🇷🇺🇺🇸 Ambassador Anatoly Antonov exclusively for #Newsweek: "Russia Envoy Warns 'Extremely Dangerous' Ideas Behind U.S. Democracy Summit" (March 27, 2023)

Key points:

🔹Questions arose not only about the list of invited countries, many of which are considered 'undemocratic' in the USA but also, in principle, about the ability and largely the moral right of Washington—dealing with many political and socio-economic controversies at home - to impose its canons and way of life on others.

❓Many are wondering: what do they want in Washington from this gathering? What is the added value to the world standards in democracy?

🔹Doesn't America have problems with racism, gun violence, corruption and social inequality? There is also a clear problem with the freedom of speech, evidenced eloquently by the 'cancel culture' cutting out people from the public sphere for dissenting views.

🔹Democracy is thus being replaced by "democratism" – where ruling elites enjoy practically unlimited power, democratic norms are just declared and democratic institutions are nothing but window dressing.

‼️Human rights protection is not the exclusive prerogative of the West. Democracy is not built on templates, but is a product of the internal development of a particular society. We have seen the disastrous consequences of the attempts to forcibly export American democracy to Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan.

🔹Draft texts for the upcoming meetings give the feeling that this year Washington has set a goal of shaping a human rights coalition against Russia and dragging partners into anti-Russian traps under the cover of a noble idea of developing democracy.

🔹The protection of democracy and human rights should not be used as an instrument of putting pressure on others, especially undesirable countries. The politicization of these issues results only in the increased tension in international relations.

🔹Russia has been consistently following the democratic path taking into account its historical experience and traditions.

☝️The attempts to use the human rights doctrine to play geopolitical games destroying sovereignty of States and to justify Western political, financial, economic and ideological dominance should cease.

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🇷🇺🇺🇸 Ambassador Anatoly Antonov exclusively for #Newsweek: Russia says U.S. 'hostile policy' on Ukraine could kill last nuclear treaty (April 19, 2023)

Key points:

🔹The United States uses a twisted logic. On the one hand, they refuse to engage with us on a business-as-usual basis. At the same time, they insist on returning to the regular cooperation on the issue of the New START Treaty verification regime. The U.S. military is clearly itching to get into Russian bases which store nuclear weapons.

❌ We do not agree with such an approach. The overall negativity in Russia-U.S. relations cannot but affect arms control. It is impossible to view these matters in isolation from the politico-military and geostrategic realities.

🔹It was 🇺🇸 that unilaterally suspended the bilateral strategic stability dialogue the main goal of which was to lay the foundation for future arms control and risk reduction measures.

🔹The cumulative nuclear capabilities of the NATO countries are growing in importance given the ability of the United States, Great Britain and France to deploy their arsenals against Russia in a coordinated manner. We cannot afford to ignore this factor when considering the future of the Treaty.

🔹White House official doctrines say nothing about the U.S.-Russia strategic stability dialogue.

⁉️What needs to be done to return to the Treaty's full-scale functioning? The answer is simple. The U.S. has to reconsider its hostile policy toward our country and abandon its course of escalating threats to Russia's national security. However, the White House has stated that Washington will not stop 'pouring oil on the fire' of the Ukrainian crisis.

☝️Apparently, resolving the Treaty issues is not a priority for the Administration. Nevertheless, Russia will not follow the American example. We remain committed to a responsible approach to strategic stability. We intend to voluntarily adhere to the central quantitative limits on strategic offensive arms stipulated in the Treaty. In addition, we will continue to participate in the exchange of notifications with the U.S. on ICBM and SLBM launches in accordance with the respective 1988 U.S.-Soviet agreement.

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🎙Ambassador at Large, Head of the Secretariat of the Russia – Africa Partnership Forum, Oleg Ozerov exclusively for #Newsweek

Key points:

🔹The world has entered an era of powerful transformations, which have influenced inter alia, Russian-African relations. The pace of these developments has gained an unprecedented momentum.

🔹The Russia–Africa International Parliamentary Conference and Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Moscow shattered the myth of Russia's alleged isolation due to the events in Ukraine.

🔹People in Africa understand very well that the former Soviet republic has turned into an arena of confrontation between the new and the old world paradigms, between different visions of the future, not just a trivial feud between neighbors.

🤝African countries count on Russia's support.

🔹We support Africans in their efforts to complete the decolonization process in a number of countries, including small nations like the Union of the Comoros.

🔹Russia has a comprehensive view of sovereignty in its political aspect, which encompasses, above all, the consolidation of state structures, peace-building, counter-terrorism, and information security.

🔹Despite an interest in certain minerals, Russia does not view the countries in the continent as a raw material base for its economy. Our primary interest is to assist the development of Africa's domestic energy and electricity markets, where we have considerable expertise, especially as regards nuclear energy.

☝️We are convinced that the upcoming Russia-Africa Summit, due to its great importance to all participants, will be a success. St. Petersburg will once again confirm its status as the 'Northern Palmyra,' a center where new meanings and historical codes are born.

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#RussiaAfrica
#RussiaAfricaSummit
#SaintPetersburgJuly2023

🇷🇺🇺🇸 Ambassador Anatoly Antonov exclusively for #Newsweek on the statement by U.S. lawmakers that Russia’s hypothetical use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine should be equated with an attack on NATO countries (June 22, 2023)

Key points:

📌 This is not just another crazy initiative by Russophobe U.S. senators. It exemplifies those who really pursue the course towards a direct global conflict between Russia and NATO countries led by the United States.

📌 Local politicians cannot not let go of Russia's deployment - on legal grounds, I should stress, - of tactical nuclear weapons (TNWs) in Belarus. We have not violated a single international obligation. We did exactly what the Americans have been doing for decades by fielding nuclear bombs on the territories of their European allies.

