The people of Crimea have been mourning her death by bringing flowers to an improvised memorial in the centre of the village.
The Zelensky regime has had no scruples when it comes to assuming responsibility for terrorist attacks, confident as it is that this will not compel the so-called civilised Western world to condemn it. Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fyodorov not only confirmed Kiev’s involvement in the drone attacks against Crimea and Moscow, but also made a cynical promise to carry on and stage even more attacks of this kind.
I have a question for Americans. This is not a question for the Department of State, or the White House, but for ordinary citizens of the United States. Have you forgotten the terrorist attacks in Manhattan? You call them the 9/11 attacks since they took place on September 11, 2001. As a reminder, in case anyone in America has forgotten about this, two planes crashed into the World Trade Centre which was a symbol of American economic power.
This prompted the United States to revise its international policy. It went even further by launching several overseas operations to prevent terrorist attacks like this on its territory. Let me remind you what President George W. Bush said. He said that this attack against the United States literally qualified as a declaration of war against Washington. Many years have gone by since then, and the international community seemed to have coalesced around the rejection of international terrorism. The Russian Federation was literally the first to extend a helping hand to the United States and provided it with the necessary assistance in fighting terrorism.
So here is my question for the ordinary American: how are UAVs targeting residential and office buildings or civilian infrastructure different from what the people of the United States faced in 2001? The scale? Do you want to see something of a similar scale? Or maybe you can come back to the basic idea that there is no justification for international terrorism, let alone supporting it.
I would like to remind ordinary Americans that it is the United States and Great Britain, the two allies, who are sponsoring all these terrorist attacks by the Kiev regime as it targets civilian infrastructure with drones. In fact, Washington and London are paying for all this from their taxpayers’ pockets.
The people of the United States and the UK must understand that they are being drawn against their will into a situation where they become sponsors of international terrorism, even if indirectly.
The Investigative Committee of Russia has been diligent in its efforts to investigate all these crimes. Make no mistake, we will identify and punish the culprits, while reserving the right to offer a tough response.
The Kiev regime is now actively using cluster munitions supplied by the United States. On July 22, 2023, they were used to target a civilian vehicle carrying journalists, killing RIA Novosti’s frontline correspondent Rostislav Zhuravlyov while four of his colleagues sustained wounds of various degrees of severity.
According to Governor of the Belgorod Region Vyacheslav Gladkov, the Ukrainian Armed Forces used cluster munitions last Saturday in the shelling of Zhuravlyovka. Over one morning, this civilian town in the Belgorod Region was attacked by 21 artillery rounds, three cluster projectiles from multiple-launch rocket systems, as well as kamikaze drones and a mortar launcher.
The international community, politicians from dozens of countries and representatives of specialised organisations earlier spoke out against supplying cluster munitions to the Kiev regime and using them in Ukraine. They stressed that these actions would violate humanitarian norms. However, nothing could convince Ukrainian fascists and their Western curators. The only thing that can stop these crimes is a harsh and commensurate response.
Let me remind you that in the past, the international community was similarly horrified by the plans of the United States, Great Britain and their satellites to attack Iraq. The international community published open petitions, built human chains – anything to prevent the United States from committing criminal acts. Americans could not care less. They did what they did. We see very well what Washington is doing right now. This story is a long-term plan, and now it is unfolding at full scale. If you look at the amount of money provided to the Kiev regime for being a tool in Washington’s hands and fulfilling the United States’ aggressive intentions against our country, the scale is unprecedented in terms of funding, the scope of military aid, the resources and the political support provided.
Ukrainian officials continue to fight against memorials to Soviet troops. On July 22, 2023, Nazi vandals demolished nine memorials in the Lvov Region alone, in Orekhovchik, Brody, Rudniki, Sukhovolya, Yazlovchik, Ponikovitsa, Semiginov, Skelevka and Podkamen.
It has been reported in the media that an attempt was recently made in Lvov to open the grave and steal the remains of Soviet intelligence agent and Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolay Kuznetsov. This is closer to necrophilia. During the Great Patriotic War, Nikolay Kuznetsov killed more than ten German generals.
Addressing our Western “non-partners,” I want to ask: are you still going to claim there is no Nazism in Ukraine? Are you certain? You recreated it and now you are actively sponsoring it. Eighty years ago, you failed at your plans and now is your time for revenge. This is why the memorials to the warriors of the Great Patriotic War are being destroyed first.
Fighting memorials and fallen Soviet soldiers is what the Ukrainian neo-Nazis do best. It is pointless to appeal to the Kiev regime’s conscience or historical memory as it does not have them. After the goals of the special military operation are achieved, all the destroyed monuments and memorials in Ukraine will be restored. Russia has post-war restoration specialists. The restoration of Palmyra in Syria is one example of their dedicated hard work and professionalism.
Unlike the Kiev regime, we honour the heroes of the Great Patriotic War who fought selflessly against Nazis and Ukrainian traitors and collaborators.
On July 22, 1944, exactly 79 years ago, the Battle of Brody ended, after Red Army units surrounded and defeated eight German divisions, including the 14th SS Grenadier Division Galicia, formed out of Ukrainian traitors. In the ranks of the Nazi army they excelled mainly at punitive actions, and proved incapable of opposing regular Soviet units in open combat. The German command itself called Galicia an "armed rabble." Can't the same be said of the Kiev regime now? Today it can be called a rabble armed by the West. Times change, but the quality of fascist Ukrainian armed formations and the moral character of their fighters remain the same.
In Washington's view, war is good for the world economy. This was stated by the United States Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen. And to better aid the world’s economic growth, the official called for doubling aid to the Kiev regime. This is possible in a country where men are called women, and women-men claim that there are several “them” in a body (they are given a certificate to help with psychological problems caused by several personalities coexisting in one body, as well as drugs for medical purposes). And the words of the US Treasury Secretary fit into this paradigm. For all sane people in the world, hostilities, armed conflicts are a tragedy, loss of life, the grief of entire nations, destruction, but not for the American government, for which it is another reason to think about its own profit. What was it like before? Was it different?
It is especially easy to make far-reaching geostrategic plans when you are not fighting with your own hands and on your own territory. According to Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor to the President, the Washington administration is consulting with Kiev on when Ukraine should engage its main forces in a counteroffensive.
And after that, the Americans tell us that they are not a “party to the conflict” and that they had nothing to do with it. So what, this is the struggle of the Ukrainian people for independence? What are you talking about!
At the same time, Jake Sullivan admits that the Ukrainian armed forces have already suffered significant losses. Western masters openly command Ukrainian fighters, deciding when and how to send them to slaughter. This state of affairs should inspire disgust and justified protest among the citizens of Ukraine. But those who have been paid and those who (as Vladimir Zelensky said) are holidaying in fashionable resorts simply have no time to think about what is happening to their people.
