Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
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7️⃣8️⃣ years ago — on November 16, 1945 — the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization aka #UNESCO was established.
📄 According to its Constitution, States Parties to this Constitution, believing in full and equal opportunities for education for all, in the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth, and in the free exchange of ideas and knowledge, are agreed and determined to develop and to increase the means of communication between their peoples and to employ these means for the purposes of mutual understanding and a truer and more perfect knowledge of each other’s lives.
The purpose of the Organization is to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion.
💬 FM Sergey Lavrov: Reducing the degree of politicising UNESCO, which hinders its effectiveness, is in the member states’ common interest. The ongoing attempts to promote, within UNESCO, politically engaged and opportunistic projects formed in the spirit of the notorious concept of a “rules-based order” that contradict the organisation's traditional principles of consensus, inclusiveness and dialogue are unfortunate (excerpt from the 2020 Article by FM Lavrov and then Chairman of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO “UNESCO: Humanitarian Horizons”).
☀️ The UNESCO World Heritage List includes 32 sites from Russia: 21 cultural and 11 natural properties.
#UNESCO78 #Russia4UNESCO
📄 According to its Constitution, States Parties to this Constitution, believing in full and equal opportunities for education for all, in the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth, and in the free exchange of ideas and knowledge, are agreed and determined to develop and to increase the means of communication between their peoples and to employ these means for the purposes of mutual understanding and a truer and more perfect knowledge of each other’s lives.
The purpose of the Organization is to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion.
💬 FM Sergey Lavrov: Reducing the degree of politicising UNESCO, which hinders its effectiveness, is in the member states’ common interest. The ongoing attempts to promote, within UNESCO, politically engaged and opportunistic projects formed in the spirit of the notorious concept of a “rules-based order” that contradict the organisation's traditional principles of consensus, inclusiveness and dialogue are unfortunate (excerpt from the 2020 Article by FM Lavrov and then Chairman of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO “UNESCO: Humanitarian Horizons”).
☀️ The UNESCO World Heritage List includes 32 sites from Russia: 21 cultural and 11 natural properties.
#UNESCO78 #Russia4UNESCO
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the General Meeting of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO (December 22, 2023)
Read in full
💬 The outgoing year was not an easy one for #UNESCO. As we know, after the beginning of the special military operation, the collective West began to intensify its efforts to politicise the organisation, and reduce its agenda to Ukraine.
Their notorious double standards are reflected in regular anti-Russia resolutions on Crimea and Ukraine. The West is pushing through these resolutions by twisting the arms of the developing nations.
These resolutions go beyond UNESCO’s mandate. It has no competence in this area.
❗️ Attempts to defame Russia for “destroying Ukraine’s cultural heritage" without citing any evidence are in the same category. Such evidence simply does not exist. Nor does UNESCO have any right to attribute guilt. <...>
At the same time, we still haven’t heard any statement condemning the act of terror at the Moscow Kremlin, a world heritage site. Nor has UNESCO Secretary-General Audrey Azoulay from France denounced the murder of Russian journalists although this is her direct mandate.
<...>
But the attempts to “cancel” Russia in UNESCO did not achieve the desired effect. As President Vladimir Putin noted at the St Petersburg Cultural Forum last November, in UNESCO we are conducting very serious projects that generate widespread interest in the world.
I will emphasise again that we are not closing ourselves off from anyone.
<...>
Overall, we have accumulated a wealth of positive experience to build upon. Frankly, a mutually beneficial professional dialogue in UNESCO is still possible despite the blatantly unlawful actions of its Secretariat’s senior officials.
Read in full
💬 The outgoing year was not an easy one for #UNESCO. As we know, after the beginning of the special military operation, the collective West began to intensify its efforts to politicise the organisation, and reduce its agenda to Ukraine.
Their notorious double standards are reflected in regular anti-Russia resolutions on Crimea and Ukraine. The West is pushing through these resolutions by twisting the arms of the developing nations.
These resolutions go beyond UNESCO’s mandate. It has no competence in this area.
