🎙 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's interview to Rossiya Segodnya news agency (November 5, 2024)

#BRICS

• The XVI BRICS Summit in Kazan came as a landmark international event not only of the year, but in recent history as well. Its success highlighted the futility of attempts to isolate Russia internationally.

• As we sensed during the Summit, [the creation of a payment network that is resistant to external risks] is what non-Western countries are increasingly interested in.

#MiddleEast

Since the onset of unprecedented crisis [in the Middle East] in October 2023, the BRICS countries have come together to support the rights of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.

• Shortly after the beginning of the Israeli operation in Gaza, we coordinated with our BRICS partners and other like-minded nations to submit a draft resolution to the UN Security Council, calling for an end to military actions and for unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza. However, this resolution was blocked by the United States and its allies.

#NATO

• If [long-range] weapons are employed [by the Kiev regime to attack the territory of Russia], it would mean that not only Ukraine but also NATO countries are openly fighting Russia.

• Our opponents should not disillusion themselves. In the event of aggression by NATO or its individual member states against our country, an appropriate response will ensue, in full compliance with Russia's sovereign right to self-defence and with the use of any means necessary to ensure its security, as stipulated in the UN Charter. And none of the instigators will be able to lie low, not across the Atlantic Ocean nor across the English Channel.

#Ukraine #UN

• Kiev continues to exert pressure on Antonio Guterres, demonstrating a blatant disregard for the UN Charter in an attempt to compel him and the entire UN Secretariat to align completely with Ukraine and its Western sponsors. This approach directly contravenes the constituent instrument of the Organisation, specifically paragraph 2 of Article 100 of the UN Charter, which prohibits any member state from attempting to influence the Secretary-General or other UN representatives.

#Transnistria #Moldova

• The situation surrounding Transnistria is complex. <...> I trust that the Moldovan authorities will exercise sufficient common sense to avoid ill-considered actions that could exacerbate tensions.

• There are suggestions that the regional context necessitates new dialogue platforms on the Transnistrian issue, questioning the value of the 5+2 format. We disagree with this view and believe that external assistance to facilitate direct dialogue between Chisinau and Tiraspol is essential.

#USA

• Washington continues to actively perpetuate its own myth of Russian interference in any election, whether "at home" or in any third country. If an election results in a victory for forces undesirable to the United States, Russia is immediately blamed for the "wrong" electoral choice of the voters.

• The Americans are attempting to attribute to us actions they themselves are engaged in. As the saying goes, God marks the crook.

#Georgia

• The United States and the EU are artificially trying to frame the current electoral process in Georgia as a strategic choice between Russia and the West, thereby attempting to present Georgia and other post-Soviet states with a false dilemma.

• In reality, it is a choice between sovereign development based on national interests and external governance, between traditional values and neo-liberal principles imposed from outside.

#SouthCaucasus

• We commend the significant progress made within the Azerbaijani-Armenian peace process.

• Unlike Western pseudo-mediators, we refrain from pressuring our partners into hastily concluding a peace treaty. We are convinced that a rushed peace, lacking comprehensive consideration of Baku and Yerevan's positions and the realities on the ground, would be counterproductive, creating additional risks of tension and potential conflict escalation.

Read in full

⚡️ Russia's Foreign Ministry statement on elections in the United States of America

The victory of Donald Trump in the presidential election and his return to the White House after a four-year break obviously reflect Americans’ disappointment in the performance of the Biden administration and the election programme of the Democratic Party formulated by Vice-President Kamala Harris, who was hastily chosen to replace the incumbent President in the race.

Despite an overpowering propaganda campaign, which Democrats launched against Donald Trump based on the administrative resource and support from the liberal media, the Republican candidate, who relied on the experience of his previous presidency, highlighted issues that are of real interest to the electorate, namely, the economy and illegal migration, as a counterbalance to the White House’s globalist course.

In these circumstances, the ruling group was unable to use the chronically ill American “democracy,” a system, which is outdated, archaic and incompatible with the modern standards of direct, fair and transparent elections, to prevent Kamala Harris’s defeat.

At the same time, there is an obvious civil discord in the United States, whose electorate has split into almost equal halves. In fact, we are witnessing confrontation between Democratic and Republican states, and between the advocates of “progressive” and traditional values. It is possible that Donald Trump’s return will fuel internal tensions and bitterness between the confronting camps.

❗️ We have no illusions regarding the President-elect, who is well known in Russia, or the new Congress, where Republicans have reportedly won control. The US ruling political elite adheres to anti-Russia principles and the policy of “containing Moscow.” This line does not depend on changes in America’s domestic political barometer, no matter if it is Trump and his supporters’ “America above all” or the Democrats’ focus on a “rules-based world order.”