According to testimony from numerous sources in the Russian military, the primary targets of the Nazi snipers of the Ukrainian armed forces are Russian military doctors. Ukrainian fighters are purposefully trying to take out Russian medical personnel in violation of international humanitarian law. The fascist command of the Ukrainian armed forces even promises rewards for killing doctors.
According to the 1949 Geneva Convention, medical personnel, including those used only for evacuating the wounded, as well as medical facilities are not considered combatants or military targets. They may not be attacked and should enjoy the protection and respect of all sides of the conflict. The Kiev regime and its militants have long been ignoring these norms for two reasons – because they are Nazis and use terrorist methods. These two factors show them from their “best side.” It is hard to find a better description. It took the international community a long time to assess their activity. Some people spoke about their “democratic aspirations,” “young democracies,” and “a search for a new identity.” But in reality everything is simple – their identity is old. This is a Nazi identity and it simply crawled back to the surface. However, the methods they have started to use are definitely new. They have combined international terrorist methods with the technological capabilities of the advanced Western countries.
On July 21 of this year, Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto expressed the hope that the conflict in Ukraine would soon end. He said the time had come to do everything possible to find a peaceful road to settlement and start talks. This aspiration deserves support but in this case words are at variance with deeds. Any talk about peace should start with the cessation of arms supplies to the Kiev regime. Don’t you see in the West that this is useless? Kiev is not only using these weapons for terrorist ends against our country and people but also sharing them with terrorists and other criminals around the world.
This is confirmed by the Pentagon’s recent report. The West should trust this document. The US media amplified its contents. The report states that part of Western arms sent to Ukraine was stolen. It notes that from February to September 2022, the Americans had no opportunity to follow up on supplied arms. They sent an audit commission to Ukraine only in October 2022. What happened before October 2022? The Americans had been supplying arms for over half a year without any control. Meanwhile, we understand what Kiev officials are all about. They don’t feel sorry for their own mothers in the same way as Zelensky doesn’t care about his grandfather. We can only guess how many arms went to the black market and whether the Pentagon commission can guarantee in any way its ability to prevent dealers and other poachers from laying their hands on them. These figures won’t be long in coming. Obviously, these arms will repeatedly surface in different parts of the world. Unfortunately, they are already in the hands of terrorists and other criminals.
All these events and facts, including continuously arriving new material prove that the goals and tasks of the special military operation are as important as ever.
Day of Remembrance for Child Victims of the War in Donbass
On July 27, the DPR marks a tragic date: the Day of Remembrance of the Children Victims of the War in Donbass, established by order of the head of the Republic on July 11, 2022.
On this day, Donbass remembers the children whose lives were taken by the war unleashed by the Kiev regime in 2014. Since then, almost 200 children have been killed in the region, and several hundred more have been injured. The youngest victim of Ukrainian aggression was only 27 days old on the day of death.
Children die as a result of artillery attacks and sniper fire, are blown up by mines laid by the Ukrainian military back in 2014-2015 on forest paths and near water bodies; they receive grave injuries. It is known about 11 cases when children were blown up on prohibited PFM-1 Lepestok anti-personnel high-explosive mines. For nine years, the children of Donbass have been born, gone to school, lived and grown up under constant attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Ukrainian neo-Nazis cynically attack kindergartens, schools, and medical institutions. They used to deny it, but now they are proud of it. We have many times spoken about this and cited direct quotes of Kiev politicians declaring that they place their weapons and equipment not just near civilian facilities, but in immediate proximity to social facilities like schools, kindergartens and hospitals.
Over the past years, the US and their allies have been actively pumping Ukraine full of weapons that the Kiev regime is using against the civilian population, including minors. All those who supply it with weapons are accomplices in crimes against children and must answer for them.
If you think even just for a second that this is a result of the last twelve or eighteen months and nothing like this happened before, then you are mistaken. You may recall the words of a former President of Ukraine Petr Poroshenko, who told his people that the residents of Donbass, including children (he was talking about children above all) would live in basements. This is what neo-Nazis preach. They base their attitude towards people on this logic. There are people of the first tier, and there are all the rest. They must either serve the people of the first tier, or they have no right to live. This is the logic of colonialism, imperialism, Nazism, fascism. Now it has been brought to a new level.
When we remember the children whose lives were tragically cut short, we say: “We will not forget and we will not forgive.” This cannot be forgiven. This leads to the end of history.
It is our duty that children, not only in Donbass, but also across Russia, no longer die from bullets and shells of the Kiev regime. This is what the Russian military is fighting for in the special military operation.
Upcoming UN Security Council meeting on the harassment of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
On July 26 of this year, the UN Security Council will hold a Russia-initiated meeting on the harassment of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).
This will be the second official Security Council meeting on the harassment of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine that Russia has initiated this year. This is in addition to other materials that we publish and send to international organisations every day.
The discussion will focus on the further deterioration of the UOC’s status due to the further aggravation of crude pressure from Kiev. Russia will point to the continuing unacceptable cases of harassment, arrests and beatings of the clergy, monks and parishioners of the canonic UOC. We will emphasise the threats created by the illegal and discriminatory decisions of the Kiev authorities that have resulted in the seizing of some premises of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and the use of violence against believers.
Special attention must be paid to the robbery of Orthodox shrines in connection with reports on the export of cultural and historical items from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in the worst colonialist traditions of the Western countries.
There are examples of this in recent history. When the US, Britain and other European countries attacked Iraq, they instantly robbed the richest collections of Baghdad’s museums. These items appeared in Western auctions and private collections. Is this the purpose of the West’s efforts to impose democracy on these countries? The goal is evidently to establish control over resources and take everything they can.
Report of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation: “llegal actions by the Kiev regime targeting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), its clergy and parishioners”
Today, on July 25, the Foreign Ministry’s website released a report “Illegal actions by the Kiev regime targeting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), its clergy and parishioners” based on information provided by the Russian Orthodox Church. The report presents information on the systematic harassment of the canonic Church. It is far from exhaustive and covers the period of 2022-2023. This doesn’t mean at all that we will stop at this point. We will systematise these data as we did before. This is simply a cross-section for one year. Many data on individual cases cannot simply be published for the time being because this would threaten the life and safety of the clergy and believers that are now going through times of real faith and martyrdom in Ukraine now.
