🇷🇺🇺🇸 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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🇷🇺🇺🇸 Ambassador Anatoly Antonov exclusively for #Newsweek (September 27, 2023)

Key points:

📰 Recent trend in U.S. media: an increasing dissemination of speculations and fabrications about events in Ukraine.

🔹Local correspondents have rather poor grasp of the matter. Their perception seems shaped more by propaganda spread by unscrupulous politicians in Kiev and Washington than by facts.

❗️We stand ready to provide the names of all minors currently on Russian territory for their own safety. We maintain a comprehensive list of these children. Any child for whom we receive requests from their legal representatives – parents or guardians – will be promptly reunited with their families. We haven't kidnapped anyone; quite the opposite, we have rescued these children.

👉 In more recent article by The New York Times pointed to a Ukrainian missile being the most likely munition that caused the deaths of at least 15 people and wounded 30 others earlier this month at a market in the eastern Ukrainian city of Konstantinovka.

🔹Any insights from Russian official sources are promptly branded as Kremlin propaganda. The truth faces an exceedingly thorny path in reaching the U.S. audience.

🔹Professional correspondents, of whom there are many in the United States, seem to have the desire to delve deeper into various issues. We hope such reporting will inspire further investigations into the Ukrainian staging in Bucha, as well as the terrorist attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines, and will clear thing up with the West's narrative surrounding alleged poisonings of the Skripals and Navalny, purportedly orchestrated by Russia.

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🇷🇺🇺🇸 Посол России в США А.И.Антонов эксклюзивно для #Newsweek (14 февраля, 2024 г.)

Ключевые тезисы:

📰 Несмотря на упорные попытки некоторых государств добиться изоляции нашей страны или, по крайней мере, «раскрутить картинку» о якобы отгораживании ключевых столиц от Москвы, в реальности дела обстоят совершенно иначе.

🇪🇬🇮🇷🇦🇪🇸🇦🇪🇹 В этом году полноправными членами БРИКС стали Египет, Иран, ОАЭ, Саудовская Аравия, Эфиопия. Под девизом «Укрепление многосторонности для справедливого глобального развития и безопасности» Россия будет делать все возможное для дальнейшей «притирки» звеньев механизма.

❌ Ситуация, когда одни страны считают себя вправе диктовать другим свою волю, угрожая отключением от глобальных экономпроцессов, конфискацией активов, разрушением благосостояния простых граждан, - в корне не соответствует текущему моменту.

❗️Магистральная цель председательства России - поддержать и усилить роль БРИКС в качестве авторитетного центра притяжения для стран, тянущихся к проведению самостоятельного внешнеполитического курса.

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🇷🇺🇺🇸 Ambassador Anatoly Antonov exclusively for #Newsweek (February 14, 2024)

Key points:

📰 Despite persistent attempts by a number of states to isolate our country or, at least, present such a picture that key foreign nations are fencing off from Moscow, de facto the situation is completely different.

🇪🇬🇪🇹🇮🇷🇸🇦🇦🇪 This year, as Russia took the helm of the bloc's rotating chairmanship under the banner of "Strengthening Multilateralism for Equitable Global Development and Security," BRICS accepted five new members - Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - in line with last year's historic summit in Johannesburg.

❌ A situation when a few countries feel entitled to dictate their will to others, threatening to cut off access to global economic processes, confiscate their assets, and ruin [the] well-being of ordinary citizens, is fundamentally wrong and inconsistent with prevailing tendencies.

❗️The main goal of Russia's chairmanship is to enhance and bolster BRICS' role and weight as a center of gravity for countries seeking to pursue an independent foreign policy course.

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🇷🇺🇺🇸 Посол России в США А.И.Антонов эксклюзивно для #Newsweek (20 февраля, 2024 г.)

Ключевые тезисы:

📌 Россия и сейчас не отказывается от диалога. Убеждены: рано или поздно мирные договоренности будут достигнуты. Вопреки стараниям покровителей киевского режима, которые продолжают вбрасывать миллиарды в затягивание кризиса, несущего страдания тысячам людей.

❗️Первые выстрелы весной 2014 года произвели киевские нацисты. Именно они погрузили в террор Одессу, бросили танки и самолеты против жителей Донецка и Луганска. То, что казалось кошмарным сном, стало явью.

🤝 Важно понимать: на протяжении десятилетий с момента распада Советского Союза Россия неизменно уважала независимость и суверенитет Украины. Последовательно выстраивала отношения с республикой на базе общепризнанных принципов сотрудничества и добрососедства.

