Russian Embassy in South Africa
1.28K subscribers
7.14K photos
459 videos
2 files
2.15K links
Official channel for the Russian Embassy in the Republic of South Africa - Latest foreign policy, cultural, economic news. We take digital diplomacy seriously, share information on all things Russia-related
加入频道
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
🎙 Briefing by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (Moscow, November 9, 2023)

🔹 FM Sergey Lavrov’s schedule
🔹 Palestinian-Israeli conflict
🔹 Ukrainian crisis
🔹 Rise of nationalism in the world
🔹 Antisemitism in the United States
🔹 Nord Stream terrorist attack
🔹 Treaties to which the US is not a party
🔹 Moldova
🔹 Russophobia in Latvia
🔹 Tokyo Trial

and more...

📚 Read

#Ukraine

Not only have the people across the ocean opted to ignore the cruelty with which the Kiev regime has been using American weapons against civilians, but they even view this as something rather normal. We used to say that they probably failed to notice these developments. But no, they believe them to be the norm. This is the new normal for them, together with the fact that supplying more and more weapons to Ukrainian neo-Nazis causes hostilities to escalate and increasingly draws the United States into the conflict in and around Ukraine.

#MiddleEast

The Gaza Strip is under a ruthless blockade, which primarily affects the civilians. Gaza is experiencing a critical lack of fuel, food, and medications. The clean water shortage is fraught with a sharp deterioration in the sanitary and epidemiological situation.

We appreciate the initiation of the process for evacuating foreign nationals from the Gaza Strip to Egypt through the Rafah Border Crossing.

Along with addressing immediate de-escalation tasks, we consider it important to take steps to lay the foundation for relaunching a full-fledged political process in order to provide a comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue on a recognised international legal basis.
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
Media is too big
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview for the RT channel (Moscow, November 15, 2023)

READ IN FULL

#MiddleEast

• The cessation of hostilities and stopping of violence, is of huge importance to the civilians, but in historical terms, in sustainable settlement terms the second aspect of this problem, which is much more important, the creation of the Palestinian state is unavoidable.

• Of course, these days, Washington is highly ideologized. And anything coming from Russia is taken as a hostile act, hostile initiative. But on substance, in practical terms, Washington doesn't want to tie Israel's hands.

• Americans say that some pro-Iranian armed groups in Syria and Iraq are trying to attack American military sites. This is reported by the media. There is nothing new in this because these groups believe that the presence of the United States in Syria is absolutely illegal and this is a statement of fact.

#RussiaAfrica

• The most popular topic at the 2nd #RussiaAfrica Summit was that Africa does not want any longer to be a very rich continent which does not enjoy the richness it possesses, like in the colonial times, when most of the resources are being pumped raw into developed countries and then processed and sold with huge profit.

#Eurasia

• The Eurasian continent, especially the Asian part of the Eurasian continent, becomes a powerhouse of the world economy. Integration structures existing in Eurasia established close links between themselves.

• Greater Eurasian Partnership must be open to all countries and organizations situated on the Eurasian continent, leaving the door open [even] to those who believe that they are masters of the universe.

#MultipolarWorld

• The process of shaping the new world order will take time. It might be a historic era, a whole historic era.

• The reform of the United Nations is a must, if only because multipolarity brought to the key positions many new players who are not now represented in the Security Council as permanent members.
🇷🇺 President of Russia Vladimir Putin at the extraordinary G20 Summit:

💬 I understand that this war [in Ukraine] and the loss of life are shocking and could not be otherwise.

But what about the bloody coup in Ukraine in 2014, which was followed by the Kiev regime’s war against its own people in Donbass? Did that not shock you? Are you not shocked by the extermination of civilians in Palestine and the Gaza Strip today? Did it not shock you when the UN Secretary-General said that Gaza has turned into a huge children’s graveyard?