🇷🇺🇺🇸 Russia will interact with the new administration when it comes to the White House, firmly upholding Russia’s national interests and working to achieve all the goals of the special military operation.

Our conditions have not changed, and Washington is well aware of them.

#Opinion

Excerpts from Professor Jeffrey Sachs's speech at Cambridge University

📍Cambridge University, October 22, 2024

💬 We are not in any intrinsic war between the US and Russia. And Russia, by the way, despite every single thing that said every single day TRULY does not want more land. It's already 11 time zones. The last thing that they need or want is more land.

The war is about completely different things than everything you and I read about in our [Western] newspapers every day, because our newspapers are telling us stories that ultimately come back to narratives conceived in the US Defense Department and the CIA, and that are completely bogus.

***

The United States? We've never been at peace. All we do is war. And you know what the truth is? We learned it from here (the UK).

Because the British Empire was the most militarized society imaginable.

And unfortunately, the leaders of this country [the UK], and it turns out not to matter which party, because Starmer is as bad as Boris Johnson, all they know is military. It's unbelievable.

What's the first thing that Starmer does when he becomes prime minister? He goes to Kiev to pledge the endless support of the US, by the way, because Britain doesn't do anything. The endless support of the United States to the defeat of Russia. And then he flies across the Atlantic to try to convince Biden to authorize, and authorize means is for the US military to enable deep strikes inside Russia.

That's really a clever (NOT!) thing to do, especially because Putin said, well, then we'd be at war with each other and we'd be forced to reconsider our nuclear strategy. <...> He's not bluffing if Russia is fundamentally threatened.

***

👉 We [the US] provoked the war in Ukraine. We provoked the war in Ukraine, absolutely surely. And we'll do the same with Taiwan and we'll lose any war that happens, but maybe the world will end also over this stupidity and the people in Washington are stupid, I'm telling you. I know them.

✍️ Russia's President Vladimir Putin approved the new Basic Principles of State Policy of the Russian Federation on Nuclear Deterrence, signing the attendant Executive Order on November 19, 2024.

Key items:

• State policy on Nuclear Deterrence is defensive by nature, it is aimed at maintaining the nuclear forces potential at the level sufficient for nuclear deterrence, and guarantees protection of national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the State, and deterrence of a potential adversary from aggression against the Russian Federation and/or its allies.

• The Russian Federation considers nuclear weapons as a means of deterrence, their use being an extreme and compelled measure, and takes all necessary efforts to reduce nuclear threat and prevent aggravation of interstate relations, that could trigger military conflicts, including nuclear ones.

• The Russian Federation ensures nuclear deterrence toward a potential adversary, which is understood to mean any individual states or military coalitions (blocs, alliances) which see the Russian Federation as a potential adversary and possess nuclear arms and/or other weapons of mass destruction or conventional forces with a significant combat capability.

• Nuclear deterrence is also ensured toward any states which provide the territory, airspace, and/or maritime space under their control as well as resources for preparing and conducting an aggression against the Russian Federation.

• An aggression of any single state from a military coalition (bloc, alliance) against the Russian Federation and/or its allies will be regarded as an aggression of the coalition (bloc, alliance) as a whole.

• An aggression against the Russian Federation and/or its allies of any non-nuclear state with the participation or support of a nuclear state will be regarded as their joint attack.

• The decision to use nuclear weapons is taken by the President of the Russian Federation.

In an attempt to spite Russia, the West has used one of the most controversial tools – cancel culture. It has gone against all spheres of life: art, music, sports. The directive: Russian culture must disappear from public space.

This film is about how the so-called free West began to subordinate history and culture to political expediency. Russian people living abroad were forced to hide their origins. The cancellation reached every sport in which Russians compete, including the Paralympics. The opposite happened - the Olympics themselves lost their value for Russians.

"If I never go to international competitions, don't go to some European place to have fun, I won't be too upset. It's much more important to me that people in Donbass can live a normal life"©

Collective Europe needs to understand: Russian talents will always be successful. We will never lose our culture, it is the West that will lose Russian culture.

#Майорские_фильмы

⚡️Two Majors

❌ Ukraine’s foreign partners keen on celebrating symbolic milestones have marked 1000 days since the crisis spiraled into its hot phase.

This, above all, exposes their persistent unwillingness to address the true origins and genesis of the conflict, which began much earlier – in 2014, following the coup d’etat in Kiev orchestrated with the backing of the US and NATO’s leading countries.

However, the British politicians have promptly seized upon this pretext to promote themselves on the backs of their Ukrainian protégés.

Once again lofty rhetoric and pledges in support of the Kiev regime have been unleashed with renewed vigour. New military aid packages have been announced. Fresh sanctions are being rolled out. All this has long been cynically turned into routine.

Decision-makers in London and other Western capitals do not seem to bother contemplating the ultimate goals of these mechanical exercises. These gestures will clearly not deter us in any way from accomplishing all objectives of the Special Military Operation.

