🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at the Russia-ASEAN ministerial meeting (Vientiane, July 26, 2024)

💬 I am glad to meet with you again in Vientiane. On this occasion, I would like to express sincere gratitude to our Laotian friends for their hospitality and excellent organisation of this event.

Let me convey our special gratitude to Cambodia, the coordinator of the #RussiaASEAN dialogue over the past three years, for its responsible approach to its duties. Today, the relay baton will be passed on to Myanmar. I would like to welcome the representative of Naypyidaw. <...>

It is gratifying that our dialogue partners and we share a similar vision of the parameters of the emerging multipolar international order based on the firm foundation of the UN Charter and other norms of international law, as well as the increased role of Global South nations in multilateral organisations in line with their rapidly growing importance in the world economy and politics.

🇷🇺 Moscow has consistently supported the strengthening #ASEAN’s role in regional affairs. We firmly believe that the ASEAN-centric architecture, based on inclusiveness and equality, regard for the interests of all members, and respect for their identity, should remain the foundation of security and sustainable development in the Asia Pacific Region.

Our relations have become truly comprehensive over the past three decades. Purposeful efforts are being made to increase political and security coordination and counteract modern challenges and threats. We see positive dynamics in practical areas, including the economy, energy, agriculture, and education. A significant event was Russia gaining the ASEAN digital partner status earlier this year. Other initiatives are also being successfully implemented in various areas, including youth cooperation.

🤝 I would like to use this opportunity to welcome the representative of East Timor, a new permanent participant in Russia-ASEAN events, and wish Dili successful integration into the political and economic processes in the region.

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🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks following his visit to Malaysia

📍 Kuala Lumpur, July 28, 2024

💬 Today, we held substantive and constructive talks with Prime Minister of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim and my colleague, Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan.

🇷🇺🇲🇾 We discussed all aspects of our bilateral cooperation. It is growing at a fast pace in many spheres, namely between the heads of various departments, including the Foreign Ministry, and parliaments, regional governments, political parties, Islamic organisations, business quarters, as well as analytical and educational centres. In short, we have wide-ranging relations. <...>

Malaysia is interested in expanding cooperation in education. About 700 Malaysian students are studying at our universities, most of them at medical departments. Russian and Malaysian universities maintain direct ties. In 2023, they signed over 30 joint documents, in particular, to launch joint educational programmes and projects in the fields of academic mobility, exchanges and the teaching of the Russian and Malay languages. <...>

🌐 We also discussed cooperation on the international stage, primarily at the UN, as well as in #ASEAN. <...>

We also exchanged views on regional matters. Just like all ASEAN countries and the Muslim world as a whole, our Malaysian friends are especially concerned about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and operations in Gaza. We share the opinion that a ceasefire must be coordinated and painful humanitarian issues addressed as soon as possible. Following that, the sides should launch talks on the practical parameters of establishing a Palestinian state.

Malaysia expressed interest in strengthening ties with #BRICS. We wholeheartedly welcome and will provide assistance to this as the group’s chair.

We talked about the situation in Ukraine and expressed gratitude to our Malaysian colleagues for their balanced and non-partisan stand based on understanding the root causes of that crisis created by the Western efforts to draw Ukraine into NATO and turn it into an “anti-Russia.”

✈️ I have invited my colleague to make a reply visit to Russia. I hope that we will be able to continue our communication soon. We have coordinated a plan of consultations between our deputy ministers and other senior officials on a broad range of international issues.

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🇷🇺🇮🇩 President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin held talks at the Kremlin with President-elect and Defence Minister of the Republic of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto, who has come to Russia on a working visit.

💬 Vladimir Putin: We know you as a good friend of our country. You are not only respected in Indonesia as a prominent military leader but also as a political figure. You have held the post of defence minister for many years. I know that you have developed very good relations with your Russian colleagues.

🤝 Russia and Indonesia share a long-standing friendship that began decades ago. Next year, we will mark 75 years of diplomatic relations between our countries.

