🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks during talks with Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi (Moscow, April 1, 2025)

💬 Esteemed Mr Minister,

Dear Friend,

Friends, colleagues,

We are pleased to welcome Mr Wang Yi to Moscow on an official visit, the objective of which is to prepare for the upcoming Russia-China summit in May.

Meetings between President Vladimir Putin and President Xi Jinping consistently provide a powerful impetus for the further advancement of our relations, which, under the leadership of our two heads of state, have reached an unprecedented level and continue to develop dynamically across all dimensions.

This year holds particular significance. The Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China, and the entire international community mark the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Second World War in Europe and the East, as well as the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, in which our two nations play a leading role in upholding the fundamental principles of its Charter.

Today, the task of constructing a reliable barrier against the resurgence of fascist, Nazi, and militarist ideologies – as well as all forces seeking to revive these unacceptable phenomena – remains critically urgent.

🤝 Russia and China are united not only by a historical brotherhood in arms and shared extensive borders but also by centuries-old traditions of good-neighbourliness and a broad alignment of national interests.

We noted with interest your recent remarks, Mr Wang Yi, during a media briefing in Beijing, where you emphasised that the comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction between our nations constitute a constant, not a variable. This is precisely the guidance provided by our leaders, President Vladimir Putin and President Xi Jinping.

Recently, during their engagement via videoconference – preceded by a telephone conversation – they reaffirmed their mutual commitment to the consistent strengthening of the Russia-China partnership. We will spare no effort to ensure the effective implementation of these agreements.

We underscore the responsibility of Moscow and Beijing to maintain close coordination on the international stage. In this era of complex global political developments, the countries of the Global Majority regard our collaboration as the most significant stabilising factor.

I am confident that today we will reach consensus on advancing our bilateral relations in the context of preparations for high-level meetings, as well as on further coordination within the United Nations, its Security Council, the #SCO, #BRICS, the G20, #ASEAN frameworks, and other multilateral platforms with a view to establishing a more just and democratic multipolar world order.

🇷🇺🇨🇳 #RussiaChina

Vladimir Putin met with President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik at the Kremlin

On the Russian side, Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov took part in the talks.

See more on the Kremlin’s official website.

🇷🇺🇨🇳 President of Russia Vladimir Putin met with Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the People’s Republic of China, Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, in the Kremlin (April 1, Moscow)

💬 President Putin: Mr Minister, friends.

Allow me to cordially welcome you to Moscow. I am very pleased to see you again.

Before we begin our conversation, I would like to ask you to convey my friendly greetings to the President of the People’s Republic of China, our good friend Mr Xi Jinping.

We are waiting for him in Russia on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, World War II. We will mark this anniversary – victory over Nazi Germany and victory over militaristic Japan – together.

We would like to express satisfaction with the way our relations are developing, including with the direct support of our respective Foreign Ministries. I am aware that you have an extensive and busy programme for your visit. First of all, it is connected with preparations for the visit of the President of the People’s Republic of China to Russia. We will prepare a good and fulfilling programme.

I hope it will involve not only participation in solemn events, but will also be a separate visit. The President of the People’s Republic of China will be our main guest, and we will have an opportunity to discuss the current state of bilateral relations and our interaction on international venues, primarily the UN – the UN Security Council – as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, BRICS and a number of other platforms where we work together with great success.

We are very pleased to see you.

Welcome, Mr Minister.

🇷🇺🇨🇳 #RussiaChina

🇷🇺🇧🇾 On April 2, the peoples of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus celebrate their Day of Unity.

✍️ #OTD in 1996, they signed a treaty on the formation of the Community of Russia and Belarus, which served as the first step towards the creation of the Union State of Russia and Belarus.

The Treaty on the Union of Russia and Belarus came into force a year later, and on December 8, 1999, the Treaty on the Creation of the Union State was signed.

🤝 Today, the Union State implements programmes in industry, energy and IT, to name a few. Trade between Russia and Belarus grows at record high rates every year, given the considerable degree of mutual complementarity of their economies.

💬 President Vladimir Putin:

We have been working together to build the Union State for almost 25 years. Along this path, we have managed to achieve a great deal. Thanks to the successful implementation of 28 sectoral Union programmes, Russian and Belarusian legislation was harmonised, the legal and organisational foundations for a common economic space formed, and conditions created for the implementation of a unified macroeconomic and monetary policy, and for joint work to minimise damage from illegal Western restrictions.