#PresidentPutin #Ukraine #MiddleEast #Palestine #GazaStrip #UN
News24 refused to publish Russian Embassy’s reply to an article of 21 Nov 2023.

Not that we’re surprised by that decision, we’re sort of used to mainstream media blocking Russian standpoint. But we believe people must be provided the opportunity to familiarize themselves with different views of what is currently happening in the world and to decide for themselves which one they follow.

☝️ The mentioned article (written some time ago) quotes the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, saying that over 10,000 civilians have been recorded killed in Ukraine since February 2022, 560 of them being children. The article is accompanied by a photo showing alleged “Russian strike at a residential building” (though the picture could have been taken anywhere in the world and proves nothing). Everything needed to convince the readership of deliberate attacks on civil infrastructure, carpet bombing of the Ukrainian territory, etc.

⚠️ Unfortunately, military action always results in human costs. Yet to comprehend what the outcome of strikes on civil infrastructure may be, take a look at the situation in Gaza. According to recent estimates, almost 16,000 civilians in total, with more than 6,600 children among them, have died in the enclave since the fighting began on 7 October 2023. 70 per cent of people killed in Gaza are estimated to be women and children.

‼️ Once again, 16,000 civilians in less than 2 months. Do you think that if Russian army really targeted civilians in Ukraine for almost 22 month, would this number be less than in Gaza? You know the answer. The numbers speak for themselves.

#rebuttle #fakenews #ukraine #smo #middleeast #warcrimes

👉 https://is.gd/fHpRwd
🎙President of Russia Vladimir Putin at the annual news conference (Moscow, 14 December 2023):

❗️Compare the special military operation and #Gaza and you will see the difference: nothing of this kind is happening in #Ukraine.

☝️Everybody in the world can see it.

#Ukraine #MiddleEast #Gaza #PresidentPutin
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
📰 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s written interview with RIA Novosti (December 31, 2023)

Read in full

#RussiaUSA

Our readiness to restore a full-fledged dialogue with the United States should not be taken for granted. Russia-US relations have become strained to the maximum due to Washington’s strategic objective of inflicting a decisive blow on Russia. We will only be able to develop a formula for peaceful coexistence and cooperation in certain areas when Washington acknowledges our core national interests and engages in sincere negotiations.

#INF

If the United States does not take any extraordinary steps to exert pressure through other means, Russia will not be the first to deploy missiles that were previously prohibited under the INF Treaty.

However, judging by the preparations made by the Pentagon, practical actions by the Americans to deploy ground-launched intermediate and short-range missiles in different regions of the world should not take long. Therefore, the time when we will have to make necessary political decisions is fast approaching.

#MiddleEast

Russia consistently advocates for the initiation of Palestinian-Israeli talks. The lack of Palestinian unity remains one of the obstacles to this.

We also assist our Palestinian friends in finding a solution. We have provided them with a venue for holding meetings in Russia. We call for unification based on the platform of the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

#KievCrimes

The crimes of the Kiev regime are already under investigation. Russian law enforcement authorities are meticulously recording and documenting the atrocities committed by Ukrainian neo-Nazis, which extend beyond the timeframe of the special military operation.

Based on the evidence gathered by the Investigative Committee, the courts of the Russian Federation have already sentenced over 200 members of Ukrainian armed groups to long prison terms for their crimes. The remaining criminals will face the same fate and will be held accountable.
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions following a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine and an open debate on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question,” (New York, January 24, 2024)

Key talking points:

Terrorist attack by the Kiev regime on Il-76 plane
• Middle East
• Prospects of the Palestinian-Israeli settlement
• Ukraine
• Double standards of Western media
• Russia-US relations
• Nuclear security
• Korean Peninsula

💬 Sergey Lavrov: I am compelled to begin by stating yet another fact of the Kiev regime’s use of terrorist methods.