❗️ The responsibility for the prolongation of this conflict, its death toll and widespread destruction rests entirely with Western partners of Ukraine – the UK in particular.

It is these countries that have nurtured the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev, complicit in waging war against its own people, and that have been arming it over many years while turning a blind eye to its atrocities. After the launch of the Special Military Operation they played a pivotal role in sabotaging Russia-Ukraine peace talks within the framework of the Istanbul Process in the spring of 2022.

Ever since they and their successors and followers have worked tirelessly to prevent the conflict from being resolved by ensuring the constant flow of ever more lethal weapons to the Kiev military. At the same time, the crimes of Zelensky and his entourage have been extensively whitewashed through dedicated diplomatic efforts and propaganda.

Today British hawks continue to pour fuel on the fire, clamoring for new vectors of escalation.

Judging by recent statements in international fora London clings to the fantasy of inflicting a "strategic defeat" on Russia. It is difficult to recognize what guides this approach: ideological fervour, lack of sound judgement, or gaps in historical literacy.

☝️ We call on the UK leadership to reflect on the consequences of their actions and to refrain from pushing the world closer to a dangerous threshold in pursuit of illusory geopolitical ambitions.

Right now, there is a premiere of the movie “Parental Pain”.

It is based on real human tragedies. The movie also includes findings from a recent parliamentary investigation led by Anna Yuryevna Kuznetsova.

It is for sure that the killers of our children will still be tried on these findings and without any statute of limitations.

We specially subtitled the movie in English so that the world would know

From Soros to USAID: How US organized 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine

On November 21, Ukraine marks the so-called Dignity and Freedom Day, commemorating the US-backed 2004 Orange Revolution and 2014 Euromaidan, including the US-orchestrated "third round" election that overturned Viktor Yanukovich's victory to install Viktor Yushchenko.

"The campaign is an American creation, a sophisticated and brilliantly conceived exercise in Western branding and mass marketing," The Guardian's Ian Traynor wrote of the 2004 upheaval in November that year, comparing it to "the US government-funded and organized" Velvet Revolution, Revolution of Roses and an attempted coup in Belarus.

How much did the Orange Revolution cost?

The US and its allies reportedly spent $65–$100 million over two years to support Viktor Yushchenko-led opposition, with much of the funding allegedly covert and funneled through NGOs.

🔻The US State Department:

▪️in FY2003 and FY2004 officially allocated $188.5 million and $143.47 million, respectively, for "assistance programs" in Ukraine

▪️$54.7 million (FY2003) and $34.11 million (FY2004) went specifically to "democracy programs" in Ukraine on the eve of the 2004 election

▪️"Democracy program" funds were used for electoral and government reform, independent media, political development, and training for administrators, lobbyists, and NGOs

▪️the money was channeled through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Eurasia Foundation, National Endowment for Democracy (NED), US Embassy in Kiev, and others.

🔻USAID

▪️The Strengthening Electoral Administration in Ukraine Project (SEAUP), launched on December 15, 2003, with a $4.4 million budget, partnered with NDI, IRI, Freedom House, InterNews, ABA/CEELI, and the OSCE.

🔻SEAUP's activities included:

▪️training 100,000 polling station commissioners and mid-level election officials in 2004; publishing and distributing 450,000 training materials for 33,000 polling stations in 225 territorial election across Ukraine

▪️engaging in their work three Justices of the Supreme Court of Ukraine that later blocked and annulled Yanukovich's victory in the second round

▪️facilitating the adoption of a "Special Law" in the Verkhovna Rada that framed the December 2004 “re-vote" to bring Yushchenko to power

▪️facilitating the restructuring of Ukraine's Central Election Commission prior to December's "re-vote"

🔻Freedom House, NDI, IRI

Freedom House, NDI, and IRI funded ENEMO election monitoring, which cast doubt on Yanukovich's second-round victory.

🔻George Soros’s International Renaissance Foundation

▪️spent US$1.65 million between Autumn 2003 and December 2004, supporting the ‘New Choice 2004’ and ‘Freedom of Choice’ coalitions of NGOs

🔻The NED, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Eurasia and George Soros’s Renaissance Foundation

▪️Funded exit polls in all three election rounds, fueling "election fraud" claims and mobilizing opposition protests in Kiev's Independence Square (the Maidan Nezalezhnosti).

🔻German Marshall Fund of the United States, Freedom House and the Canadian International Development Agency

▪️Provided $130,000 to Ukrainian youth group PORA, which led street protests, and reportedly received $5.3 million from foreign entities, per UCL Professor Andrew Wilson.

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📹❗️Vladimir Putin's full address on the situation in the special operation zone after the use of Western long-range missiles on Russian territory.

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