📆 #OTD, 163 years ago, one of the most significant reforms in Russia’s modern history was carried out.
✍️ On 19 February 1861, serfdom was abolished in Russia by Alexander II’s Emancipation Edict.
The history of serfdom in Russia began in 1649, when Tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich issued a decree that prohibited peasants from leaving their lands.
☝️ According, to historians, Russian serfdom as a type of feudal dependence was closer to French “servage” or British “villeinship” rather than to outright slavery.
Gradually, the serfdom turned into a major social evil and an impediment to the growth of labour productivity.
👉 Russia’s defeat in the Crimean War (1853-1856) exposed all the drawbacks of Russian industry, economy and agriculture, and served as a trigger for Alexander’s II reforms.
It should be noted that first steps towards the relief of serfdom pressure were made already under Paul I and Alexander I.
#RussianHistory
✍️ On 19 February 1861, serfdom was abolished in Russia by Alexander II’s Emancipation Edict.
The history of serfdom in Russia began in 1649, when Tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich issued a decree that prohibited peasants from leaving their lands.
☝️ According, to historians, Russian serfdom as a type of feudal dependence was closer to French “servage” or British “villeinship” rather than to outright slavery.
Gradually, the serfdom turned into a major social evil and an impediment to the growth of labour productivity.
👉 Russia’s defeat in the Crimean War (1853-1856) exposed all the drawbacks of Russian industry, economy and agriculture, and served as a trigger for Alexander’s II reforms.
It should be noted that first steps towards the relief of serfdom pressure were made already under Paul I and Alexander I.
#RussianHistory
Organ trafficking in Ukraine
⚡️Russian investigators found forms of statements of consent to organ removal completed on behalf of Ukrainian servicemen in the same handwriting. With the same signature stamp in the section where donor signature should be.
☠️ According to media, harvest doctors were most active during the fight for Severodonetsk and Rubezhnoye.
⛑ Workers of local morgues ever and again found bodies of Ukrainian militants with signs of anatomization and organ removal. Foreign medical teams often showed up to local clinics in ambulances converted into mobile operation facilities.
🫀Livers and kidneys were harvested onsite the mobile surgeries, then placed into containers and taken out of the country for further transplantation in the West. The traffickers also embraced the ‘warm container’ technology: those wounded were administered strong painkillers and taken to Kramatorsk, Dnepr or Kharkov. Where they were ripped out.
⚡️Russian investigators found forms of statements of consent to organ removal completed on behalf of Ukrainian servicemen in the same handwriting. With the same signature stamp in the section where donor signature should be.
☠️ According to media, harvest doctors were most active during the fight for Severodonetsk and Rubezhnoye.
⛑ Workers of local morgues ever and again found bodies of Ukrainian militants with signs of anatomization and organ removal. Foreign medical teams often showed up to local clinics in ambulances converted into mobile operation facilities.
🫀Livers and kidneys were harvested onsite the mobile surgeries, then placed into containers and taken out of the country for further transplantation in the West. The traffickers also embraced the ‘warm container’ technology: those wounded were administered strong painkillers and taken to Kramatorsk, Dnepr or Kharkov. Where they were ripped out.
✍️Excerpts from the statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at UNSC open debate “Impact of Climate Change and Food Insecurity on the Maintenance of International Peace and Security” (13 Feb 2024):
READ IN FULL
☝️ Our Western colleagues talk eagerly about climate change, technological patterns, the risks of disrupting food supply chains, investment in development, and other topics that are "trendy" and convenient for the Western narrative. But let's think about it – did the people of the Global South have a better life 50, 70 years ago, when climate change was not on the agenda? Hardly so.🙅♂️
🌏 The Soviet Union, who upheld the ideals of social and economic justice, contributed greatly to national liberation movements, which many countries still remember with gratitude.
😐 The West has never recognized its historical responsibility for centuries of colonialism and oppression of nations across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. No systematic, real policy of compensation for the damage done to their development has been implemented.