A terrorist attack was perpetrated on January 24, at 11:15 am Moscow time, resulting in the downing of a Russian Il-76 cargo plane in the Belgorod Region. The aircraft was en route from the Moscow Region to Belgorod, carrying 65 prisoners from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Three Russian officers and a crew of six people accompanied them. All of them died. The Ukrainian prisoners of war were being taken to the Belgorod Region for a prisoner exchange agreed between Moscow and Kiev.

Instead, Ukraine targeted this aircraft from the Kharkov Region using surface-to-air missiles, causing a fatal strike. <...>

#US #MiddleEast

As for the present crisis, everyone seems to have a similar understanding of the consequences of US policy in the region. None of the reckless attempts Washington has engaged in over the last few decades to defend its “core security interests” ten thousand miles across the Atlantic led to a situation where people’s lives improved in a country that the US attacked.

#US #Santions

They should not assume that just because they are strong, because they have the dollar, they can use it to “strangle” others: disconnect them from the SWIFT system or deny them access to the IMF and World Bank loans at whim. The US actually invented the system and made the world accept it.

Read in full
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
🎙 Interview with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for 'Bridges to the East' documentary (Moscow, August 31, 2024)

Key talking points

#Syria

• In 2011, the United States decided to send the Syrian people along the same path as Iraq and Libya which countries they had devastated by their aggressive policies. We were strongly against seeing this scenario replay. In 2015, by President Putin’s decision, we sent a contingent of our armed forces to defend the Syrian Arab Republic against direct aggression.

❗️ The US invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein gave rise to ISIS, which posed a real threat to Syria’s existence.

• When the Russian armed forces moved into Syria, ISIS was on the outskirts of Damascus, and Western countries, led by the United States, were attempting to assert their dominance in eastern Syria. We stabilised the situation and since then most of Syria’s territory has been controlled by the legitimate government.

#Iraq

• In 2003, led by the United States, NATO invaded Iraq under a false pretext, a false flag. Later, the Westerners admitted there was no reason for an invasion. No need to eliminate weapons of mass destruction whatsoever. They broadcasted to the whole world the hanging of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, allegedly for possessing weapons of mass destruction. This is a disgusting turn of events.

#MiddleEast #Libya

• Western Jerusalem is ramping up military actions against the entities that they believe support the Palestinians and do so with an extremist slant, namely, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine. Israel wants to destroy the latter which is an exercise in futility. The sides must come to terms instead. Hamas is part of the Palestinian people, just as Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese people.

Lebanon remains in a situation where it is facing new challenges largely due to the crisis in the Gaza Strip and, more broadly, the Palestinian territories.

• We remain in contact with our Israeli colleagues through the Foreign Ministry, the Defence Ministry, and the respective security councils from both countries. We are trying to drive home the futility of the attempts to address issues by force without considering alternative paths.

• Washington stands behind every decision made by Israel. The US blocks all agreements at the UN Security Council that would lead to a full and permanent ceasefire. The Americans continue to supply weapons to Western Jerusalem, which are then used to commit even more violence against the Palestinian people. Over 40,000 civilians (!) have died in the ten months of hostilities since October 7, 2023 which is a horrifying number.

#Iran

Iran is outright unwilling to fall for a provocation or to get embroiled into any kind of large-scale hostilities. Iran is facing provocations. The assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran during the inauguration ceremony of the new president is, without a doubt, a provocation.

Read in full
Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at #UNSC Briefing on the Situation in the #MiddleEast:

❗️ “Israel would not be able to act so audaciously and with such disregard for international law if it were not for the unconditional and all-around protection of the US.

For the good of its Middle East ally, Washington has already cast its veto in the Security Council 5 times, and since the beginning of July has been intentionally pulling the wool over our eyes, touting its notorious “Biden Plan” and its “quiet diplomacy” to broker a deal between Hamas and Israel.

☝️ Frankly speaking, all this gives the impression that Washington is conducting these mediated negotiations with nobody but itself.”

