🎙 Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova's answer to a media question regarding the practice of applying unilateral coercive measures (December 26, 2025)

❓ Question: How would you comment on the differences in approaches between the “collective West” and the Global Majority to the use of unilateral coercive measures in contemporary international relations?

💬 Maria Zakharova: This practice runs counter to the UN Charter, which vests the exclusive prerogative to impose measures of this nature in the UN Security Council, and only in cases involving threats to peace and security.

In this context, the use of unilateral coercive measures (UCMs) constitutes an encroachment on the unique powers of the UN Security Council. It is well known that the “collective West” routinely resorts to this practice, most often driven by geopolitical considerations.

UCMs represent a serious obstacle to the formation of a just and equitable polycentric world order.

They serve as one of the main instruments of the neocolonial policy of the “collective West”, the goal of which is evident – to preserve its slipping dominance, deprive the countries of the Global Majority of their right to an independent political choice, and slow down their economic, technological and industrial development.

Attempts by the initiators of UCMs to portray them as a “peaceful means of dispute settlement” do not withstand criticism. It is well known that, by hindering the full-fledged socio-economic development of the countries of the Global South and East, unilateral coercive measures undermine efforts to resolve crisis situations. Their indiscriminate nature violates fundamental human rights and freedoms, first and foremost affecting the most vulnerable segments of the population – a fact repeatedly condemned in resolutions of the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council.

At the forefront of efforts to counter UCMs within the United Nations stands the Group of Friends in Defence of the UN Charter, which includes the Russian Fededation.

Among the Group’s unquestionable achievements in this area is the adoption, at its initiative, of an entire package of UN General Assembly documents, including Resolution 78/329, which shifted the General Assembly debates on unilateral coercive measures from a three-year to a two-year cycle, as well as Resolution 79/293, adopted in June this year, which proclaimed December 4 as the International Day against Unilateral Coercive Measures.

It is important that the Group’s steps to counter this unlawful practice are part of a broader anti-neocolonial front. It was at the Group’s initiative that the UN General Assembly adopted the principled Resolutions 79/115, “Eradication of colonialism in all its forms and manifestations”, and 80/106, which proclaimed December 14 as the International Day against Colonialism in all its forms and manifestations.

❗️ We are confident that in a truly just multipolar architecture of international relations – which we all aspire to build – there is no place for coercion or neocolonial hegemony. Together with our partners – responsible members of the Global Majority – we will continue the fight against all remnants of the shameful colonial era.

#StopColonialism

🇷🇺 Key foreign policy outcomes of 2025

#Outcomes2025

In 2025, Russia made a significant contribution to strengthening the foundations of a just multipolar world order based on international law and cooperation between countries. Decisive steps were taken to protect the country’s vital national interests on the external front, with a focus on the CIS countries and Eurasia.

This year marked the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory. Alongside its like-minded international partners, Russia reaffirmed its commitment to inviolability of the post-war world order and its foundation in the form of the full body of principles enshrined in the UN Charter understood as an indivisible and interdependent whole.

• In the Commonwealth of Independent States, 2025 was declared the Year of Peace and Unity in the Fight against Nazism.

• A solemn General Assembly session to commemorate WWII victims was held at Russia’s initiative at the New York UN headquarters in May. An annual resolution on combatting glorification of Nazism and neo-Nazism co-sponsored by 44 countries was adopted in December.

• Comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction between Russia and China received a strong boost thanks to successful leader diplomacy by President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping and reciprocal visits to Moscow in May and to Beijing in September.

• After the new US administration came to the White House in January, political dialogue with Washington at the top levels was restored. During the Russia-US summit in Anchorage on August 15, understandings were reached that could form the basis for resolving the Ukraine conflict by addressing its underlying causes, including military threats to Russia created by NATO expansion and policies undermining the rights of the Russian and Russian-speaking populations.

• Relations with North Korea took on a new dimension, with the DPRK providing allied assistance in liberating the Kursk Region from Ukrainian militants and contributing significantly to creating proper conditions for the region’s return to peaceful life, in accordance with the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty.

• A new stage in relations with Iran was marked by the signing in January and entry into force in October of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty.

• Tangible results were achieved in supporting integration processes in Eurasia.

• Within the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), priority tasks were identified for implementing the collective security strategy, steps were taken to strengthen the combat readiness of collective forces, and an anti-narcotics strategy through 2030 was approved.

• On December 14, at the initiative of Russia and other member states of the Group of Friends in Defence of the UN Charter, the UN General Assembly proclaimed the International Day for the Elimination of Colonialism in all its forms, and on December 4, the International Day for Combatting Unilateral Coercive Measures.

• Measures taken to protect Orthodox Christianity and other Russian religions and denominations created favourable conditions for the resettlement of foreign nationals, including from countries with unfriendly governments, to our country under the framework of the Presidential Executive Order On Providing Humanitarian Support to Individuals Sharing Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values.

• Efforts to combat the spread of untruthful information about Russia in foreign printed and social media intensified, including through cooperation with our international partners within the International Fact-Checking Network.

❗️ The firm defence of national interests in relations with the countries whose governments undertake hostile anti-Russian actions forced them to recognise the impossibility of inflicting on Russia a “strategic defeat on the battlefield” and led them to adopt a concept of an immediate cessation of hostilities in the Ukrainian theatre of operations.

