❗️ The UK's so-called sanctions, even though wrapped in vague notions of Western collective responsibility or 'personal missions', are illegitimate and futile.

This is consistently evidenced by the growth of Russia's trade with other countries, including those in the Global South, as well as our economy. Just today the World Bank raised Russia's GDP growth outlook to 3,2% for 2024.

The ongoing attempts to undermine free international trade are conspicuously similar to the previous government's policy. They do not correspond to the missions pledged by the Labour Party in order to be elected and result in lasting harm to the UK's own interests, the country's economy and its people's welfare.

📺 Watch Ambassador Andrei Kelin's interview with Laura Kuenssberg on BBC One (20 October 2024)

Skripal case

• We have put enormous amount of questions to the investigators. None of them have been answered at all, and we still expect that we will have a contact with the Skripals because they are Russian citizens. We have asked many times, both formally and informally, that we should talk to these people in order to establish the truth. But so far we have no answer.

• [The Salisbury provocation] was a big case, which was initially staged to drive a wedge in relations between Russia and the UK.

Ukraine conflict

• The British government is waging an aggressive war against Russia by the hands of the Ukrainians. This is a proxy war led by the United Kingdom's government by providing lethal weapons [to Ukraine] with which it is killing Russian soldiers and civilians.

• What worries us is that there is no [actual] peace plan in the "peace plan" presented by Zelensky. He does not want peace talks. He keeps asking for more and more: NATO [membership], European Union assistance, defence packages, anything, but nothing about negotiations at all.

US elections

• For us, it doesn't make any difference whether it's Democrats or Republicans, because there is a bipartisan consensus on the issue of Russia, and that is anti-Russian sentiment, anti-Russian position. They continue to state that Russia should be strategically defeated.

Russia's nuclear doctrine

• We are changing our doctrine. It is connected to the discussion in the West [about an option to allow Kiev to use western long-range missiles to strike deep into the Russian territory]. The targeting, the flight plan, the information from the satellites and the launch itself can only be done by the UK specialists if we are talking about these missiles supplied to Kiev by the UK. In this case the UK will be an accomplice of the Ukrainian forces. And we have to reconsider this situation. And, of course, some measures will be prepared.

Russia-UK relations

• We have a 450-year history of relations. And if the UK government has taken a wrong position, sooner or later they will acknowledge that this is the position of a loser. When they realise that they are losing this case [in Ukraine] and it was wrong, then perhaps there will come a time when we will have a discussion.

• We didn't start it. We didn't start to spoil our relationship, to cut off all the ties that bind us. So, the initiative is on the side of the British government.

Watch the interview in full on our YouTube channel

🎙 President Vladimir Putin answered questions from the heads of leading BRICS media agencies ahead of the upcoming BRICS Summit in Kazan.

Key talking points:

🔸 What sets BRICS apart from many other international organisations? BRICS was never meant to be created in opposition to anyone. BRICS does not set itself in opposition to anyone. It is a group of countries that work together, guided by shared values, a common vision for development, and, most importantly, by the consideration of each other’s interests.

🔸 Around 30 countries have expressed interest in cooperating with BRICS in some form or participating in its activities. This is a clear and visible impact of our recent expansion. We will not turn anyone away. The doors are wide open.

🔸 Amidst all the active conflicts in the world today, the advancement of BRICS will have a beneficial effect on the global developments, if it develops based on non-confrontation and cooperation solely in the interests of the group countries.

🔸 The US ruined relations with Russia, constantly impose sanctions and this, eventually, negatively affects the US and the US dollar. The whole world started contemplating whether US dollars should be used since the United States, for political reasons, restricts the use of the US dollar as a universal international payment unit.

🔸 We did not decide to stop using the US dollar as universal currency, we were denied using it. Now, 95% of Russia’s foreign trade with its partners is being carried out in national currencies. The West thought everything would collapse. No, it did not. Trade is developing on a new foundation.

🔸 In the modern world, creating nuclear weapons is not a difficult task. I do not know whether Ukraine is capable of doing this now though. I can say straight away: under no circumstances will Russia allow this to happen.

🔸 We are ready for a dialogue on a peace settlement to the Ukraine conflict, but only based on the document that was developed during the thorough talks that took several months in 2022 and were initialled by the Ukrainian side. We are interested in settling it as soon as possible and by peaceful means like no one else. It was not us who broke off the talks; it was the Ukrainian side saying that it would not continue negotiations with Russia.

🔸 NATO is fighting us, but they are fighting this proxy war using Ukrainian soldiers. Ukraine does not spare its soldiers in the interests of third states. <...> NATO doesn’t care about Ukrainians: they are not its soldiers. It serves the interests of the United States, and in this sense the US doesn’t care either.

Read in full

💬 Ambassador Andrei Kelin: There are two things that must be done. One is that Ukraine should remain a neutral and non-nuclear country in accordance with its Constitution.

And the second thing, which is not talked about very much, is that human rights should be fully restored in Ukraine. I mean the human rights of other nations: Russians, Hungarians, Romanians, all those who live there. All these laws that discriminate against them should be abolished. <...>

We are in favour of the speediest negotiated political solution in Ukraine. But we do not see any reciprocity. No one — neither the Ukrainian president, nor his government, nor any of the NATO leaders — is talking about negotiations. <...>

What do you want? That we will end it unilaterally? No, that is not going to happen.

☝️ We want to settle this conflict forever and on normal terms. The terms that will provide Europe, Russia and Ukraine with normal security guarantees.

Watch the full interview on YouTube