📈 I would like to note that our trade and economic ties have been developing very well recently. Despite the pandemic and the current developments around Russia, including associated restrictions, our trade has been growing. It has doubled over the past years. This is a very positive trend, which makes us happy. I hope that it will persist.

We also hope that the draft agreement on the EAEU-Indonesia free trade zone, which is ready for signing, will play a positive and substantial role in the development of our trade and economic ties. <...>

We are ready to further increase agricultural deliveries and implement investment projects in energy, transport and infrastructure. It is the responsibility of our intergovernmental commission. <...>.

We also continue to cooperate in the humanitarian sphere. As per tradition, Indonesian students receive education in Russia, including on scholarships funded by the Russian budget, and we are ready to continue doing this. The Russian Centre for Science and Culture is operating in Jakarta. We would like to express our gratitude for supporting its work.

🌐 Last but not least, we also coordinate our positions on the international stage, including and primarily within #ASEAN.

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#RussiaIndonesia

🗓 Every year on August 8, the ten member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (#ASEAN) mark ASEAN Day. This date was approved by the ASEAN Standing Committee at its annual meeting in May 2005.

🌏 ASEAN was founded in Bangkok on August 8, 1967, by Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines, which signed the so-called Bangkok Declaration. Later, this regional organisation was joined by Brunei (1984), Vietnam (1995), Laos and Myanmar (1997), and Cambodia (1999).

ASEAN is one of the most successful regional organisations. It has a broad network of various intergovernmental associations involving Russia and other leading world powers: the East Asia Summit (#EAS), ASEAN Regional Forum (#ARF), and ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting-Plus (#ADMMPlus).

☝️ Promoting ties with ASEAN is Russia’s key foreign policy priority in Asia. The Russian Permanent Mission to ASEAN has been based in Jakarta since 2017. In 2018, Russia-ASEAN relations reached the level of strategic partnership, resulting in closer coordination on current global and regional issues with the ten member countries at leading multilateral venues, including the UN.

🤝 On July 26 and 27, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attended annual ministerial events held by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Vientiane. He took part in Foreign Ministers’ meetings in the Russia-ASEAN format, as well as within the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN Regional Forum.

💬 President Vladimir Putin at the Russia-ASEAN Summit (October 28, 2021): "Strengthening ties with ASEAN and its member states has always been and remains one of Russia's foreign policy priorities. <...> I would like to point out that the positions of Russia and the ASEAN states on key global and regional matters are similar in many respects. Most importantly, we all support the expansion of equal and mutually beneficial cooperation in the vast Asia-Pacific space."

#RussiaASEAN

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to questions at a meeting with students and faculty of MGIMO University (Moscow, September 2, 2024)

💬 I would like to congratulate all of you on #KnowledgeDay.

I would like to highlight that, according to the statistics, MGIMO graduates hold important positions at the Central Office of the Government of Russia, particularly the Presidential Executive Office. Additionally, two-thirds of them join the Foreign Ministry staff every year. This speaks volumes about the “seal of excellence” associated with the diplomas from this great – without any exaggeration, for me at least – institution of higher learning.

We welcome the fact that MGIMO supplies the Foreign Ministry with most of its staff. We are always eager to welcome those whose qualifications meet the high standards of Russian diplomacy. I would like to address the final-year students: together, we will implement the Foreign Policy Concept approved by President Vladimir Putin in March 2023.

I am certain that you keep up with international news and developments on the global stage. The primary trend is the strengthening of new growth and development centres located outside the historical West.

Regional integration associations, such as the #SCO, the #EAEU, #ASEAN, the #CIS, the #LAS, the African Union, and #CELAC, play a significant role at the current stage of development of the multipolar world order. #BRICS, as it strengthens its influence and authority, increasingly acts as an informal global coordinator for these regional integration processes.

