🔴 #LIVE: The UN Security Council holds a meeting to discuss the shelling attack on Belgorod

🔗 https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1b/k1blaghh5x

📰 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s written interview with RIA Novosti (December 31, 2023)

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#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.

🇷🇺🇺🇳 Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN:

🎙Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at UNSC briefing regarding the attacks against Belgorod (December 30, 2023)

💬 Let me ask where these people are today. Where are the representatives of EU member states, who come in packs and bunches to request to take the floor at meetings on Ukraine in order to read their tired propaganda on camera?

❓Where is the representative of the Czech Republic, whose missiles killed civilians in Belgorod?

❓ Where is the representative of Poland, who yesterday told us about the missile that flew into its territory, which 500 soldiers of the territorial defense troops of the Lublin province were looking for and could not find?

❓ Where is the representative of the European Union?

Make no illusions and drop the pretenses. Brussels, along with Washington and London, as well as the majority of EU countries, are complicit in the crimes committed by the Kiev clique.

Today members of the Security Council have a chance to do their duty and give an objective assessment of the terrorist attack of the Kiev regime against the peaceful Russian city of Belgorod.

👉 Let me stress that this was not some shards. The footage clearly showed a missile approaching. Here you can see the effect of this attack.

One of the targets was the Dynamo sports complex in Belgorod, where youth gymnastics classes were held at that moment. Another was a skating rink in Belgorod city center. In order to increase the number of victims of the terrorist attack, cluster munitions were used

So this was a deliberate indiscriminate combined strike against a peaceful city.

This shelling of the central part of the city has killed 18 people, including three children. 108 people have been wounded, 5 children and 12 adults are in critical condition (update as of morning December 31: 22 people killed, 109 people wounded).

☝️ All organizers and perpetrators of this and other crimes of the Kiev junta will be inevitably punished.

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🇷🇺🎉🇿🇦 President of Russia Vladimir Putin sent Christmas and New Year 2024 greetings to President of the Republic of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa.

President Vladimir Putin wrote that the Russian Federation and South Africa enjoy friendly and constructive relations, as confirmed by the second Russia–Africa Summit.

💬 “I expect us to continue steadily expanding our mutually beneficial cooperation in various areas. We attach special importance to coordinating our efforts within BRICS. Russia intends to rely on South Africa’s best practices as we assume the chairmanship of this prominent and now expanded international association,” the Russian President said in his message.

#Russia #SouthAfrica #NewYear2024

🎙 New Year Address to the Nation by President Vladimir Putin

💬 We are bidding farewell to 2023.

The main thing which has united us is the destiny of the Motherland. There is a deep understanding of the utmost importance of the historic period which Russia is going through, those large-scale objectives which society is facing and the colossal responsibility for the Motherland which every one of us feels.

Work for the collective good has united society. We are united in our thoughts, tasks and in combat, whether at work or on days off, displaying the main traits of the Russian people – solidarity, mercy and firmness.

I would like to address our military personnel – everyone who is on duty, who is on the front lines fighting for truth and justice. You are our heroes. Our hearts are with you. We are proud of you and we admire your courage.

I am well aware that now you feel the love of those nearest and dearest to you, the powerful, sincere support of millions of Russian citizens, the support of the entire people.

We have proved over and over again that we are able to tackle the most difficult tasks and we will never back down as there is no force that can divide us, make us forget the memory and the faith of our fathers, or stop our development.

The upcoming year of 2024 has been declared the Year of the Family in our country. And a truly big family is definitely a family where children grow up, where parents are given attention, and treated with warm-heartedness and care, and where everyone loves and respects each other.

I would like to convey my very best wishes for the new year to all Russian families. After all, the history of our huge, wonderful and beloved Motherland is shaped by the history of each family. We – the multinational people of Russia – decide and create its fate.

We are one country, one big family. We will ensure the steady development of the Motherland, the well-being of our citizens, and we will become even stronger.

Happy New Year, friends! Happy 2024!

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🎙 Address by Russia's President Vladimir Putin on the start of Russia's BRICS Chairmanship

💬 On January 1, Russia was passed the baton of the #BRICS chairmanship, an association which, according to the decision adopted by the 15th BRICS Summit in August 2022, now includes 10 countries.

Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates joined BRICS as new full members which is a strong indication of the growing authority of the association and its role in international affairs.

BRICS is attracting an ever increasing number of supporters and like-minded countries that share its underlying principles, namely, sovereign equality, respect for the chosen path of development, mutual consideration of interests, openness, consensus, the aspiration to form a multipolar international order and a fair global financial and trade system, and pursuit of collective solutions to top challenges of our time.

The Russian 2024 BRICS Chairmanship under the motto Strengthening Multilateralism for Equitable Global Development and Security will act precisely in this manner and focus on positive and constructive cooperation with all countries concerned.