The address by the Vicar of the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel, to his brethren was published literally the other day, on July 20 of this year. Listen attentively to the words he pronounced in 2023: “I am writing to you from Kiev’s Lukyanovsky pre-trial detention centre where the brethren of our Holy Lavra were kept in the 1920s-1930s. I was told to leave the Lavra which would make you and your families vulnerable to blackmail and surveillance by the Security Service of Ukraine, which I haven’t done. All accusations are a sheer lie. Deceitful witnesses, including among the brethren, cannot charge me with anything. The attorneys are very capable but nobody listens to them. I am testifying to this because all inmates in my building are political prisoners. The verdicts of the judge were prepared long in advance. The prosecutor, the investigator and the judge are the same troikas…” 2023. Ukraine.
It is hard to imagine that in our 21st century we are witnessing large-scale harassment of a church of millions that has done nothing wrong. Meanwhile, the West is deaf and blind, just like human rights organisations that are sometimes ready to raise a global uproar over the cases that are completely incomparable in scale with this treatment. We’ve witnessed just about everything. And the response to this has been a deathly silence. Not because they don’t see or hear anything but because they are the creators of this crisis and tragedy. This tragedy is hand-made. It has no natural causes. It was collected by bits and pieces for many years and then simply put on fire.
The report presents facts and circumstances from different sources. They paint a full picture of the arbitrary political rule and lawlessness as regards the UOC, and crude systemic violations of the rights of Orthodox Christians by the Kiev regime. It describes in detail recent discriminatory Ukrainian laws and draft laws; actions by security services and law-enforcement structures, local authorities and self-government bodies. It cites numerous facts on the seizure of UOC churches and illegal re-registration of communities; pressure on monasteries by government and regional authorities; examples of hate speech, unprovoked aggression and violence against clergy and parishioners of the UOC. The report also records the response of some international human rights organisations.
If such a report were published by representatives of religions themselves, they would choose other words – “devilish rage” and “Satanism.” We are using the arguments and terminology of political science and international law. We will stick to these terms and abstain from philosophical and religious debates in describing what we are seeing. Everything that humanity elaborated in the past 20, 30, 40, 50 years to protect religion, religious diversity and freedom of faith has been trampled underfoot.
The Kiev regime’s actions are stunning in their inhuman hate and profound cynicism. The authorities are conducting searches on clergy and parishioners, fabricating and planting “evidence,” and humiliating their victims. They are ordering them to undress and taking photos of them, and publishing these photos in social media with derogatory comments. The world has experienced this more than once. Now believers are kicked, sometimes while already down, and beaten with improvised weapons. Intrusions in churches are made during service. American internet platforms, which are so scrupulous with other cases, are not even trying to segregate or eliminate such clips as dangerous content. YouTube has endless videos and eyewitness testimony from the scene. I think it should raise the alarms rather than try to block this when seeing such cruelty on its platform.
The West, specifically the US, is largely responsible for the position in which the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has found itself today. Its geopolitical games with religions and manipulation of the Constantinople Patriarchate that has turned into Washington’s acolyte, have led to the suffering of an enormous number of believers.
I will repeat that the crisis of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine is a hand-made, unnatural story that was masterminded by the United States and its satellites.
I am sure that the publication of the report will draw the attention of people who care. I know that there are such people in the West as well. The world public consists not only of dead souls but also of those who consider it important to uphold the truth, international organisations that include people who care, and the Western mass media with a conscience. I am confident that a response will be forthcoming, all the more so since the report was translated into several languages (1,2,3).
Double standards of the UNESCO Secretariat
We were perplexed by the press releases published on the UNESCO website that condemn the attack carried out by the Russian forces in the buffer zone of the World Heritage property The Historic Centre of Odessa.
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay has again overstepped her powers by accusing Russia of “acts of hostility” and “outrageous destruction” of cultural heritage. Where was she and her secretariat, as well as their predecessors, for the past 10 years? Didn’t they see what was going on in Ukraine? How many times do we need to tell you about the cultural sites that have been destroyed and continue to be destroyed?
We firmly refute insinuations about Russia’s alleged violations of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict because there are numerous documented cases of the Ukrainian armed forces using cultural and educational facilities for the deployment of their personnel, military equipment and munitions. Ms Azoulay should meet with the Ukrainian representative at UNESCO, if he is still there, and remind him about the statements made by the Ukrainian government, which said proudly that military equipment had been deployed at civilian facilities in Ukraine. There is a great deal they need to discuss.
We have pointed out on numerous occasions that the Defence Ministry of Russia makes plans and carries out combat operations in strict compliance with Russia’s international obligations. Only military infrastructure is chosen as the targets of our strikes. The strike in Odessa was delivered by precision systems against the areas where terrorist attacks by naval drones were being planned. For example, such drone boats were used to blow up the Crimean Bridge on July 17, 2023, which claimed civilian lives.
I would like to remind you that the victims were an ordinary family. The father and the mother died in the attack, which left their daughter an orphan. The girl will not remain an orphan in our country. She has lost her parents, but our entire nation immediately stepped up to give her help and support, saying that all of us are her family now.
How did UNESCO react to that tragedy? Has it put that family’s photographs on the walls of its Paris headquarters? Have the media reported that Director-General Azoulay expressed her condolences to these people? Or is the buffer zone of The Historic Centre of Odessa more important than human lives? They have invented a new term, “the buffer zone of a World Heritage property.” What about the historical centre of the city where the statue of Empress Catherine the Great, the founder of Odessa, was a real and not imaginary centre? Is it of no concern to Ms Azoulay?
I’d like to say a few more words about Odessa’s historical centre. It is obvious to us that the sole intention behind the decision to add it to the World Heritage List, which was taken hastily and in violation of the accepted legal procedures, rules and regulations, is to use UNESCO mechanisms to cover up the Kiev regime’s miliary activities in the city. It is the truth. We accuse the UNESCO Secretariat of playing up to the terrorist activities of the Kiev regime. This is not sincere concern for cultural sites, for otherwise they would have had many questions for the Kiev regime, like where have thousands of items, not all of them on the UNESCO heritage list, disappeared? It is a systemic issue and cultural genocide, which is not only prohibiting a language and literature and banning and burning books. We are talking about monuments now. Shortly before the UNESCO adopted the abovementioned decision, the monument to Catherine the Great was torn down in the centre of Odessa as part of Zelensky’s war on history. What did UNESCO do to prevent it?
Despite Russia’s repeated calls, Director-General Azoulay disregarded the Ukrainian terrorist attack on the World Heritage property listed as “Kremlin and Red Square.” Is it not on UNESCO’s list? Or is it a property of minor significance? These questions are for UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay.
These crimes grossly violated the provisions of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and the 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. While pampering the Kiev regime, UNESCO has for years turned a blind eye to the damage which the Ukrainian armed forces were doing to the educational, cultural and scientific facilities in the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics.
A few words about natural heritage: Isn’t Ms Azoulay worried about the use of depleted uranium munitions? Is this issue not a UNESCO concern?