🫰 While ably utilizing their financial and technological advantages, the former colonial powers kept draining resources from their former colonies and imposed their own vision of developmental paths – all through political pressure and blackmail that they hypocritically called "special bilateral relations".
😡 Although colonialism is formally a thing of the past, in reality all of its ugliest manifestations still flourish today. It is exploitation of sovereign natural resources by Western transnational companies, turning the territories of developing countries into an arena of geopolitical struggle, and sometimes even direct military aggression against "undesirable" sovereign countries with a view to ruining their statehood. The Anglo-Saxon military "coalitions" feel at home in former mandated territories, forgetting that this is 2024 and not 1904, and that they deal with sovereign governments that may have their own point of view on regional processes.
READ IN FULL
☝️ Our Western colleagues talk eagerly about climate change, technological patterns, the risks of disrupting food supply chains, investment in development, and other topics that are "trendy" and convenient for the Western narrative. But let's think about it – did the people of the Global South have a better life 50, 70 years ago, when climate change was not on the agenda? Hardly so.🙅♂️
🌏 The Soviet Union, who upheld the ideals of social and economic justice, contributed greatly to national liberation movements, which many countries still remember with gratitude.
😐 The West has never recognized its historical responsibility for centuries of colonialism and oppression of nations across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. No systematic, real policy of compensation for the damage done to their development has been implemented.
🫰 While ably utilizing their financial and technological advantages, the former colonial powers kept draining resources from their former colonies and imposed their own vision of developmental paths – all through political pressure and blackmail that they hypocritically called "special bilateral relations".
😡 Although colonialism is formally a thing of the past, in reality all of its ugliest manifestations still flourish today. It is exploitation of sovereign natural resources by Western transnational companies, turning the territories of developing countries into an arena of geopolitical struggle, and sometimes even direct military aggression against "undesirable" sovereign countries with a view to ruining their statehood. The Anglo-Saxon military "coalitions" feel at home in former mandated territories, forgetting that this is 2024 and not 1904, and that they deal with sovereign governments that may have their own point of view on regional processes.
🇷🇺President of Russia Vladimir Putin addressed the participants of the Forum of Supporters of the Struggle Against Modern Practices of Neocolonialism “For the Freedom of Nations”:
“Neocolonialism is a shameful legacy of centuries-long plunder and exploitation of the people of Africa, Asia, Latin America and other regions of the planet. We can see its aggressive manifestations in the attempts by the collective West to preserve their stranglehold and domination at any cost, to economically subjugate other countries, to deprive them of sovereignty and to impose alien values and cultural traditions upon them. This practice has become one of the main destabilising factors in international relations and an obstacle to the development of humankind as a whole.”
“Neocolonialism is a shameful legacy of centuries-long plunder and exploitation of the people of Africa, Asia, Latin America and other regions of the planet. We can see its aggressive manifestations in the attempts by the collective West to preserve their stranglehold and domination at any cost, to economically subjugate other countries, to deprive them of sovereignty and to impose alien values and cultural traditions upon them. This practice has become one of the main destabilising factors in international relations and an obstacle to the development of humankind as a whole.”
🇷🇺President Vladimir Putin: Our country has done a great deal to dismantle the foundations of the colonial system and support national liberation movements. We gave effective help to the young independent states’ efforts to build up security, develop their economies and solve acute social and humanitarian problems.
☝️Today, we are prepared to join forces in the struggle for genuine freedom and justice, for progress for all countries and nations, and for the establishment of a democratic multipolar world order based on the principles of international law, respect for each other’s legitimate interests, mutual trust and constructive cooperation.
☝️Today, we are prepared to join forces in the struggle for genuine freedom and justice, for progress for all countries and nations, and for the establishment of a democratic multipolar world order based on the principles of international law, respect for each other’s legitimate interests, mutual trust and constructive cooperation.