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🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with TASS News Agency (December 28, 2025)

Key points

• Russia appreciates efforts by President of the United States Donald Trump and his team to achieve a peace settlement. We are committed to continuing to work with the American negotiators to devise lasting agreements for addressing the conflict’s root causes.

We see that Vladimir Zelensky’s regime and his European curators are not ready to engage in constructive talks. <...> Meanwhile, almost all European countries with few exceptions have been pumping the Kiev regime full of money and weapons.

• There has been a thorough effort to review the updated version of the US National Security Strategy, which is quite understandable. Its central tenets must be supported by what the US does, but even today it offers a new vision. Experts believe that this could be indicative of an effort in Washington to reconsider its international standing. <...> 👉 Speaking of Russia, one thing worth mentioning is the fact that the strategy does not contain any calls to subject our country to a system-wide containment and deterrence policy.

It may be the first time for the United States when it publicly questioned NATO’s long-standing commitment to expansionism, even if it stopped short of undertaking not to expand NATO. <...> Some of the ideas set forth in this strategy are not at odds with efforts to promote dialogue between Russia and the United States. That said, we will make our final decisions only by looking at what the US administration does on the international stage.

• The EU has been seeking to dismantle mechanisms for working with Russia. It all started somewhere around 2014, when the ruling elites in most European countries started <...> inciting Russia-hating and militarist sentiment among their people.

• In 2025, we witnessed unprecedented events with Israel carrying out a direct act of aggression against Iran together with the United States, which targeted facilities related to the Iranian nuclear programme with missile and bomb strikes despite the fact that these facilities benefit from IAEA’s guarantees. <...> We would like to note that the Iranians have been exercising maximum restraint and composure by responding to all the provocations and blackmail on behalf of the West by stating their commitment to dialogue and resolving the lingering differences by political means.

We have shared our assessment of the situation in the Gaza Strip many times. We welcomed international mediation efforts. Thanks to these efforts the hot phase of the bloodshed that lasted since October 2023 was stopped and the mass starvation of the Palestinians prevented. <...>

The main thing here is to remedy the historical injustice and provide for establishing a viable Palestinian state, which would coexist with Israel.

• Taiwan is currently used as a tool of military-strategic deterrence against the PRC. This is also a matter of pursing vested interests. <...> We believe that the Taiwan problem is an internal affair of the PRC.

• Whether leaders like Ursula von der Leyen, Friedrich Merz, Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron and the like have reached a point of no return is hard to say. We do see that so far, the European war party has been investing its political capital in inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia, and is ready to go the whole nine yards. <...> Not only they do not care about the Ukrainians but they do not care about their people either.

This is the only way to explain the fact that there is still talk in Europe about sending military forces to Ukraine as part of the so-called coalition of the willing. We have said many times that in this case our Armed Forces would view them as a legitimate target.

❗️My messages for European politicians who seem to have problems getting to grips with this fact – I hope they get to read this interview – is to repeat one more time 👉 there is no need to be afraid of Russia attacking anyone. However, should anyone consider attacking Russia, they would face a devastating blow.

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⚡️ Comment by Aide to the President Yury Ushakov following the telephone conversation between Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump (December 28, 2025)

💬 Yury Ushakov: President Vladimir Putin has just finished his telephone conversation with President of the United States Donald Trump.

The conversation took place at the US President’s initiative. The US President wished to discuss the current developments in the context of the Ukrainian conflict and its potential resolution with the President of Russia.

President Trump wished to discuss these matters before his in-person meeting with Zelensky later today at Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

Logically, at the beginning of the conversation that continued for 1 hour and 15 minutes, the presidents exchanged warm Christmas and New Year greetings and, naturally, wished happiness to both nations.

The rest of the conversation was similarly friendly, good-natured and business-like, with mutual interest in making progress towards a long-term resolution of the Ukrainian conflict.

Donald Trump paid close attention to Russia’s assessment of the realistic prospects for an agreement, and to our President’s detailed rationale for the fundamental importance of continuing to build upon the Russian-American understandings established during the Anchorage summit and the numerous subsequent contacts between the two administrations.

Most significantly, the Russian and US presidents share a broadly similar view that the temporary ceasefire proposed by Ukraine and Europe – under the pretext of preparing for a referendum or other such measures – would merely prolong the conflict and risk a renewed escalation on the battlefield. <...>

Donald Trump repeatedly emphasised the necessity of ending the war as swiftly as possible and spoke of the impressive prospects for economic cooperation between the United States and both Russia and Ukraine that would open up once the hostilities are over.

He acknowledged that the Ukrainian crisis has been his most formidable foreign policy challenge, stating that he now saw renewed proof of Russia’s commitment to a political and diplomatic settlement. It is with this understanding that he intends to frame his forthcoming negotiations with Zelensky.

It is particularly noteworthy that during today’s conversation, the Russian President acceded to the American proposal to continue efforts to resolve the Ukrainian situation through two specially established working groups. One will address various security dimensions, and the other, economic matters. <...>

❗️ Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump agreed to speak again by telephone promptly after the US President’s meeting with the Ukrainian delegation at Mar-a-Lago this evening.