We look with regret at the attempts to use UNESCO to serve the interests of Ukrainian neo-Nazis and their Western handlers and to discredit Russia and its army’s professional actions. The UNESCO Constitution directly instructs the Director-General and the Secretariat to “refrain from any action which might prejudice their positions as international officials.”
The Secretariat’s increasing involvement and bias could help Ms Azoulay score political points in France. But they will certainly not “contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science and culture.” This is how the purpose of the organisation is defined in its Constitution.
I have a question for Director-General Azoulay: If you had held the post in the 1940s, when the organisation did not exist yet, for example in 1945, would you have protected the Reichstag and its walls, or would you have had a different concern at that time? Take a closer look at the terrorist activities of the Kiev regime, and you will see that these dehumanised individuals who claim to be human beings are using terrorist methods against civilian facilities.
Pro-Ukraine actions of the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine exposed
We have analysed the activities of the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine. I would like to note that their mandate expired on March 31, 2022. Our analysis showed that the leadership of this OSCE field mission had eventually started catering to the Western handlers of the Kiev regime, and its activities became biased, to put it mildly. In reality, what we are seeing is not just bias, but playing into the hands of the other side.
All efforts to monitor the situation in Ukraine focused on Donbass. Developments in other Ukrainian regions, including obvious manifestations of nationalism, persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Russian language, were ignored. In their published reports, the mission’s members deliberately hushed up war crimes committed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, turned a blind eye to the construction of fortifications and the Ukrainian military build-up, and deliberately showed a distorted picture of events on Ukraine.
We recognise the merits of many observers at the Special Monitoring Mission, especially in the first years of its work when their presence served to deter the Kiev regime, at least in part. Russian citizens worked honestly with the Special Monitoring Mission, and they benefited the OSCE, rather than Russia alone, as well as the basic principles on which the work of this organisation is based.
However, some employees of the Special Monitoring Mission, including Ukrainian citizens hired locally, acted in circumvention of the mission’s mandate, conducted espionage operations, gathered intelligence and transmitted this data to foreign special services and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This data included the location of military equipment and various units, as well as information about plants and enterprises in the Lugansk and Donetsk people’s republics. They used the Special Monitoring Mission’s equipment (which was intended to record violations of the ceasefire regime along the demarcation line) in the interests of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and for adjusting artillery fire. These actions led to numerous civilian casualties in Donbass.
Law enforcement agencies opened criminal cases with regard to certain employees of the former OSCE Special Monitoring Mission suspected of illegal activities.
At the same time, OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid is trying hard to whitewash the work of the Special Monitoring Mission and to portray former mission employees with Ukrainian passports who have been detained as innocent victims. Speaking at a Permanent Council meeting in Vienna on July 13, 2023, she raised the issue of releasing or exchanging them. The latter option amounts to an admission of guilt of the former SMM employees.
Norway’s plans to develop mineral resources on the Spitsbergen (Svalbard) shelf
We have noted the Norwegian Government’s June 2023 report on developing mineral resources on Norway’s continental shelf, including the Spitsbergen (Svalbard) Archipelago. In this connection, we would deem it necessary to emphasise our position regarding the legal status of this shelf.
It is our opinion that Norway’s attempts to review issues of prospecting for mineral resources on the continental shelf of the Spitsbergen (Svalbard) Archipelago and developing these resources outside the Spitsbergen Treaty of 1920 are illegal.
The archipelago’s continental shelf is a natural extension of the landmass and is inextricably linked with it. The legal regime, stipulated by the above-mentioned treaty, fully applies to the archipelago’s shelf within the limits stipulated by Article 1 therein. Norway therefore has no right to establish and implement any exclusive interests or rights with regard to the shelf in this area unless all other parties to the Treaty of 1920 agree to this.
We would like to remind the Norwegian side once again that it does not exercise unconditional sovereignty over the Spitsbergen (Svalbard) Archipelago. The Treaty of 1920 serves as international legal foundation for establishing and implementing this sovereignty. We perceive any attempts by Norway to unilaterally regulate mining operations on continental shelf sections within the 1920 Treaty’s remit as a violation of this document’s regime and its obligations stemming from it. We have repeatedly urged the Norwegian side to renounce this practice, considered illegal from the standpoint of international law, including in the context of harvesting marine biological resources or developing mineral resources in the archipelago’s waters.
Submitting a memorandum to the International Court of Justice
On July 25, 2023, the Russian Federation submitted its position document, drafted during the investigation into the legal consequences of the continuing occupation of the Palestinian territories by Israel, to the UN’s International Court of Justice (the respective advisory opinion was requested from the ICJ as per UN General Assembly Resolution 77/247).
In its submission to the Court, Russia presented its principled assessment of Israel’s policy, which prevents Palestinian people from exercising their right to self-determination, as well as an assessment of Israel’s other violations as an occupier of Palestinians’ rights. Among other things, it was stated that it is against the law for Israelis to settle on the occupied territories.
While maintaining friendly relations with both Palestine and Israel, and being a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a member of the Middle East Quartet of International Mediators, Russia urges the Court to consider, when developing its advisory opinion, that such opinion should facilitate achieving the goals of settlement within the generally recognised international legal framework, which has been further backed up by resolutions of the Security Council, the General Assembly, and the UN Human Rights Council.
This means that under international law Israel and Palestine are bound by an obligation to resume direct talks in order to bring closer a just and lasting settlement, thereby creating an independent, viable, and territorially integral Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem, and that other countries and international organisations must assist with this process. We are convinced that freely achieving respective agreements would be the most effective way to end the occupation, cease the violation of the Palestinians’ rights, and ensure that the Palestinian people can fully exercise their right to self-determination according to the two-state solution. At the same time, it would also neutralise the security threats for Israel.
70th anniversary of signing the Korean Armistice Agreement
Seventy years ago, the signing of the Armistice Agreement ended the Korean War of 1950-1953. In history, this war is one of the bloodiest military conflicts of the 20th century and caused untold suffering to the Korean people and claimed millions of lives.
Unfortunately, peace and stability have not been achieved on the peninsula over the decades since. The situation there continues in a vicious cycle, as relative breathing space is replaced by a new escalation.
We hope that the tragic events of those distant years will not be repeated. This requires practical steps aimed at reducing military and political tensions, which are largely inspired by the West, restoring trust and resuming an equal and mutually respectful dialogue in the interests of building a solid architecture of comprehensive and indivisible security on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia as a whole.
On the occasion of this date, which is marked in the DPRK as the anniversary of the Korean peoples’ victory in the Patriotic Liberation War, a high-ranking Russian delegation is visiting the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on July 25-27 at the invitation of the Ministry of Defence of the DPRK. We are confident that this visit will contribute to strengthening military ties and will be an important stage in expanding cooperation between the two countries.