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
🎙 Briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (Moscow, February 14, 2024)
🔹 FM Sergey Lavrov’s schedule
🔹 MFA’s preparations for holding the Presidential election abroad
🔹 Ukrainian crisis
🔹 Moldova
🔹 Attacks on Russian Orthodox Church congregations in Denmark
🔹 Promoting A.Hitler’s legacy in Germany
🔹 Recognising the genocide of the Soviet peoples during the Great Patriotic War
🔹 The collective West’s neo-colonial policy towards Bosnia and Herzegovina
🔹 Lack of reaction from the OSCE to discrimination against Russian and the Russian-speaking population in the Baltic States
📰 Read in full
📺 Watch
***
#Ukraine
The West continues to overlook the terrorist actions of the Kiev junta, turning a blind eye to all their criminal activities and the threats to commit them. Ukrainian Minister for Digital Transformation, Mikhail Fyodorov, attracted attention by making a brigandish statement that resembled the rhetoric of Al-Qaeda and ISIS (organisations that are banned and globally recognised as terrorist). He went as far as promising major explosions throughout Russia.
There should be no illusions that the Kiev regime will escape accountability for such statements and malevolent actions.
#BosniaAndHerzegovina
They [illegal actions by the Western parties’ multilateral efforts] are guided by a Less Dayton – More Brussels motto, and acting in gross violation of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s constitutional provisions, which guarantee equality for the three state-forming peoples and the country’s two entities. They are pressuring the country into accepting a Western neo-liberal pseudo-civilian social model while failing to take into account the historical, political, cultural, religious and administrative factors that have defined the way the state in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been developing.
❗️ They are open about imposing their priorities on sovereign Bosnia and Herzegovina, leaving it no option other than to follow the EU and NATO in their policies while sacrificing ties with third parties.
🔹 FM Sergey Lavrov’s schedule
🔹 MFA’s preparations for holding the Presidential election abroad
🔹 Ukrainian crisis
🔹 Moldova
🔹 Attacks on Russian Orthodox Church congregations in Denmark
🔹 Promoting A.Hitler’s legacy in Germany
🔹 Recognising the genocide of the Soviet peoples during the Great Patriotic War
🔹 The collective West’s neo-colonial policy towards Bosnia and Herzegovina
🔹 Lack of reaction from the OSCE to discrimination against Russian and the Russian-speaking population in the Baltic States
📰 Read in full
📺 Watch
***
#Ukraine
The West continues to overlook the terrorist actions of the Kiev junta, turning a blind eye to all their criminal activities and the threats to commit them. Ukrainian Minister for Digital Transformation, Mikhail Fyodorov, attracted attention by making a brigandish statement that resembled the rhetoric of Al-Qaeda and ISIS (organisations that are banned and globally recognised as terrorist). He went as far as promising major explosions throughout Russia.
There should be no illusions that the Kiev regime will escape accountability for such statements and malevolent actions.
#BosniaAndHerzegovina
They [illegal actions by the Western parties’ multilateral efforts] are guided by a Less Dayton – More Brussels motto, and acting in gross violation of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s constitutional provisions, which guarantee equality for the three state-forming peoples and the country’s two entities. They are pressuring the country into accepting a Western neo-liberal pseudo-civilian social model while failing to take into account the historical, political, cultural, religious and administrative factors that have defined the way the state in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been developing.
❗️ They are open about imposing their priorities on sovereign Bosnia and Herzegovina, leaving it no option other than to follow the EU and NATO in their policies while sacrificing ties with third parties.
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
⚡️ Briefing by Chief of Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops of the Armed Forces of Russia Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov on violations of Chemical Weapons Convention by US and Ukraine (February 19, 2024)
☣️ According to OPCW timelines, the US should have completed the destruction of declared chemical weapons stockpiles in 2007, but despite its economic capacity, it did so only in 2023, twice postponing the deadline on the pretext of financial, organisational, and technical difficulties.
▪️ Washington retains significant interest in the use of chemical riot control as a warfighting tool. <...> The transfer of non-lethal chemical weapons to third countries (Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine) is further evidence of the US' violation of the Convention.