The globalisation, which the West pro-actively promoted for years, has been accepted as a method of interstate relations in the economy, technology and the financial sector. However, this globalisation model is now falling apart.

We will advance integration processes within the EAEU, CIS, SCO, ASEAN, and, of course, strengthen strategic partnership with China, India, Brazil, and all our other like-minded countries, working in the context of forming the Eurasian architecture. There are many, it is impossible to list them all. That is why we have a clear and comprehensible image of the future – multipolarity, based on another key principle of the UN Charter – sovereign equality of the state.

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❗️The essence of Western policy towards Russia has always been based on the assumption that our country is too strong and independent and that something must be done to change this, preferably by pulling it down. History repeats itself. Today, these 50 countries have again been rallied under Nazi banners against Russia, considering the essence of Zelensky’s regime or even the chevrons and flags of the so-called Ukrainian army. <...> Today, all those who show independence and a will to defend their national interests within international law while refusing to play by Western rules, are under threat. It is clear, however, that these attempts are largely an agony of the West.

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We do not seek to embed ourselves into various “schemes” that are being established by Western “rules” without our participation and without consideration of our interests. We will continue to champion widely held principles of international law and the UN Charter in their entirety instead of cherry-picking them as the West does.

President Putin has repeatedly stressed that “we are open to contacts with the countries of the ‘collective West’ on the understanding that they pivot away from their openly hostile course towards our country”. Any unfriendly moves will still be met with a tough response. The ball is not in our court, it is up to those who set out to deliberately destroy their relations with Russia and demonise our land and our nation.

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🤝 On September 10, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Secretary-General of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (#IORA) Salman Al Farisi in Moscow.

During their conversation they considered key issues on the IORA agenda as well as promising areas of interaction in terms of further involvement of Russia, which was granted the Dialogue Partner status in 2021, in the association’s practical activity. The Association Secretariat expressed an interest in Russian approaches to the sectoral areas prioritised for this platform: maritime cooperation, tourism, blue economy, fishing and environmental protection.

The minister made an emphasis on the importance of IORA’s applied potential in the context of deepening multilateral cooperation in a broad transcontinental space, involving such systemically important associations as the #SCO, #EAEU and #ASEAN.

🎙Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview to Newsweek magazine (October 7, 2024)

❓Question: As the Ukraine conflict continues, how different is Russia's position than in 2022 and how are the costs of conflict being weighed against the progress made toward strategic objectives?

💬 Sergey Lavrov: Our position is widely known and remains unchanged. Russia is open to a politico-diplomatic settlement that should remove the root causes of the crisis.

It should aim to end the conflict rather than achieve a ceasefire. The West should stop supplying weapons, and Kiev should end the hostilities.

👉 Ukraine should return to its neutral, non-bloc and non-nuclear status, protect the Russian language, and respect the rights and freedoms of its citizens.

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On 14 June, Russian President Vladimir Putin listed prerequisites for the settlement as follows: complete AFU withdrawal from the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson Oblasts; recognition of territorial realities as enshrined in the Russian Constitution; neutral, non-bloc, non-nuclear status for Ukraine; its demilitarization and denazification; securing the rights, freedoms and interests of Russian-speaking citizens; and removal of all sanctions against Russia.

Kiev responded to this statement by an armed incursion into the Kursk Oblast on 6 August. Its patrons – the US and other NATO countries – seek to inflict a «strategic defeat» on Russia. Under the circumstances, we have no choice but to continue our special military operation until the threats posed by Ukraine are removed. <...>

❓Question: How likely do you think it is that a military or diplomatic solution can be achieved, or do you see a greater risk of the conflict spiraling into something even larger with Ukrainian forces receiving more advanced NATO weaponry and entering Russian territory?