150th anniversary of Fyodor Tyutchev’s death
This year 2023 (December 5) marks 220th birthday and 150th anniversary of the death (July 27) of famous Russian poet Fyodor Tyutchev.
Fyodor Tyutchev’s life was directly connected with the Russian Foreign Ministry. He was both a diplomat who could navigate the political system of the world very well and a poet who could communicate his testaments and invocations in artistic images.
He held the position of senior censor of the Foreign Ministry for many years, whose duties included the analysis of all foreign press, and was one of the first to introduce the term “Russophobia” into the political lexicon of Tsarist Russia to explain the ideological foundations of European countries’ anti-Russia policy. Fyodor Tyutchev saw in real time the West’s resistance to the progressive development of Russia grow over the years. He foresaw that this confrontation would result in a big European war. This is what happened during the Crimean War of 1853-1856.
Being an excellent analyst, Tyutchev understood the underlying causes of Russophobia. Many things were reflected in his poetry. He knew the methods of Western propaganda to denigrate Russia very well. He wrote about these double standards of the West in one of his articles:
Long ago on European soil,
Where falsehood grew so luxuriantly,
Long ago with the learning of the Pharisee,
A dual truth was created.
Everything we have been talking about for so many years is here in these four lines. Fyodor Tyutchev was not just a poetic genius but a great Russian patriot.
His thoughts and assessments of Russia’s role in the world are not outdated but, just the opposite, explain a lot and make you think.
July 28 will mark the national holiday of the Republic of Peru: Independence Day (1821).
Russia and Peru are connected by long-standing traditions of friendship and cooperation. As the two countries’ foreign ministers noted in the messages they exchanged on the 160th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations, which was celebrated this year (January 17), bilateral relations have historical significance and are characterised by the spirit of friendship, cooperation and brotherhood. This is an objective reality of relations between two nations with a thousand-year history and their own interests that have developed over the centuries and largely coincide.
Bilateral solidarity is evidenced, for example, by the events of the devastating earthquake in Peru in 1970, which claimed tens of thousands of lives. Rescuers, doctors, pilots and other specialists sent to the city of Yungay as part of the USSR’s substantial assistance became at the same time goodwill ambassadors who strengthened the foundation of our humanitarian ties.
July 18, 1970 was a tragic page in the history of bilateral relations. On this day, a Russian transport plane carrying medics and rescuers, as well as humanitarian aid to Peru crashed over the North Atlantic. The plane crash took the lives of 22 Russians. We are grateful to our Peruvian friends for carefully preserving their memory, in particular to the Embassy of Peru in Moscow, which annually holds a wreath-laying ceremony on this day at the monument at the Novodevichy Cemetery with the names of the victims.
It is of fundamental importance that our nations share the same “code,” such as a true understanding of the basic concepts that shape it, such as family, justice, democracy, human rights, and much more. In the international arena, these are, in particular, the principles of national equality, sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs.
We also believe that some countries’ attempts to smash these values or use them as a pretext for invasions and their aggressive neocolonial policies will continue to shatter against the wisdom and fundamental interests of our peoples.
In light of the upcoming Peruvian national holiday, I would like to mention the Festival of Latin American and Caribbean Culture that opened in Moscow on July 21. It presents Peruvian cinema and the famous Peruvian cuisine, which have already received enthusiastic praise from guests and participants of the festival.
July 28 is the Baptism of Rus Day. This event is traditionally marked on the day that commemorates Prince Vladimir the Great, who during his lifetime was named Vladimir the Red Sun for caring for the people.
The Baptism of Rus Day was first celebrated at the state level in 1888. In Russia, this event has been celebrated as an official commemorative date since 2010.
The Baptism of Rus, connected with Prince Vladimir’s historical choice, was of great importance in Russia’s history. Christianity established itself as a state unifying religion, and its Byzantine origins predetermined Russia’s future path as the largest stronghold of Orthodoxy and became a source of its identity.
The Baptism of Rus contributed to forming a single nation that did not bar regional peculiarities but provided a fertile ground for development. This applies to both ethnic cultures and to representatives of various religious movements. Orthodoxy has affected the development of all aspects of life in Russian society and has found a vivid reflection in the richness of our common cultural heritage.
World Day Against Trafficking in Persons
On July 30, the international community will mark World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. On this day in 2010, the UN General Assembly, with support from Russia, approved the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons. There is no doubt that this is a topical event and that international cooperation in this area must be stepped up.
At the UN General Assembly high-level meeting that took place in New York on November 22 and 23, 2021, to appraise the status of the Plan of Action, a political declaration was approved, in which the signatories reaffirmed their commitment to the Global Plan of Action and their intention to cooperate with all interested parties to facilitate its successful implementation. Speaking at the meeting, as the declaration was being approved, the Russian delegation specially emphasised that significant results in combating human trafficking could only be achieved if there was political will and if governments, businesses and civil society combined their efforts.
With a view to carrying out the Global Plan of Action in practice, Russia takes part in the work of the Group of Friends United Against Human Trafficking, which was set up on Belarus’ initiative. We are traditionally among the authors of the UN General Assembly resolution Improving the Coordination of Efforts Against Trafficking in Persons put forward by Belarus. We believe that the practical implementation of the Plan of Action contributes to better understanding of the human trafficking problem in the world and to significantly improving interaction between all interested parties in combatting this criminal business.
Russia is a party to fundamental international law documents on human trafficking. Our country is interested in the complex and comprehensive consideration of the human trafficking problem. As we work at various platforms, we promote a balanced approach which provides for the need to consider all aspects of such a multifaceted phenomenon as human trafficking.
Given that crimes involving human trafficking are transnational, expanding international cooperation in combatting this phenomenon seems to be especially needed. We believe this cooperation must be based on the unambiguous recognition of the fact that human trafficking is tied up with persistent disproportions in the socioeconomic development of countries and regions, the rise in illegal migration flows and increased activity by organised crime groups.
We believe the first thing that needs to be done is addressing the root causes behind human trafficking, including the sex industry that is legalised in some countries and stable demand for cheap workers who are deprived of their rights in the countries consuming “live goods,” as well as the low living standards of families with children, feminisation of poverty and unemployment among women in the countries of origin. Simultaneously, tough measures need to be taken against criminal groups, who are the main organisers of or mediators in illegal deals involving “live goods.”
Maria Zakharova: True, another provocative burning of the Quran took place in Copenhagen. On July 21, 2023, members of the Danish Patriots radical group burnt the holy Muslim book outside the Iraqi Embassy in Denmark.