❗️During the special military operation, cases of the use of US chemical munitions by the AFU were recorded. <...> Ukraine, with the complicity of Western countries, is not limiting itself to the use of non-lethal chemicals, actively using scheduled chemicals.
▪️ According to available information, the Kiev regime, with the assistance of Western curators, is developing new tactics for conducting combat operations using a 'special chemical belt'. It involves detonating tanks of hydrocyanic acid and ammonia as Russian troops advance.
👉Plans for the large-scale use of toxic substances are evidenced by Ukraine's requests for antidotes, gas masks, and other personal protective equipment.
***
▪️ Despite the fact that the Organisation's activities presuppose equal rights of participants, in November 2023, for the first time since the signing of the Convention, Russia was essentially 'expelled' from the OPCW Executive Council. We were replaced by Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania, countries that have a clear anti-Russian policy and have never had chemical weapons.
☝️Thus, another international platform was formed, the activity of which is fully controlled by the US and used by them for settling political accounts with undesirable countries
Read in full
☣️ According to OPCW timelines, the US should have completed the destruction of declared chemical weapons stockpiles in 2007, but despite its economic capacity, it did so only in 2023, twice postponing the deadline on the pretext of financial, organisational, and technical difficulties.
▪️ Washington retains significant interest in the use of chemical riot control as a warfighting tool. <...> The transfer of non-lethal chemical weapons to third countries (Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine) is further evidence of the US' violation of the Convention.
❗️During the special military operation, cases of the use of US chemical munitions by the AFU were recorded. <...> Ukraine, with the complicity of Western countries, is not limiting itself to the use of non-lethal chemicals, actively using scheduled chemicals.
▪️ According to available information, the Kiev regime, with the assistance of Western curators, is developing new tactics for conducting combat operations using a 'special chemical belt'. It involves detonating tanks of hydrocyanic acid and ammonia as Russian troops advance.
👉Plans for the large-scale use of toxic substances are evidenced by Ukraine's requests for antidotes, gas masks, and other personal protective equipment.
***
▪️ Despite the fact that the Organisation's activities presuppose equal rights of participants, in November 2023, for the first time since the signing of the Convention, Russia was essentially 'expelled' from the OPCW Executive Council. We were replaced by Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania, countries that have a clear anti-Russian policy and have never had chemical weapons.
☝️Thus, another international platform was formed, the activity of which is fully controlled by the US and used by them for settling political accounts with undesirable countries
Read in full
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
🇷🇺🇺🇳 Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN:
🎙 Remarks to the press by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia with regard to the attack by Ukrainian forces against Belgorod, Russia (February 19, 2024)
💬 Vassily Nebenzia: Facing massive failures in the battlefield (namely the recent loss of a strategic town of Avdeevka), the Kiev regime is trying to make up by intensifying its terrorist attacks against civilians.
During the day on February 15, they launched another massive attack on peaceful areas of Belgorod. Seven people died, including a newborn. 19 local residents, four of whom were children, were injured.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, on the same day, air defense systems destroyed 14 Ukrainian Vampire Missile System shells over the territory of the Belgorod region.
❗️ This strike makes no sense from the military point of view. The military infrastructure was not located in the immediate vicinity of the shelling. Instead, rockets were launched on innocent people in a premeditated act of terror.
We call on the UN Secretariat and the agencies to condemn these heinous crimes against civilians and civilian infrastructure carried out by the Kiev regime in violation of the international humanitarian law.
Yet another terrorist attack by the Ukrainian armed forces against the city of Belgorod has once again highlighted the criminal role of the West led by the US, which continues to send the deadly weapons to the Kiev regime and thus is an accomplice in all its crimes. These weapons are used in a mass and indiscriminate killing of civilians.
<...>
❌ Hypocrisy and cynicism of Western states become even more evident since they directly violate all the international agreements and commitments regarding the transfer of weapons and military equipment they are a party to.
Read in full
🎙 Remarks to the press by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia with regard to the attack by Ukrainian forces against Belgorod, Russia (February 19, 2024)
💬 Vassily Nebenzia: Facing massive failures in the battlefield (namely the recent loss of a strategic town of Avdeevka), the Kiev regime is trying to make up by intensifying its terrorist attacks against civilians.