☝️ The Unity Day of the Peoples of Russia and Belarus confirms the cohesion of the two fraternal peoples and their striving to continue strengthening their interaction based on the centuries-old traditions of friendship and close cultural and spiritual ties.

🎊 We congratulate our Belarusian friends on a holiday that is a symbol of unbreakable ties of brotherly friendship between our countries and peoples!

🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s answer to a media question, Moscow, April 1, 2025 (Moscow, April 1, 2025)

❓ I have a question about strikes on energy infrastructure. We keep hearing mixed messages coming from Kiev. One day they are ready to sit down and talk, and next thing you know they keep attacking our facilities. Could you provide an update on where things stand with regard to the moratorium? Is it being observed, if so, to what extent, and is it still in force for us and the other party?

💬 Sergey Lavrov: At the very beginning of today’s meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and before taking up the main issue of combatting terrorist threats, President Vladimir Putin asked Defence Minister Andrey Belousov and me to provide an update on the status of our relations with the United States on the Ukrainian dossier.

Andrey Belousov spoke precisely about the moratorium that was agreed upon at the suggestion of President Trump on March 18 during the telephone call between the President of Russia and the President of the United States.

❗️ The moratorium is not being observed. All this time, the energy facilities of the Russian Federation have been coming under attacks with occasional short breaks of one to two days between them.

Defence Minister Belousov listed the facilities targeted by Ukrainian drones over the period under review, including last night.

My update went along the same lines. The Russian army is observing the moratorium that President Putin ordered to strictly comply with on March 18 during a telephone conversation with President Trump.

Remember, President Putin said seven drones were on their way to attack targets in Ukraine as they were having this telephone conversation. The drones were destroyed by our air defence forces and a jet fighter on duty that was up in the air at the time. Since then, we have been 100 percent compliant with that agreement with President Trump.

We passed the list of violations cited by Defence Minister Andrey Belousov at the Security Council meeting to US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz. I forwarded this list to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and our representatives at the UN and the OSCE for them to use these concrete facts in their work and let everyone know the real worth of the words uttered by the current Ukrainian authorities, if “this” can even be called authorities.

In addition to this topic, President Putin asked me to provide an update on other areas of work with the Americans, including matters that were discussed on March 24 in Riyadh, when experts from Russia and the United States met to discuss the revivification, resumption, and resuscitation of the grain Black Sea Initiative. During the talks in Riyadh, we highly appreciated - President Putin supported this assessment - the United States’ willingness to help eliminate obstacles created by illegal unilateral sanctions imposed on Russian grain and fertiliser exports. They created tensions on global markets and difficulties for the developing countries, which faced limited access to food and fertiliser.

We supported the US willingness to act in that regard which was laid out on paper after the March 24 meeting, and added specific proposals on how this could be done in practice.

<...>

The third topic of our interaction with the Americans is about eliminating “irritants” that seriously impede the work of our Embassy in Washington D.C. and the US Embassy in Moscow. Clearly, we did not initiate these obstacles. The Obama Administration did quite a lot in that regard. We only responded under the diplomatic law of reciprocity, which no one has torn up yet.

There was a meeting in Istanbul. Preparations are underway to hold a second one. There are contacts by phone and videoconference calls. I’d rather not make any predictions, but we can see signs of progress and our US partners’ willingness to lift these obstacles to normal work of diplomats in our respective capitals that are absolutely unacceptable from the point of view of diplomatic practice.

📄 Read in full

📄 Joint Statement by #BRICS Deputy Foreign Ministers and Special Envoys on the Middle East and North Africa (Brasília, March 28, 2025)

READ IN FULL

BRICS Deputy Foreign Ministers and Special Envoys on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) met on March 28, 2025, in Brasília, Brazil, to exchange views on the current situation in the region. They:

• Reiterated their serious concern over continued conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa, especially the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which threaten regional stability and have a negative impact on international peace and security;

• Reasserted the primary role of the UNSC in maintaining international peace and security, in regular interaction with the General Assembly;

• Stressed that peace and stability in the MENA region require developmental cooperation and integration;

• Agreed to strongly condemn terrorism and confront extremism, in all its forms and manifestations;

• Expressed their commitment to the promotion of the principles of tolerance and peaceful coexistence, and the adoption of measures to jointly address hate speech, racism, gender discrimination and extremism;

• Expressed grave concern at the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, marked by the unprecedented escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip, following the Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023, and as a result of the Israeli military offensive that led to more than 50'000 deaths among Palestinians, mostly women and children;