Unfortunately, this sort of incidents is not rare in Denmark. Last January, for example, leader of the hardline ultra-right movement Rasmus Paludan burnt the Quran outside the consular office of the Russian Embassy in Denmark. A similar act was performed on the same day outside the Turkish Embassy in Denmark and outside a mosque in Copenhagen.
Feeling their impunity, religious radicals in one European country after another are committing outrageous crimes against Islam, insulting the Holy Quran, with maniacal persistency.
People in our country, including members of other faiths (such as Orthodox Christians) view offensive acts against the Quran as crimes. This needs to be understood.
Clearly, it is more than a matter of freedom of speech. It is malicious intent to hurt other people and demonstrate one’s hatred for their religious beliefs without any adequate rational goal.
Would you like to hear another example, also from Copenhagen? On February 9, 2014, sensible people were horrified by the number of parents who brought their children to the zoo in Copenhagen to watch the slaughtering of a giraffe. To those who don’t know, let me remind you: zoo staff shot the animal dead from a pneumatic gun, skinned it and fed the meat to other animals (they decided that throwing away 200 kg would be wasteful) in front of children and their parents, while also streaming the event online. The procedure continued for about three hours because vets also decided to introduce the audience to animal anatomy – on a live animal. I want to remind you that the zoo management said they were proud of their colleagues for giving children a unique opportunity to learn about a giraffe’s anatomy, which they would not be able to learn from photographs or specialised study materials. For this purpose, the giraffe was killed, skinned, and fed to other animals in front of the children and their parents.
Aren’t these things of the same sort? It takes my breath away when I only imagine something like this. And it happened in reality. Nobody at the official level commented on the event back then. No complaints were expressed. Can you imagine how the children who witnessed it will turn out if nobody explains to them that it is the wrong thing to do? And who will explain this?
All these things happen mainly because, hiding behind neoliberal values, officials of Western countries let the dice roll in a dangerous way. They do not prevent provocative acts and in fact, authorise them. At the same time, this free rein restricts other people in condemning this kind of horrific acts. Perpetrators can do anything, thanks to freedom, democracy, and liberalism. Those who view it as being beyond humane can’t even speak out. European politicians have played democracy for so long that they distorted the very idea of it, forgetting one of its basic principles: the freedom of one person ends where the freedom of another begins.
We strongly condemn this and similar extremist acts. Disrespecting any religion is unacceptable. We believe that insulting believers is not a demonstration of freedom of speech or democracy – something that Denmark’s officials use as a cover – but an act of aggressive barbarity and xenophobia.
Russia has always been and will always be strongly against offending believers and against this kind of shameful violation of their rights. If officials do not interfere to prevent these acts, radicalism will only thrive. As you know, lawlessness does not discriminate when it comes to victims. As a result, ordinary people will suffer along with workers of diplomatic missions, regardless of their faiths or beliefs.
Hopefully, Denmark’s authorities will stop condoning instigators of inter-faith discord and take necessary action against radicals.
Maria Zakharova: We noted that the UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay has finally used her mandate and drew attention to the death of the Russian journalist and the fact that his colleagues were wounded. But we also saw the absolute half-heartedness of this statement. Rostislav Zhuravlyov’s murder was called a “death.” What, he just died? He was killed. If Ms Azoulay does not know this, I will be happy to tell her again. She did not condemn the killing, she just deplored it. It is logical, death is always worth deploring. So, according to Ms Azoulay, there is no point in condemning death. But if we are speaking of a killing, then it must be condemned. This did not happen.
Furthermore, the resolution, Condemnation of Violence Against Journalists, adopted by the 29th Session of the UNESCO Conference on November 12, 1997, mandates the Director-General to condemn such acts. There is even the word “condemnation” in its title. Ms Azoulay uses this word but only when speaking about the representatives of foreign or Ukrainian media – but not in relation to the Russian media. This is segregation. This is what we call ethnic intolerance and something that UNESCO is supposed to fight against. It is the most blatant violation of the organisation’s charter documents by its Director-General. This was both a violation and a dangerous precedent.
Despite a demarche by the Russian Federation, we have waited in vain for the condemnation of the Ukrainian nationalists’ cold-blooded murders of Russian journalists Darya Dugina, Oleg Klokov, and Vladlen Tatarsky (Maxim Fomin). Director-General Audrey Azoulay has ignored both recent and former attempted assassinations of Russian leading editors, journalists, and television hosts. Not a word has been said. And this is not a matter of time. The attempted assassination of Margarita Simonyan happened recently, but she has received threats for many years. The assassination of Vladimir Solovyov was supposed to happen a year ago. Thank God, it was prevented by the Russian security services. We even saw the investigation results. But Ms Azoulay has kept silence just as she has done before.
We hope that the Director-General will scrupulously fulfill her obligations towards all attacked journalists while not distinguishing between them in terms of citizenship and ethnicity, and that UNESCO will no longer serve as a politicised mouthpiece for the Ukrainian propaganda.
If the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation at least considered it possible to say the name of the killed journalist, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Teresa Ribeiro (a notorious person who destroyed the post) has made a practically meaningless comment, yet again displaying her unprofessionalism. Her wretched comment on Twitter on July 25 of this year cannot be considered a serious response to the Kiev regime’s inhumane attack on a group of Russian journalists with the use of cluster munitions. I want to reiterate: one of them was killed and three of his colleagues were severely wounded. By deciding not to pay attention to yet another horrific crime of the Ukrainian neo-Nazis, the OSCE institute together with Teresa Ribeiro has acknowledged its own incompetence and political bias. This seems to be a new norm for OSCE functionaries.
Maria Zakharova: It would be more appropriate to address questions about the legal status of German citizen Christian Schmidt to the migration authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Judging by media reports, he repeatedly surfaces on the territory of this state. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and as a member of the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council for fulfilling the1995 General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we know for sure that Christian Schmidt has not served as High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina; nor does he have this status today. This position has remained vacant for almost two years now.
The UN is well aware of the procedure for the appointment to this high-level international post. In 1995, UN Security Council Resolution 1031 approved the Dayton Peace Agreement. There can be no alternative to a decision of this body during the rotation of high representatives for Bosnia and Herzegovina. We can only recall once again that the UN Security Council did not adopt any decisions with regard to Christian Schmidt.
These undeniable facts suggest the following logical conclusion: the wilful actions of German citizen Christian Schmidt in Bosnia and Herzegovina have nothing to do with the implementation the 1995 General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Various initiatives by the staff of the High Representative, allegedly seen as legislative innovations, amount to outright arbitrary rule, with all the ensuing legal consequences. In effect, we can see that reasonable political forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina treat them in precisely this manner.