During the day on February 15, they launched another massive attack on peaceful areas of Belgorod. Seven people died, including a newborn. 19 local residents, four of whom were children, were injured.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, on the same day, air defense systems destroyed 14 Ukrainian Vampire Missile System shells over the territory of the Belgorod region.
❗️ This strike makes no sense from the military point of view. The military infrastructure was not located in the immediate vicinity of the shelling. Instead, rockets were launched on innocent people in a premeditated act of terror.
We call on the UN Secretariat and the agencies to condemn these heinous crimes against civilians and civilian infrastructure carried out by the Kiev regime in violation of the international humanitarian law.
Yet another terrorist attack by the Ukrainian armed forces against the city of Belgorod has once again highlighted the criminal role of the West led by the US, which continues to send the deadly weapons to the Kiev regime and thus is an accomplice in all its crimes. These weapons are used in a mass and indiscriminate killing of civilians.
<...>
❌ Hypocrisy and cynicism of Western states become even more evident since they directly violate all the international agreements and commitments regarding the transfer of weapons and military equipment they are a party to.
Read in full
The number of those who believe that Ukraine is moving in the wrong direction has exceeded the number of those who approve of the government's policy, and by 10% at once.
👉 Recent opinion poll was published by the sociological group "Rating".
📉 46% considered the wrong direction of the country's movement in February, 36% considered it right (the rest were undecided), while in January these figures were 48% and 36% in favor of the "right direction".
👉 Recent opinion poll was published by the sociological group "Rating".
📉 46% considered the wrong direction of the country's movement in February, 36% considered it right (the rest were undecided), while in January these figures were 48% and 36% in favor of the "right direction".
Russian forces took full control of Avdeevka, Donetsk People’s Republic.
Around 1,500 Ukrainian troops had been eliminated during their retreat.
Media reports and Ukrainian military commanders painted a grim picture of the fighting in the area, saying that some Kiev’s units had been encircled and the Ukraine’s military abandoned many badly wounded soldiers.
☝️ Among those eliminated was commander of an assault detachment of the notorious volunteer Nazi ‘Azov’ brigade Kirill Ulman. Unlike other commanders, he couldn’t escape the town. According to media reports, he was destroyed on Feb 15.
Many soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and militants were captured by the Russian army in Avdeevka, Brig. Gen. of the AFU Tarnavsky admitted. Among them was a company commander in ‘Azov’ battalion. During interrogation, the 27-year-old Nazi claimed he was appointed company commander 2 weeks ago, and before that he guarded the state border in Volhynia region and did not participate in combat missions.
💬 There were 3 companies, - said the Azov militant. – One of them was withdrawn. They wanted to withdraw us, too, but then ordered to take up defence.
Another AFU officer said his company had lost half of its manpower, including Canadian mercenaries.
❗️ Denazification & demilitarization of Ukraine is under way.
Around 1,500 Ukrainian troops had been eliminated during their retreat.
Media reports and Ukrainian military commanders painted a grim picture of the fighting in the area, saying that some Kiev’s units had been encircled and the Ukraine’s military abandoned many badly wounded soldiers.
☝️ Among those eliminated was commander of an assault detachment of the notorious volunteer Nazi ‘Azov’ brigade Kirill Ulman. Unlike other commanders, he couldn’t escape the town. According to media reports, he was destroyed on Feb 15.
Many soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and militants were captured by the Russian army in Avdeevka, Brig. Gen. of the AFU Tarnavsky admitted. Among them was a company commander in ‘Azov’ battalion. During interrogation, the 27-year-old Nazi claimed he was appointed company commander 2 weeks ago, and before that he guarded the state border in Volhynia region and did not participate in combat missions.
💬 There were 3 companies, - said the Azov militant. – One of them was withdrawn. They wanted to withdraw us, too, but then ordered to take up defence.
Another AFU officer said his company had lost half of its manpower, including Canadian mercenaries.