READ IN FULL
This media is not supported in your browser
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
⚡️ The XVI #BRICS Summit kicks off in Russia’s Kazan today

During meetings held in both restricted and expanded formats, the BRICS leaders will exchange views on pressing issues on the global and regional agenda. They will discuss the three main pillars of cooperation identified by the Russian chairmanship: politics and security, the economy and finance, and cultural and humanitarian ties.

☝️ Particular attention will be given to the potential expansion of BRICS through the proposed establishment of a new category of ”partner nations.

Reports will also be delivered by the chairpersons of the New Development Bank, the Business Council, the Interbank Cooperation Mechanism, and the Women's Business Alliance.

✍️ The outcomes of these discussions will be summarised in the Kazan Summit Declaration.

On the final day of the summit, a BRICS Plus/Outreach format meeting will be convened, with representatives from nearly forty countries in attendance.

👉 Among them are leaders from the CIS, delegations from numerous Asian, African, Middle Eastern, and Latin American countries, as well as heads of executive bodies from various international organisations.

The agenda includes discussions on pressing international issues, with a particular focus on the escalating situation in the #MiddleEast and interactions between the BRICS countries and the #GlobalSouth in the interests of sustainable development.

🤝 President Vladimir Putin will hold bilateral meetings with nearly all the leaders participating in the summit.

#BRICS2024
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
📰 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with the Türkish newspaper Hürriyet, November 1, 2024

#BRICS

We welcome Türkiye’s interest in strengthening ties with BRICS. This reflects the appeal of the group that is based on respect for the UN Charter, openness, pragmatism, and non-directedness against third parties.

We support the expansion of BRICS relations with countries of the Global Majority, particularly those committed to upholding multilateral approaches, pursuing a sovereign foreign policy, and refraining from participating in unilateral sanctions.

During the Summit in Kazan, a decision was made to strengthen the current composition of BRICS by including partner countries in the group. I am confident that Türkiye can make a meaningful contribution to the ongoing development of BRICS. The parameters for Türkiye’s participation in the group will be determined by consensus, respecting the sovereign choices of all BRICS countries and Türkiye itself.

#MiddleEast

The failure to settle the long-standing Arab-Israeli conflict has sparked a new wave of violence, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians in Gaza. The number of casualties in Lebanon reaches thousands. More and more countries are becoming embroiled in this escalating confrontation.

Russia has condemned Israel for killing political leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as high-ranking Iranian military officials. We asked the UN Security Council to give its assessment of these deeds, but this initiative was blocked by opposition from Western members of the Council.

We urge all parties to refrain from actions that could further escalate violence and lead to a situation beyond control. There will be no winners in this conflict.

The way to normalise the situation lies in halting the bloodshed and creating conditions for a political resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on universal international legal principles. This includes the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. Only this solution can guarantee lasting peace in the Middle East.

#Ukraine

Russia is open to achieving a political settlement, but this should not merely lead to a temporary ceasefire; it must lead to a resolution of the conflict by eliminating its root causes. These include NATO’s eastward expansion, the creation of threats to Russia’s essential security interests, and the Kiev regime’s infringement on the rights of Russians and Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine.

At the moment, our opponents do not appear to want peace. Ukraine’s reaction to President Vladimir Putin’s peace initiative proposed in June was an invasion of the Kursk Region by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, along with airstrikes on targets in other border areas. Washington and its allies continue to provide extensive support to Kiev, discuss the possibility of using Western long-range missiles for strikes deep into Russian territory. Vladimir Zelensky has not revoked his order prohibiting negotiations with Moscow. Given these circumstances, it seems unlikely that any country, including Türkiye, will succeed in mediation efforts.

#RussiaUS

Whoever wins the election, we see no real prospects of the United States changing its Russophobic course. For our part, we will be ready for dialogue if and when the Americans demonstrate serious intentions to negotiate honestly, based on respect for each other’s interests and the principle of reciprocity.