• Recalled that the Gaza Strip is an inseparable part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory;

• Reaffirmed that a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be achieved by peaceful means and depends on the fulfillment of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to self-determination;

• Reiterated their unwavering commitment to the two-state solution, based on international law;

• Condemned the provocative statement regarding plans for the imposition of Israeli sovereignty over the Occupied West Bank and the intensification of settlement activity in the West Bank, as well as with demolitions of Palestinian residences and structures, including in East Jerusalem;

• Reasserted their firm support for Lebanon’s stability, security, sovereignty, political independence, and territorial integrity;

• Welcomed the ceasefire in Lebanon and called on all parties to strictly adhere to its terms and to fully implement UNSC Resolution 1701;

• Reaffirmed their commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity of Syria and called for a peaceful and inclusive Syrian-led and Syrian-owned UN-facilitated political process, based on the principles of Security Council Resolution 2254 (2015);

• Reasserted their support for Yemen’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity, as well as for a peaceful, comprehensive, and inclusive political settlement to the Yemeni crisis;

• Reiterated their strong commitment to Iraq’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity, as well as expressed their continuous support and engagement to promote stability and economic development in Iraq;

• Noted the latest developments regarding nuclear program of the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the recent imposition of new unilateral sanctions against Iran, and reiterated that political and diplomatic engagement remains the only viable and practical option in this regard;

• Rejected recent threats against the Islamic Republic of Iran and called for the de-escalation of the situation, which has the potential to undermine international peace and security;

• Expressed grave concern over the escalating violence and humanitarian crisis in Sudan and reiterated their call for an immediate, permanent and unconditional ceasefire and peaceful resolution of the conflict.

April 2 marks International Fact-Checking Day!

🇷🇺 Russia leads the global factchecking vanguard.

We advocate for the establishment of an international information space free from disinformation.

✅ Among the foremost global factchecking platforms is the Dialog about Fakes Forum, organised by Dialog Regions, an autonomous non-profit organization, with the support of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The latest Forum, held in November 2024, brought together over 1,000 experts from 65 countries. It announced the creation of a new international alliance of fact-checkers – the Global Fact-Checking Network (GFCN).

The GFCN’s primary objective lies in countering threats posed by the dissemination of unreliable information on the international stage.

👉 To this end, the Code of Responsible Fact-Checking was established.

This framework ensures objectivity in assessing data veracity, uniting under its banner professionals who genuinely uphold shared values, champion access to impartial information, and commit to collaborative truth-seeking. Participants in the GFCN voluntarily pledge to adhere to its principles.

This initiative constitutes an effective, constructive, and truth-driven alternative to Western biased organisations and associations, advancing perspectives of the Global Majority.


***

🌐 The Russian Foreign Ministry has long and actively countered disinformation and promoted truth on the international stage and within the global information domain. For years, we have systematically refuted and deconstructed the most egregious instances of disinformation and fakes, including through our longstanding Anti-fake initiative.

Russia consistently champions a fair and depoliticised approach to fact-checking, free from political censorship or partisanship.

We regularly raise information security issues across international platforms, including within the #UN, #SCO, and #BRICS, proposing initiatives to counter fakes.

We extend our congratulations to all principled fact-checkers on their professional holiday 🎉

🗂 Russia’s Defence Ministry has been releasing content from its Central Archives on a dedicated website (in Russian) to celebrate the heroic feats accomplished by the Soviet heroes during the fight against the Nazis & their cronies during the Great Patriotic War & World War II.

This valuable archive data includes award lists, registration cards, photos and personal files illustrating how these heroes served and performed in combat.

The heroes in the project include people of various ethnic backgrounds and coming from all Soviet republics, including the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Estonia.

❗️These archive materials used to be classified. The initiative to bring them into public domain today is designed to protect the historical truth, fight efforts to falsify and distort history, while celebrating the heroic feats accomplished by the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War.

Here's just a few heroes' bios:

🎖 There was hardly a day for Guards Major Boris Yemelyanov when he was not in harm’s way. He risked his life many times when he led his troops during attacks and assaults. His battalion demonstrated its prowess and stood out during the Vistula-Oder Offensive. In late January 1945, the 69th Army’s Military Council awarded all privates and non-commissioned officers from Yemelyanov’s battalion with the Order of Glory, the Order of Alexander Nevsky or the Order of the Red Banner.