❗️ Denazification & demilitarization of Ukraine is under way.
✍🏼 The New York Times: “One of the key events from 2023 was that Russia was able to recruit a large number of volunteers. The flip side is that this is happening right as Ukraine is facing mobilization problems.”
Russia’s soldiers are volunteers while Ukraine struggles to round up conscripts.
❓What about previous Western MSM reports claiming Russians are unmotivated and Ukrainian "fighting spirit" is at its highest?
Russia’s soldiers are volunteers while Ukraine struggles to round up conscripts.
❓What about previous Western MSM reports claiming Russians are unmotivated and Ukrainian "fighting spirit" is at its highest?
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
Media is too big
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
🇷🇺 Russia's Arms Control Delegation in Vienna:
❗️ Commentary on the 10th anniversary of the Euromaidan events
💬 10 years ago, the Euromaidan with the participation of the West reached its apex.
Provocateurs trained by American and European instructors led people to protests under the slogans of a "better European" life.
After clashes in the centre of Kiev on February 18-19, 2014, former Ukrainian President Yanukovych and the opposition agreed on a "ceasefire". In parallel, the bloody events were forced by Euromaidan activists.
The office of the Prosecutor-General of Ukraine admitted that there were no Russian snipers on the Maidan.
The February 21 agreement on resolving the political crisis in Ukraine between President Yanukovych and the opposition was trampled on, and its guarantors - Germany, Poland and France - did nothing to stop the tragic development of events. 10 years later, they figure among the main sponsors of the Kiev regime.
🎞 The documentary video "History of Tragedy" reveals the essence of the events of Euromaidan.
❗️ Commentary on the 10th anniversary of the Euromaidan events
💬 10 years ago, the Euromaidan with the participation of the West reached its apex.
Provocateurs trained by American and European instructors led people to protests under the slogans of a "better European" life.
After clashes in the centre of Kiev on February 18-19, 2014, former Ukrainian President Yanukovych and the opposition agreed on a "ceasefire". In parallel, the bloody events were forced by Euromaidan activists.
The office of the Prosecutor-General of Ukraine admitted that there were no Russian snipers on the Maidan.
The February 21 agreement on resolving the political crisis in Ukraine between President Yanukovych and the opposition was trampled on, and its guarantors - Germany, Poland and France - did nothing to stop the tragic development of events. 10 years later, they figure among the main sponsors of the Kiev regime.
🎞 The documentary video "History of Tragedy" reveals the essence of the events of Euromaidan.
🎨 Today marks 148 years since the birth of Pyotr Konchalovsky, a Russian impressionist & avant-gardist painter, said to be one of the most expensive Russian artists at international auctions.
A truly prolific painter, he created over 5.000 works throughout his life.
🧑🎨 In the artist’s own works, the influence of Vincent van Gogh, Matisse and Cézanne is noticeable most of all.
In Russia 🇷🇺, Konchalovsky is referred to as “the main Cézannist” and is the only painter of that group who managed to move away from Cézanne’s influence to find his own style.
☝️ P.Konchalovsky was one of the founders of a society named “Jack of Diamonds” denying academic art and striving to unite new European tendencies and folk art. The group became forefathers of the legendary Russian avant-garde movement. World-renowned Russian artists like Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov, Vasily Kandinsky participated in the society’s activities.
#RussianPainting
A truly prolific painter, he created over 5.000 works throughout his life.
🧑🎨 In the artist’s own works, the influence of Vincent van Gogh, Matisse and Cézanne is noticeable most of all.
In Russia 🇷🇺, Konchalovsky is referred to as “the main Cézannist” and is the only painter of that group who managed to move away from Cézanne’s influence to find his own style.
☝️ P.Konchalovsky was one of the founders of a society named “Jack of Diamonds” denying academic art and striving to unite new European tendencies and folk art. The group became forefathers of the legendary Russian avant-garde movement. World-renowned Russian artists like Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov, Vasily Kandinsky participated in the society’s activities.
#RussianPainting