As I see it, there is a wonderful Russian word samozvanets (impostor) for aptly describing Christian Schmidt.
Maria Zakharova: I am now reading the newswire and see that, according to Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicolae Popescu, the country will reduce the number of personnel at the Russian Embassy. These absolutely unjustified and unfriendly actions will not go unpunished. This is yet another step by the Chisinau regime towards demolishing bilateral relations.
We note that, in an effort to gain favour with its Western sponsors (in terms of Russophobia), official Chisinau is plunging to new depths and is copying Baltic and Ukrainian experience more actively. A standard set of measures includes regular public insults with regard to Russia, a ban on Russian media outlets, and encroachment on the positions of the Russian language. These measures are supplemented with new options for fighting the non-existent Russian threat. They are now expelling Russian diplomats once again and creating new obstacles that will prevent Russian diplomats from fulfilling their functional duties.
Moldova encourages Russophobia on a daily basis. Moldovan society reacted negatively to a recent incident when a doctor with the Republican Clinical Hospital in Chisinau called a female patient an enemy whom he wanted to shoot because she had addressed him in Russian. Where are all the observers? Where are all the international organisations? Did any representative of the official Chisinau say this does not meet the official vision of a future Moldovan state? Top officials at the Moldovan Ministry of Healthcare did not denounce the actions of the hospital’s employee but virtually tried to exonerate him. I believe that he will be rewarded a couple of days later. As you understand, the West needs nationalists in Moldova.
As for the “journalist investigation” you mentioned earlier, it contains groundless accusations of the Russian Embassy in Chisinau and its staffers, charging them with espionage activities. This fantasy tale is something far-fetched and has nothing to do with reality. Russian diplomats and the diplomatic mission in Moldova unfailingly honour the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. In reality, this planted story aims to whip up anti-Russia hysteria so that Moldova’s leadership would take other unfriendly actions with regard to Russia and reduce the number of Russia’s diplomats in Moldova. They are providing the required arguments and pretexts to justify this reduction.
In this connection, I would like to note once again that Russia does not interfere in the domestic affairs of other states. We advocate the development of friendly and mutually beneficial relations with Moldova. We are confident that the citizens of Moldova know and value this, and that they reject any official anti-Russia initiatives.
Maria Zakharova: I think it is the German society that should assess the actions or policy of their government. However, since you asked, and this matter has become part of public discussion, it seems that the current German authorities are committing an act of sabotage against their own business and economy. The horrific consequences came about following certain decisions that were enforced on Germany through people who came to power in the country at the behest of their Western curators, who are completely affiliated with the interests not of Germany, but, for instance, the US. In my opinion, nobody expected such an economic collapse in Germany given that it used to be one of the most advanced global economies.
So, it is a legitimate discontent. Official Berlin has deliberately destroyed Russian-German energy interaction that took decades to build. It was this energy interaction that enabled the international competitiveness of Germany’s energy-intensive industry against the backdrop of the absence of nuclear power in the country. The country’s leadership deprived the German producers of one of its key market advantages. As a result, German businesses began to vote with their feet, and we are seeing a serious exodus of production facilities from Germany. To where? To the US, which was behind the disruption of energy delivery and energy chains.
For many years, the United States insisted that Germany abandon Russian energy, and then just said that it would destroy the Nord Stream pipeline. So, it happened. It was destroyed. Then, they began to poach businesses by offering German entrepreneurs preferences in the US. The German government cannot fail to see this. I understand that if in Germany people use the term “a 360-degree turn” to describe a crucial change in their policies, it is also possible that they cannot see such obvious things. But I believe not everyone is like that.
Maria Zakharova: We agree with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in his positive assessment of bilateral relations. Since the signing of the Declaration on Allied Interaction, our ties have been developing at a whole new level. We are working together so that the potential of this strategic document was fully disclosed and our partnership was comprehensive. Naturally, a close and strong interaction between Russia and Azerbaijan is one of the key elements of stability in the South Caucasus.
Maria Zakharova: We are doing everything necessary for this. The reconciliation process between two of Russia’s fraternal peoples should also cover the cultural sphere. According to the tripartite statement of the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia dated October 31, 2022, it is important to create a positive atmosphere to continue the dialogue between representatives of the public, expert communities, and religious leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia with Russia’s assistance, as well as to launch tripartite interparliamentary contacts for building confidence between the peoples of the two countries.
The Armenia-Azerbaijan normalisation is not going smoothly, but there is no alternative to peace. Related issues were discussed yesterday in Moscow at a trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. We hope that these contacts will take place in the coming months.
Maria Zakharova: We have stressed many times that the activities of the EU observation mission in Armenia is subservant to the task of geopolitical confrontation with Russia. There is no talk of any contribution to the normalisation of relations between Baku and Yerevan.
I think the tension has only increased in bilateral relations because of the EU mission. Of course, the mission has not become a panacea for clashes on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, which once again reaffirms our assessments that the work of the bilateral commission on the delimitation of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border must be one of the main de-escalation mechanisms. We were welcoming of the next, the fourth, meeting, which took place on July 12 this year after a long break. We reaffirm our readiness to provide advisory assistance to the parties.
Canadians coming to Armenia widely reaffirms that the European Union, which has completely lost its foreign policy sovereignty, is just serving the interests of the US and NATO. This fully explains why the EU mission in Armenia, which has the staff of about a hundred, needed a couple of Canadian specialists. We can also guess what kind of specialists these are. We are well aware of the specifics of Canadian peacekeeping: it has been their specialists who have been actively training Ukrainian fighters since 2015 as part of Operation UNIFIER.
As for your question about the contacts between Armenian officials and the Pentagon, we can see that NATO countries, including the US and Türkiye, are showing an increased interest in the South Caucasus. We believe that the alliance’s involvement in the regional affairs will bring destabilisation and will delay a complete, full-fledged, full-blooded peace settlement for a long time.
Maria Zakharova: Yes, the meeting of the BRICS High Representatives on Security Issues took place in Johannesburg. The previous day, on June 24 of this year, a meeting of BRICS friends was held and attended by the delegations of Belarus, Burundi, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Iran, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia in addition to the five BRICS member states.
The meeting agenda included the issues of settling conflicts and peacebuilding, counteracting terrorism, and ensuring information, food, water, and energy security. Reports were made on the activity of the BRICS working groups on combatting terrorism and providing security in the use of ICT. Many delegations noted the challenges to their sovereignty posed by colour revolution technologies, the use of unilateral sanctions, and economic pressure applied on governments that are pursuing an independent foreign policy.