🎖 Vladimir Narzhimsky fought for the 32nd Fighter Aviation Regiment. He took part in defensive operation in the Caucasus and Crimea, and contributed to liberating Romania, Bulgaria and Austria. During the war, he flew on 339 combat missions and performed 18 successful air raids, as well as 10 air reconnaissance missions. He also fought 35 air fights and downed 18 enemy planes.

🎖 Samed Abdulayev served as a combat medic within the rifle battalion of the 318th Novorossiyskaya Rifle Division’s 1339th Rifle Regiment. In 1943, he received the For Courage medal as a medical warrant officer for killing 19 Nazis with his handgun while saving the wounded. Not only did he excel as a medic, but also demonstrated unparalleled courage and valour. Wounded, he had to undergo treatment, only to return to the army after being discharged from the hospital.

🎖 Konstantin Tsutskiridze joined the Red Army in 1933 and served as Deputy Commander for political awareness in the 823rd Artillery Regiment of the 9th Rifle Corps’ 301st Rifle Division. His units played a pivotal role in preparing the effort to break through the German defence lines on the Oder’s left bank near Golzow, Germany. On April 19, 1945, Konstantin Tsutskiridze headed the operation to fend off an attack by a German machine gun unit near Buckow after the enemy started approaching the Soviet positions. The officer in charge of the gun in Tsutskiridze’s unit was wounded, so the Major stepped in to lead the artillery crew and destroyed three enemy tanks.

#FacesOfVictory

🗓 On April 3, 1924, famous sniper of the Great Patriotic War Roza Shanina was born.

In 1938, at the age of 14, Roza moved to Arkhangelsk, enrolled in a pedagogical school and worked as a kindergarten teacher.

⚔️ After the Great Patriotic War began and three of her brothers were killed at the front, Roza decided to volunteer. In 1943, she was sent to the Central Women’s Sniper Training School from which she graduated with honours in less than a year. Roza insisted on being sent to the front line, refusing to be an instructor.

As part of the women's sniper platoon of the 3rd Belorussian Front, she participated in the liberation of Vitebsk, Vilnius and Kaunas, and later fought in East Prussia.

Shanina was famous for her marksmanship, including her ability to hit two targets with two shots in rapid succession. During the war, she killed an estimated 59 to 75 Nazis.

📖 Roza kept a war diary, despite soldiers being prohibited to do so. There she shared her thoughts, emotions, and plans for the future. She wrote that after the war she would devote herself to raising orphaned children and stressed that she was ready to die for her Motherland.

Roza’s heroism was rewarded with two Orders of Glory 2nd and 3rd class. Her feats were covered by the Soviet and foreign press, where she was described as “the invisible terror of East Prussia”.

🕯 Roza perished just a few months before the Victory. She was killed on January 28, 1945, during the Insterburg-Königsberg operation, while shielding the commander of an artillery unit. She was only 20 years old.

Ten days before she was killed, she made a last entry in her diary: “I did no more than any Soviet citizen would have done by rising to the defence of my Motherland.”

Roza Shanina was buried at a Soviet war memorial in Znamenka, Kaliningrad Region. A street in Arkhangelsk was named in her honour, and buildings related to the life of the famous sniper still stand in her native village of Yedma. A copy of Shanina's diary is kept in the Ustyansky Museum of Local History.

🏅 Roza Shanina's name will forever remain in history as an example of true bravery and self-sacrifice.

#Victory80

🇷🇺🇦🇿 April 4, 2025 marks 33 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The fundamental bilateral documents are the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Security signed on July 3, 1997 and the Declaration on Friendship and Strategic Partnership signed on July 3, 2008.

The Declaration on Allied Interaction between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Azerbaijan signed in Moscow on 22 February 2022 brought bilateral relations to a qualitatively new level.

📈 Trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan is developing successfully. Contacts between businesses are expanding, including through small and medium-sized businesses. The Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation is an important element of bilateral cooperation.

Interregional cooperation is expanding, involving 72 regions of the Russian Federation. 18 of them have agreements on trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation.

💬 President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin during his meeting with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev (August 19, 2024):

"We are very pleased with the level of cooperation between our countries. The Declaration on Allied Cooperation, which we signed in February 2022, is being effectively implemented in both the political and economic areas. We are witnessing positive developments and strong results".

💬 From the congratulatory letter of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov (April 4, 2025):

"Over the past decades, based on centuries-old traditions of friendship and good neighbourliness, the multifaceted ties between our countries have been steadily strengthening and continue to develop in the context of strategic partnership and alliance".