🔸 We will spare no effort to <...> facilitate the harmonious integration of new participants in all formats of its activities.

🔸 We will start working on the modalities of a new category of BRICS partner country.

🔸 Russia will continue to promote all aspects of the BRICS partnership in three key areas: politics and security, economy and finance, and cultural and humanitarian contacts.

🔸 Our priorities include promoting cooperation in science, high technology, healthcare, environmental protection, culture, sports, youth exchanges, and civil society.

🔸 In total, over 200 events of different levels and types will be held in many Russian cities as part of the chairmanship.

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⚡️ Foreign Ministry statement on the Kiev regime’s latest terrorist attack on the Russian city of Donetsk

❌ Armed formations of Ukrainian neo-Nazis, with support of the Western countries, continue to carry out terrorist attacks against Russian civilians. It is clear that they have nothing human in them. Neither the New Year nor the Christmas holidays stop them.

On New Year’s Eve, the city centre and other residential areas of Donetsk, including civilian infrastructure, were subjected to a massive attack from multiple launch rocket systems. It is already known that there are four dead and more than fourteen injured. According to preliminary reports, the victim includes journalists who were doing their job in the city.

Russian law enforcement promptly opened an investigation into this crime.

❗️ All those involved and responsible for this and other terrorist attacks on the territory of Russia will inevitably face punishment.

A couple of days ago, Zelensky turned to Hitler’s rhetoric again and called Russians “human scum,” once again demonstrating that Ukraine, which is infected with Nazism that has molded into terrorism, must be completely denazified and demilitarised. This will certainly be done. The Kiev regime and its leaders, who worship the criminals of the Third Reich, will end up just like their idols, elevated to the rank of heroes there.

We call on all responsible governments and relevant international organisations to dissociate themselves from the actions and decisions of the Kiev junta, to condemn its crimes aimed at the ostentatious, cynical destruction of the civilian population. Silence is regarded by Ukrainian neo-Nazis as approval of their actions.

☝️ At the same time, the West must understand that the criminal regime it has nurtured and sponsored, which the Westerners support to attack Russia, will one day turn NATO weapons against NATO countries.

🇷🇺 Saint Petersburg State University has been organising free Russian language courses for residents of Africa for several years now.

💬 Successful students, including Jessica Nyalungu from South Africa, talk about the courses and their participation in 60 seconds!

✅ For comparison, 50 Zimbabwean nationals applied for the course in 2021 while in 2023 there were already 2,500 students from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya, Algeria, Niger, Tunisia and Gambia.

👉 We invite you to read the first episode of the SPbU video series.

⚠️ Next course for South Africans will be launched in March 2024.

#RussianLanguageCourses

Excerpts from President Vladimir Putin's remarks during his visit to Vishnevsky Central Military Clinical Hospital

📍Moscow, January 1, 2024

💬 The situation on the battlefield is changing. This is despite the fact that the entire "civilised" West is fighting us. <...>

The most important thing we have is, of course, the unity of our people and society, because there is an understanding of how important the job you are doing on the battlefield is in the armed struggle for our country and our future. <...>

The problem is not with Ukraine, but with those who are trying to destroy Russia using Ukraine. That is the problem. But they will fail: it is simply out of the question.

The realisation is starting to dawn on them, and the rhetoric is changing: those who were talking just yesterday about the need to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia are now looking for the right words on how to quickly end the conflict.

☝️ We also want to end the conflict, as quickly as possible, but only on our terms. We have no desire to fight endlessly, but we are not going to cede our positions either.

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⚡️🇷🇺 The world's first operation using a bioprinter, consisting of a robotic arm, a bioprinting system and computer vision, was carried out at the Main Military Clinical Hospital named after N.Burdenko.

The trajectory of biopolymer delivery in situ, that is, directly into the wound, was programmed by a MISIS university specialist after scanning the injury site.

💉The doctor took the patient’s cells from the bone marrow to “put” them into the bioprinter. The robot carried out scanning and bioprinting without human intervention. Doctors are confident that this equipment opens up new possibilities for the treatment of complex soft tissue injuries.

“Using a robotic arm, we printed a matrix in the patient’s forearm with bioink to replace a soft tissue defect. The composition consists of a mixture of highly purified concentrated sterile solution of collagen and cells. This technique was carried out for the first time; it is especially relevant for multiple wounds of the extremities, when the donor resource is limited. In case of extensive wounds in the future, we plan to scan the entire body and replace all wounds with this method. This will speed up their healing time and will reduce the time patients stay in the hospital,” said surgeon, who supervised the operation at the hospital.

#madeinrussia #technologies4people

In late Dec 2023, a doping scandal broke out in Spain. For 5 years the National Anti-Doping Organization (CELAD) has been manipulating the results of doping tests of athletes under its aegis.