📌 It is yet another manifestation of blind hatred for our country.

📌 The authors of the new initiative are eager to drag the United States even more deeply in the conflict in Ukraine.

📌 International public opinion is force fed with a provocative point of view that Russia intends to launch a nuclear strike on the territory of Ukraine, and maybe even to destroy some nuclear facility. Is this phraseology hiding an intention to prepare the world for a provocation at the Zaporizhzhia NPP such as planting a 'dirty bomb' there and, of course, pinning all the sins on the Russian Federation?

📌 We have repeatedly stated that there have been no changes in Russian documents regulating the employment of nuclear weapons. The conditions for their use remain the same. Russia has always been a responsible nuclear power, which, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, bears a special responsibility for peace and international security.

‼️ The speculations about Russia's possible use of TNWs are absurd.

📌 By using such cheap rhetoric, the local elite demonstrates its absolute incompetence in strategic matters. The provocative and short-sighted remarks of the U.S. lawmakers only serve to escalate tensions and increase the risk of the situation sliding to an even more dangerous point.

☝️It is time to realize that in the event of a direct armed conflict between Russia and NATO countries, the United States will not be able to hide behind the ocean.

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🇷🇺🇺🇸 Ambassador Anatoly Antonov exclusively for #Newsweek on the US media reports about the alleged «threat» of Russia blowing up the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. (July 6, 2023)

Key points:

📌 We call on the curators of the Kiev regime to exercise responsibility and exert influence on their 'wards' in order to avoid a large-scale catastrophe.

📌 Western ruling elites should understand that the failures on the battlefield make Kiev eager to create a pretext for the deployment of the NATO contingent to Ukraine, thereby to inflate a regional conflict into World War III.

❗️ American and European citizens are hardly ready to march in orderly rows to the hell, into which the Zelensky government is dragging the entire planet.

📌 News reporters continue to pretend not to notice the obvious: from the very beginning of the special military operation, all the accusations of the Zelensky regime against us turned out to be sabotage operations of Kiev itself. Suffice it to say what happened to the Kakhovka dam, Bucha and Kramatorsk.

‼️ This time stakes have grown substantially: Europe's nuclear security is at risk.

❌ Statements that Russia is preparing a provocation against the nuclear power plant it controls are absurd.

📌 Russian citizens work at the facility. #IAEA experts, who cannot but know who is shelling the ZNPP, are present there on a rotational basis, too. The reactors are protected.

📌 However, besides power units there are more vulnerable infrastructure facilities: cooling systems, storage sites for fresh fuel and nuclear waste. Any projectile hit is extremely dangerous as radiation contamination of vast territories can follow.

📌 Observers are actually playing along with the criminal intentions of the Ukrainian authorities ahead of the #NATO summit.

📌 The criminal intentions are:
▪️to use a terrorist attack in order to slander Russia as a 'nuclear terrorist;
▪️to divert attention from the failed counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in which the West has invested enormous resources;
▪️to use the provocation so as to draw the Alliance directly into the conflict.

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⚡️ Enjoy The Russian Embassy Weekly
# 3️⃣0️⃣1️⃣ ⚡️

Main topics:

#President

🇷🇺🇧🇾 Greetings to President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko
🔹SCO Heads of State Council meeting
🔹Meeting with permanent members of the Security Council

#ForeignMinistry

🚚 Sergey Lavrov's remarks at the Ceremonial Start of the SilkWay International Rally
📝Press release on the Istanbul agreements
🔹US involvement in the conflict in Ukraine

#DefenceMinistry

🪖Russian Defence Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu gives a welcome speech at special teleconference
🇷🇺🇻🇳Russian Defence Minister and Vietnamese Deputy Defence Minister hold talks in Moscow

#Embassy

🔹Ambassador Anatoly Antonov's answers to media questions
✍️Ambassador Anatoly Antonov exclusively for #Newsweek on the US media reports about the alleged «threat» of Russia blowing up the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant
🔹Comments by the Russian Embassy in the United States
🔹Head of the Consular section of the Russian Embassy Nadezhda Shumova exclusively for the TASS news agency

#WeRemember

📆 On July 3, 1944 units of the Red Army’s 1st, 2nd and 3rd Belarusian fronts, supported by the 1st Baltic Front, liberated Minsk as part of Operation Bagration

#OnThisDay

📆 On July 3, 1974 the Treaty between the USSR and the USA on the Limitation of Underground Nuclear Weapon Tests was signed
✈️ The first official flight of the turboprop airliner IL-18 took place on July 4, 1957

🇷🇺🇺🇸 Director of the Department of International Information Security of the MFA of Russia Artur Lyukmanov exclusively for #Newsweek: Russia Warns 'All-Out War' with US Could Erupt Over Worsening Cyber Clashes (September 7, 2023)

Key points:

📌 We want to halt further deterioration. A mistake in the use of ICTs may lead to a direct conflict, an all-out war, especially as that the White House is aware that Russia has all the necessary capabilities to defend itself.

📌 A devastative computer attack against our critical information infrastructure will not be left without response.

📌 A decade ago, despite the difficult geopolitical situation, Russia and the U.S., as well as other U.N. Member States managed to agree on a list of rules, norms and principles of responsible behavior in information space.

📌 There is little doubt that eventually common sense will prevail among other governments, including the U.S., when it comes to the need for prevention of a conflict situation with an unpredictable outcome as a result of a transborder and anonymous computer attack.

📌 That's the nature of data which, like water, will always find a weak spot in ICTs. Our task is to prevent such leaks from turning to stormy streams, a hurricane beyond category 5.

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