All of these are global issues that require collectively developed solutions. Given the cumulative potential of the five BRICS member states (it is suffice to say that over 40 percent of the world’s population lives in these countries), BRICS absolutely does play an important role in maintaining global stability. Our countries have vast experience in ensuring security, both at the national level and in the BRICS format.
We consider it important to continue strengthening the coordination between the member states in order to build a united and indivisible security architecture, one based on international law and the consideration of the concerns of all countries. Ensuring an atmosphere of neighbourliness for development is one of the key priorities of our association. We are ready to work will all our partners, first of all, the states of the Global South and East, in the name of creating a more just, predictable, and safe world.
We fully share the statement that the internet cannot be a place of a digital iron curtain. The introduction of dividing lines in the global network is unacceptable.
We are seeing US and its satellites’ intentions to create artificial internet barriers while at the same time continuing to operate in the information space of other countries while not abiding by their laws. This is what the West-promoted Declaration for the Future of the Internet is designed to do. Its own text indicates that only democracies that take their lead from Washington will have the right to take part in internet governance. Others will be denied this right. This is completely in phase of our assessments regarding the segmentation of the internet and creation of dividing borders much like the real ones. We predicted it several years ago.
At the Summit for Democracy held in February, the Americans went even further: they made it clear that “authoritarian regimes” will be denied access to internet technologies. What does that mean? It means a real fragmentation of the global network and the neo-colonial approach. We do not accept such approaches and will meet them with harsh countermeasures.
We consistently stand for the creation of an equal and transparent model of internet governance that respects the sovereign right of each state to regulate their own national segment of the net. These approaches are outlined, in particular, in the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, adopted at the World Summit on the Information Society in 2005, and supported by most countries of the world.
Despite US resistance, which does not want to lose control over the internet and its root servers, we will continue to make consistent efforts to implement the Tunis Agenda. We consider this activity an important contribution in the fight against neo-colonial policy in the information space.
Maria Zakharova: We are watching the situation on the Korean peninsula closely. Tensions there continue to grow, mainly because the United States, South Korea and Japan are building up their military activity as part of their strategy of so-called expanded deterrence of North Korea. We have repeatedly emphasised the risks associated with Washington’s course. Specifically, Washington is shaping an environment of instability in the region. We have noted the continuing rise in the stakes involving strategic military potential. These confrontational steps provoke escalation and an arms race, running contrary to the political and diplomatic efforts related to the peaceful resolution of the nuclear issue and other problems in the subregion.
Maria Zakharova: According to our information, he addressed a member of the State Duma of the Russian Federal Assembly asking for assistance with obtaining Russian citizenship.
Maria Zakharova: First of all, we are not building relations or contacts with the OSCE. We can’t be “building relations” because Russia is one of the founders and members of the organisation. Second, the OSCE holds no mandate to control the conditions of prisoners of war or organise prisoner swaps. Everybody should do their job. The organisation has plenty of opportunities to show its worth.
Journalists killed by the Kiev regime is a matter for the OSCE and this is where it should be using all its resources. Considering that Teresa Ribeiro is completely unfit for her post, perhaps somebody from the OSCE Secretariat could help her.
Maria Zakharova: Acts of international law formalise the presence of the Russian Federation’s Consulate on the Aland Islands. The Russian side assumes that the current treaty is mandatory for its parties and should be unfailingly honoured.
This is also completely true of documents setting forth the demilitarised status of the Aland Islands and stipulating the presence of the Russian Federation’s Consulate there for monitoring compliance with this status. These documents include the Peace Treaty signed by representatives of the Allied and Associated Powers and Finland in Paris in 1947, as well as the 1940 Agreement between the Soviet Union and Finland on the Aland Islands.
Earlier, the Finnish side officially confirmed its intention to honour its obligations under international law in this context. We expect that Helsinki will remain committed to the current treaties and will not weaken the regional security system (that has been almost destroyed otherwise following Finland’s accession to NATO) still further.
I believe this question should also be addressed to the Finnish side.
Maria Zakharova: Yesterday, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov commented on this situation in great detail. I have nothing to add here.
Question: What is now on the negotiating table? Is Russia promoting its own peace settlement plan or is this a repetition of agreements that the sides have already reached?
Maria Zakharova: Yesterday, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov talked about this issue in great detail. Nothing extraordinary has happened in this context over the past several hours; so, there is no breaking news. All of his comments remain current.
Question: Yesterday’s statement was even more pro-Azerbaijani than the talks in Brussels.
Maria Zakharova: I do not deny you the right to make this judgement, but I adhere to our official position, as set forth yesterday by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Maria Zakharova: We convey our sincere condolences to the people of Greece due to the emergency situation caused by the massive forest fires. We convey our condolences on the death of the firefighting helicopter crew on Euboea Island on July 25.
There have been no requests of help from Athens, so there is no ground for detailed comment. Incoming requests for assistance in the fight against fire are considered in the prescribed manner. Once again, I emphasise that there were no such appeals from the side of the official Greek authorities.
In August 2021, at the instructions of President of Russia Vladimir Putin, an air group consisting of two Ilyshin IL-76 aircraft and two Mikoyan Mi-8 helicopters was sent to Greece free of charge to participate in firefighting in response to an urgent request from Athens. These helicopters, together with the Russian Be-200ChS amphibious aircraft previously leased by the Greeks, made an important contribution to the fight against the disaster. The work of our firefighters was then highly appreciated by Greece’s leadership and society too.
Let me emphasise for the third time, this time there were no such requests from Greece via official channels.
Maria Zakharova: I think the question is what Poland will do in this case.
Question: But they will accuse Russia. They will say that PMC Wagner…
Maria Zakharova: They will say something. We will say something.
If we are talking seriously, let us not comment on such hypothetical suggestions on what may occur and concentrate on what is really happening.
Maria Zakharova: Sending out invitations is the prerogative of the chairmanship in coordination with all the members of the association.
As for Russia’s position, we have repeatedly said that we consider it inappropriate for representatives of the collective West’s countries, that are leading a policy hostile towards Russia and pursuing a neo-colonial policy in relation to a huge number of other states, to participate in BRICS format meetings.
Our association was created in order to enhance the role of developing countries in a multipolar world, and develop a collective, creative, unifying agenda for the entire international community. We believe that the President of France’s participation in the BRICS summit would in no way contribute to the fulfillment of these goals. It seems to me that France has nothing to offer this association that could interest it.
Maria Zakharova: This question was answered in detail by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin at the July 21 briefing. Please watch his speech once again.
Maria Zakharova: I just answered this. I can only repeat that, unfortunately, the mediation of Brussels, the EU, and also the US do not bring any results that would be beneficial for the region. Unfortunately, everything they touch results in destabilisation, and this region is no exception.
Once again, please read yesterday’s comment by Sergey Lavrov.
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