🤝 We congratulate our Azerbaijani friends on our common holiday! We express our interest in continuing the further progressive development of the whole range of bilateral relations.

#RussiaAzerbaijan

◾️ On April 4, 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded — the Washington Treaty was signed by 12 nations from Europe and North America.

Since its inception, this so-called “defensive alliance” has continually expanded. Over time, NATO has absorbed 20 new member-states through ten rounds of enlargement (a euphemism for expansion), with seven of these occurring following the dissolution of the Soviet Union: in 1999, 2004, 2009, 2017, 2020, 2023, and 2024.

The alliance’s military interventions worldwide have always been a major source of instability and chaos in global affairs, undermining security worldwide, directly leading to mass civilian casualties and devastating consequences — as witnessed by the aggression against Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Syria, the crisis and situation around Ukraine, and elsewhere.

❗️Back in 2007, during the Munich Security Conference, Russia's President Vladimir Putin explicitly highlighted NATO’s destabilizing role in following the Cold War:

I think it is obvious that NATO expansion does not have any relation with the modernisation of the Alliance itself or with ensuring security in Europe. On the contrary, it represents a serious provocation that reduces the level of mutual trust. And we have the right to ask: against whom is this expansion intended?

Both the Soviet Union and Russia, at various times, sought rapprochement with NATO, even expressing frank interest in joining the alliance to create a an indivisible security system in Europe.

The fact of the matter is that the Soviet-lead Warsaw Pact, often used as a scarecrow by Western propaganda, was established only in 1955 — 6 years after NATO’s creation. Unlike NATO it never had any intentions of aggressive nature, while e.g. UK with its infamous Operation Unthinkable called for a massive assault on 1 July 1945 (not even 2 months after the Victory over Nazis) by British, American and... German (i.e. Nazi) forces against the Red Army.

Not only Russia and USSR never devised aggressive plans against NATO members, but NATO itself have acted in a threatening, aggressive and expansionist manner from the get-go.

Prior to this, Moscow aimed to normalize relations and even considered joining the North Atlantic alliance. In March 1954, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov proposed that the Soviet Union is willing explore the possibility of NATO membership to reduce tensions and prevent conflicts. However, Western powers rejected this proposal.

Following the dissolution of USSR, Russian leadership made further attempts to engage with the alliance. In June 1994, Russia became the first country to join NATO’s “Partnership for Peace” programme, aimed at developing bilateral cooperation between the alliance and partner-states.

💬 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the following in a recent interview:

The leadership focused on creating proper conditions for deepening partnership with the West. As it turned out later - in fact, it became clear fairly quickly, but almost all our politicians and citizens found it out later - our role in that “partnership” was that of the “little brother.” We were assigned this role. This, of course, was a huge mistake.

Many Western analysts now acknowledge in their memoirs that there was no sense in expanding NATO and keeping Russia “on the sidelines.”

In 1997, the then Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov proposed establishing contacts between Russia & NATO, leading to the signing of the Russia-NATO Founding Act and the creation of the Russia-NATO Council. Positive development, but nevertheless, NATO’s expansion continued.

President Vladimir Putin even mentioned that he had proposed the idea of Russia joining NATO, which was arrogantly rejected.

Today, the North Atlantic bloc remains a tool for forcefully advancing the interests of the so-called “golden billion”, i.e. the 'collective West'. The catastrophic & utterly destructive consequences of the alliance’s geopolitical maneuvering and capacity-building are evident to any rational observer.

#See4Yourself #Think4Yourself

“Not an Inch Eastward” they said... – what the West promised and what the West did in a nutshell.

To put things in perspective, here's NATO’s expansion over the years. This “defensive” alliance has undergone ten waves of enlargement (or if speaking plainly – ten waves of constant expansion), seven of which occurred after the dissolution of the USSR.

Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has incorporated the following countries, building up their aggressive military potential, sowing anti-Russian sentiment and foisting its confrontational mindset on new and old members alike:

📍 1999: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland;
📍 2004: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia;
📍 2009: Albania, Croatia;
📍 2017: Montenegro;
📍 2020: North Macedonia;
📍 2023: Finland;
📍 2024: Sweden.

As of now, the alliance comprises 32 members. On NATO’s so-called Eastern flank, for decades there has been an active buildup of military capabilities.

As a result, the militarization of Europe is unleashed and out of control, with the security architecture and balance that kept the region relatively safe is being dismantled.