💡 Spanish online news outlet Relevo reported that CELAD had found positive results and waited the maximum allowed time of one year between opening a case and informing the athlete in question while hiding others by retroactive approval of Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUE).

☝️ Several days ago, WADA issued a statement admitting there was a mess in Spanish doping-control system, but the World Agency “was looking into the matter.” And moreover, “WADA took the highly unusual action in 2023, of taking away three Athlete Biological Passport cases from it and handing them over to the relevant International Federations to deal with instead” and “imposed strict deadlines on CELAD for the rendering of a decision.”

❓Stripping of accreditation? National flag/anthem ban? Taking to court? Bar from competitions?

❌ Nothing of the kind. We understand, that’s different.

#wada #dopingcontrol #doublestandards

⚠️ Scandal in Italy as a video of a fascist rally which took place in Rome yesterday emerged on social media.

In the video, lines of men can be seen making Nazi salutes and shouting "present" three times as one of their number yelled "For all fallen comrades!" - a typical rallying cry at neo-fascist events.

👉 According to Reuters, the event marked the 46th anniversary of the killing of three neo-fascists in Via Acca Larentia, in southeast Rome. Two of them were gunned down by suspected far-left militants while the third was killed by police after a riot broke out shortly after the shooting.

💡Media report that such rallies in Rome are held annually, hence with the permission of authorities. Yet this time something went wrong.

☝️ Honouring a Nazi criminal in the parliament of Canada, now a fascist rally in a European capital… Is it a mere coincidence or is it the ‘brown plague’ raising its head all across the West?

#nazism #stopnazism #italy #fascistrally

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

💬 UK Secretary of State for Defence Grant Shapps wrote on his X account: “The world has turned its back on Russia, forcing Putin into the humiliation of going cap in hand to North Korea to keep his illegal invasion going. In doing so Russia has broken multiple UNSC resolutions and put the security of another world region at risk. This must stop now. Together with our partners we’ll make sure North Korea pays a high price for supporting Russia.”

1. Is Grant Shapps about to tweet how many UNSC resolutions the UK has breached in the past 50 years? With its invasion of Iraq, for example.

2. What about the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)? Have the ministries in London worked it out? Also, I believe they should shed light on what happened to HMS Sheffield, which sank near the Falklands in 1982. Specifically, whether there were nuclear weapons on board. Let me remind you that in the photos of the Sheffield crew that survived the sinking, the crew members were, oddly enough, wearing radiation protection gear. At the time, Shapps’s predecessors at the Ministry of Defence denied the fact that the warships bound for the islands carried nuclear weapons. But 20 years later, similar to the situation with Iraq, London acknowledged its small lie. A very small one. Britain could no longer deny it and confirmed that the ships had indeed been carrying nuclear weapons in 1982. The official spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence stated that “the weapons were Type WE.177 nuclear depth charges;” they “never entered the territorial waters of the Falkland Islands.” “A decision was taken to transfer them to other ships heading back home.” This should be verified, don’t you think?

3. I understand that poor English education has become a signature mark of the British government. Shapps could perform a simple calculation and subtract the number of NATO countries from the countries representing the Global Majority. Unfortunately, it seems like he struggles with counting.

4. Britain was the largest colonial empire in human history, with its domain spanning across all populated continents. You can learn more about this in our history section and the white book reports about the crimes of the Anglo-Saxons and their allies.

And since Shapps’s jab was specifically about North Korea, I must mention the bloody war on the Korean Peninsula that Great Britain contributed to as part of the so-called UN forces.

Here is just a brief list of London’s modern-time neo-colonial campaigns: British ground and air forces participated, alongside the Americans, in the aggression against Yugoslavia and the destruction of Iraq (see par. 1) and its population, as well as Libya, Afghanistan, the bombing of Syria and most recently – the support for the Kiev regime provided by the Anglo-Saxons in violation of all resolutions on non-supplying lethal weapons to conflict zones.

There is one thing that Shapps got right: “This must stop now.”

https://yangx.top/MariaVladimirovnaZakharova/6856

#Outcomes2023

⚡️On January 18 at 11 am, the Foreign Ministry Press Centre will host a news conference by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the 2023 Russian diplomacy results.

Russian and foreign media representatives are invited.

Accreditation is open until 12 noon on January 15.

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❓Do you know that… the first Russian nesting doll Matryoshka was made in 1890s?

🥉The novelty toy was exhibited in Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900, where it won the bronze medal in the toy section.

🇷🇺 While the other toys remained unknown, the nesting dolls rose to popularity in a jiffy such that now it has become a national icon.

#FactOfTheDay #RussiaTriviaFacts #DiscoverRussia