⚡️ После начала СВО, весной 2022 года, был запущен переговорный процесс в Стамбуле, итогом которого могло стать политическое решение кризиса. Однако давление «третьих» столиц, не заинтересованных в дипломатической сделке, этому помешало. Западники сделали все, чтобы лишить Украину независимости и превратить в антироссийский плацдарм.

👉 Вместо того, чтобы услышать и понять ключевые требования России - о денацификации и демилитаризации украинских головорезов, отказе Киева от русофобии и планов вступления в НАТО - Вашингтон и его сателлиты лишь усугубляют ситуацию.

❌ Разговор с нашей страной с позиции силы и санкционного давления перспектив не имеет. Однако упорное стремление к доминированию приводит лишь к обратному эффекту.

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🇷🇺🇺🇸 Ambassador Anatoly Antonov exclusively for #Newsweek (February 20, 2024)

Key points:

📌 We are adamant: sooner or later peaceful agreements will be achieved against the efforts of the Kiev regime patrons, who continue pumping billions of dollars in order to drag out the conflict, bringing misery to thousands of people.

❗️The first shots were fired by Kiev Nazis in the spring of 2014. It was them who plunged Odessa into terror and sent tanks and planes against the residents of Donetsk and Lugansk. What seemed like a nightmare became a reality.

🤝 It is important to understand: for decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union Russia consistently respected the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine. It consistently built relations with the republic on the basis of generally recognized principles of cooperation and good-neighborliness.

⚡️ After the start of the special military operation, in the spring of 2022, a negotiation process was launched in Istanbul, that could have resulted in a political solution to the crisis. However, pressure from 'third' capitals that were not interested in a diplomatic deal prevented this from happening. The Westerners did everything to deprive Ukraine of its independence and turn it into an anti-Russian bridgehead.

👉 Instead of hearing and understanding Russia's key demands - the denazification and demilitarization of Ukrainian thugs as well as rejection of Russophobia and NATO plans of Kiev - Washington and its satellites are only making things worse.

❌ There is no prospect of talking to our country from the position of strength and sanctions pressure. The persistent desire to dominate only leads to the opposite effect.

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🇷🇺🇺🇸 Ambassador Anatoly Antonov exclusively for #Newsweek (March 19, 2024)

Key points:

🛡In Crimea we had no choice but to stand up in defense of the Russian-speaking population in its historical lands, to fight back against nazis and to stop NATO military machine from approaching our borders.

❗️ It became absolutely clear that people in Crimea, which is predominantly inhabited by Russians, were in serious danger. Crimeans turned to Russia for protection. Obviously, our country could not leave people in trouble and had to come forward.

❌ It is time for ordinary Ukrainians to give up their illusions and realize that the creation of an "anti-Russia" with total dependence on the West doesn't lead to prosperity but to an inevitable downfall of the country.

👉 It is obvious that Western politicians and "professional human rights activists" are absolutely careless about the fate of ordinary Ukrainians caught between the millstones of armed conflict. Our opponents are doing everything possible to ensure the emergence of Ukraine as an anti-Russian State, continuing its suicidal slaughter.

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⚡️ Enjoy The Russian Embassy Weekly
# 3️⃣4️⃣6️⃣ ⚡️

Main topics:

#President

🇷🇺🇧🇾 News conference following Russian-Belarusian talks
🇮🇷 Condolences over the death of President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi
🌍 Russia's President Vladimir Putin sent a message of greetings to heads of state and government of African countries on Africa Day
🇷🇺🇧🇭 Russian-Bahraini talks

#ForeignMinistry

🇮🇷 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s condolences to the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran
🤝 On May 20-21, Sergey Lavrov took part in the Foreign Ministers Council meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member-countries
🇷🇺🇨🇳 On May 20, Sergey Lavrov met with Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China Wang Yi on the sidelines of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Astana
🌍 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statement at a reception on the occasion of Africa Day
🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s answers to media questions

#DefenceMinistry

🇷🇺🇧🇾 Russian and Belarusian defence ministers hold talks in Minsk

#Embassy

📰 Ambassador Anatoly Antonov exclusively for #Newsweek
❓ Ambassador Anatoly Antonov’s answers to media questions
📽 Movie night

#WeRemember

🏅 On May 20, 1942, the Red Army concluded the Kerch operation, the largest landing op on the Eastern Front

#OnThisDay

🖌 May 24 is the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture - tied to the Feast Day of St. Cyril and Methodius - the creators of the Slavonic script
🔔 255 years ago – on May 22, 1769, the iconic bell of Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin was cast
📆 500 years ago, on May 22, 1524, the Novodevichy Convent, most revered monastery in Moscow, was founded