💬 Sergey Lavrov: Making guesses is not my job. What I want to say is that we have been trying to extinguish this crisis for more than a decade, yet each time we put to paper agreements that suite everyone, Kiev and its masters would backpedal. <...>

At present, as far as we can see, restoring peace is not part of our adversary's plan. Zelensky has not revoked his decree banning negotiations with Moscow. Washington and its NATO allies provide political, military and financial support to Kiev so that the war would go on. They are discussing authorizing the AFU to use Western long-range missiles to strike deep into Russian territory. "Playing with fire" in this way may lead to dangerous consequences. As stated by President Putin, we will take adequate decisions based on our understanding of the threats posed by the West. It is up to you to make conclusions.

❓Question: What concrete plans does Russia have in line with its strategic partnerships with China and other powers to achieve changes in the current world order and how do you expect these ambitions to play out in areas of intense competition and conflict, including the Middle East?

💬 Sergey Lavrov: What we have in mind is that the world order needs be adjusted to the current realities. Today the world is living through the "multipolar moment". Shifting towards the multi-polar world order is a natural part of power rebalancing, which reflects objective changes in the world economy, finance and geopolitics. The West waited longer than the others, yet it has also started to realize that this process is irreversible.

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Multipolarity manifests itself in the increasing role of regional associations, such as the #EAEU, #SCO, #ASEAN, #AfricanUnion, #CELAC and others. #BRICS has become a model of multilateral diplomacy. The #UN should remain a forum for aligning the interests of all the countries.

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🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions following the 19th East Asia Summit (#EAS)

📍 Vientiane, October 11, 2024

💬 Sergey Lavrov: We have completed our meetings as part of the 19th East Asia Summit. President of Russia Vladimir Putin instructed me to represent him at this event.

The discussions evidenced that our Western colleagues, who are #ASEAN partners <…> have been seeking to undermine the multilateral economic and security architecture which has evolved over decades with ASEAN at its core and which has proven its relevance and effectiveness.

However, it is obvious today that the United States and its allies decided to draw the Asia-Pacific Region into NATO’s sphere of interests by creating all these narrow and exclusive US-led military and political associations. <...>

☝️ We have highlighted that this Western policy may lead to the region’s militarisation, while also threatening stability and sustainable development in the Asian part of our shared continent.

Russia reaffirmed its unwavering support for ASEAN countries in their efforts to preserve peace and ensure equal cooperation with all ASEAN partners.

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👉 Instead of using the events held as part of the East Asia Summit for pursuing vested political interests, Russia opted for promoting initiatives in several domains, including pandemic response, people-to-people contacts, including tourism, and supporting volunteering. We offer practical avenues for working together which can benefit all the participants and advocate equal and mutually beneficial cooperation. <...>

The Association hosted the Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as its guest at the East Asia Summit for the third time. He put forward a proposal to promote closer contacts between the SCO and ASEAN in various spheres that are relevant for the countries involved. <...>

We welcomed the fact that several ASEAN countries want to forge closer ties with #BRICS. Today, this structure acts as one of the cornerstones of a multipolar world order. In just a few days, Kazan will be hosting the BRICS Summit, which will be a major international event. Several ASEAN countries were invited to attend it, and they accepted these invitations.

Excerpts from responses to media questions. Key talking points:

• The final declaration has not been adopted because of the persistent attempts by the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand to turn it into a purely political statement, contrary to the decades-long practice of East Asia summits, which boils down to preventing the saturation of declarations with confrontational geopolitical narratives.

• When the United States and its allies unanimously reaffirmed their commitment to ASEAN’s central role in facilitating cooperation in the region today, they were being dishonest. Everything they do is aimed at containing Russia and China. Everything that has been accomplished in the ASEAN-centric format over decades is being sacrificed to this goal now. That format was convenient for everyone and incorporated the interests of each and every stakeholder. So, the destructive nature of Washington’s actions in the region is obvious.

• We are seriously concerned about re-militarisation of Japan. Having forgotten the lessons of WWII, the Japanese authorities have stated increasing defence spending and augmenting its basic doctrines with a pre-emptive strike capability.

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