🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with the Sputnik, Govorit Moskva, and Komsomolskaya Pravda radio stations (April 19, 2024)

💬 Sergey Lavrov: President of Russia Vladimir Putin is constantly reminding everyone that we always prefer talks to fights and wars.

We already had some experience. After the Ukrainians realised that they had overdone it, while shelling Donbass and promoting direct genocide methods against the Russians on their own territory (as they had believed), they suggested launching talks two or three weeks after the special military operation began. We immediately agreed.<...>

At this stage, we always repeat the following <...> whenever anyone asks whether we are ready for talks. First, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky has forbidden himself to negotiate with Russia. As Russia's President Vladimir Putin said answering this question, he should at least take the first step and repeal that order.

Secondly, they cannot be trusted. We have been trying to make ourselves trust them for too long.

☝️ And yet, we are ready to negotiate. But unlike the Istanbul story, we will not pause the military actions for the period of negotiations. The process must go on. In addition, the realities on the ground have changed significantly. These realities must be taken into account.

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🎙 Comment by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on the murder of Russian military correspondent Semyon Yeryomin

On April 19, Izvestia’s military correspondent Semyon Yeryomin perished in a well-aimed drone attack in the Zaporozhye Region. The attack was launched by armed units of the Kiev regime, while he was performing his professional duty.

He died from wounds inflicted by an artillery shell dropped from a Ukrainian drone in a second deliberate attempt on his life.

❗️ We regard this premeditated and coldblooded murder as yet another confirmation exposing the ugly, terrorist nature of the Zelensky regime, which has declared open season on Russian media persons, military correspondents and public figures, whose reports, comments and publications reveal the truth to the international community and furnish undeniable evidence of crimes committed by the Kiev regime’s thugs.

It was Semyon Yeryomin who published documentary evidence of the Armed Forces of Ukraine designating Russian frontline correspondents as priority targets for annihilation.

The murder of Semyon Yeryomin, this bloody crime, cannot be seen as anything other than an act of vengeance for his honest performance of his journalistic duty.

We urge the related international organisations and human rights bodies to immediately and resolutely denounce yet another cruel murder of a Russian journalist. By their habitual silence, they are encouraging the Kiev clique to new, ever more horrible terrorist attacks against media representatives, something that makes them accomplices in these crimes.

☝️ Double standards are totally unacceptable in a situation involving the media rights and efforts to create a safe environment for media professionals.

🎙 Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova's response to a question from the Rossiya Segodnya news agency regarding Polish President Andrzej Duda's statement on the readiness to deploy US nuclear weapons on Polish territory

❓ Question: In an interview with Fakt, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that the Polish authorities are ready to accept the deployment of US nuclear weapons on their territory. How would you comment on this?

💬 Maria Zakharova: Such provocative statements by the Polish leadership are not new. The Polish authorities have long made no secret of their ambitions to "snuggle up" to the US nuclear weapons deployed in Europe and have been actively weaving them into their deeply hostile policy towards Russia.

It is clearly not enough for Poland that it is already a member of NATO, which arbitrarily positions itself as a "nuclear alliance." Moreover, Warsaw is intensively involved in the practice of the so-called "joint nuclear missions" of the North Atlantic bloc as a state that provides direct support to such operations.

All this together leads to the fact that in our own military planning we treat Poland with special attention and in view of the threats that arise for Russia with the involvement of this country. The Polish factor was certainly also taken into account by us and our Belarusian friends in taking additional measures to strengthen the security of the Union State.

☝️ However, Warsaw seems to be maniacally seeking to attract even more attention from military planners in the Russian General Staff. It is not difficult to assume that in the event US nuclear weapons appear on Polish territory, the relevant facilities will immediately be added to the list of legitimate targets for engagement in a situation of direct military confrontation with NATO.