❗️ Attempts to defame Russia for “destroying Ukraine’s cultural heritage" without citing any evidence are in the same category. Such evidence simply does not exist. Nor does UNESCO have any right to attribute guilt. <...>
At the same time, we still haven’t heard any statement condemning the act of terror at the Moscow Kremlin, a world heritage site. Nor has UNESCO Secretary-General Audrey Azoulay from France denounced the murder of Russian journalists although this is her direct mandate.
<...>
But the attempts to “cancel” Russia in UNESCO did not achieve the desired effect. As President Vladimir Putin noted at the St Petersburg Cultural Forum last November, in UNESCO we are conducting very serious projects that generate widespread interest in the world.
I will emphasise again that we are not closing ourselves off from anyone.
<...>
Overall, we have accumulated a wealth of positive experience to build upon. Frankly, a mutually beneficial professional dialogue in UNESCO is still possible despite the blatantly unlawful actions of its Secretariat’s senior officials.
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
🎙Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with '60 Minutes' television programme (December 25, 2024)
💬 Sergey Lavrov: We have not had any illusions about the prospects [of 2025]. Resolving the Ukraine crisis doesn’t have any prospects, either. It has long been clear to everyone holding unbiased positions that it can be settled only in the context of agreements on lasting security and stability in Europe, which would take into account the interests of the Russian Federation and the legitimate interests of all other countries. <...>
President Putin has repeatedly stressed that we never walk away from talks. We need to see serious, concrete proposals. When we have them, we will decide on how to respond to them based on our national interests, the goals of the special military operation, and President Vladimir Putin’s June 14 speech at the Foreign Ministry.
Other key points
• The prevailing discourse we are hearing both in the West and in Ukraine today is about a truce and only truce. It is about buying time to allow the Kiev regime to regain strength, with the help of the West, and resume its attempts to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, acting on their Western bosses’ instructions.
President Vladimir Putin has mentioned this repeatedly – during the Direct Line, at the Valdai Discussion Club meeting, and at the Russia Calling! investment forum. We will not be satisfied with a truce. We need reliable and legally binding agreements aimed at eliminating the root causes of the conflict, addressing problems such as common security in Europe, NATO expansion, the European Union’s recent decision to become an appendage of the North Atlantic bloc, in fact, erasing all differences between these organisations, and above all, upholding the rights of the people living in these territories who have supported reunification with the Russian Federation.
• We have never initiated a discussion regarding what should be done with nuclear weapons and whether they can be used. On the contrary, it was at Russia's initiative that in 2021, first at the level of Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, and subsequently among the leaders of the entire G5 nuclear-armed states – the permanent members of the Security Council – the 1987 Gorbachev-Reagan principle was reaffirmed: there can be no victors in a nuclear war, thus it should never be instigated. This was a Russian initiative.
We are not interested in escalating the issue of nuclear weapons usage risks. We firmly adhere to the principle I mentioned earlier: there can be no victors in a nuclear war.
• Regarding the incessant terrorist acts perpetrated by the Kiev regime, which deliberately targets purely civilian structures such as residential buildings, hospitals, clinics, shops, and places where people congregate and relax – this is outrageous. It is a blatant violation of all anti-terrorism conventions and relevant UN Security Council resolutions. We express our condemnation, although regrettably, almost no one in the West and none of the leaders of international organisations, including the #UN, the #OSCE, #UNESCO, and others, join us in this denunciation. Naturally, we do not stop there.
We regularly disseminate information and present relevant videos illustrating our efforts to dismantle facilities directly associated with the preparation and execution of activities by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
❗️We caution that any continuation of this path will be met with increasingly decisive responses on our part.
Read in full
💬 Sergey Lavrov: We have not had any illusions about the prospects [of 2025]. Resolving the Ukraine crisis doesn’t have any prospects, either. It has long been clear to everyone holding unbiased positions that it can be settled only in the context of agreements on lasting security and stability in Europe, which would take into account the interests of the Russian Federation and the legitimate interests of all other countries. <...>
President Putin has repeatedly stressed that we never walk away from talks. We need to see serious, concrete proposals. When we have them, we will decide on how to respond to them based on our national interests, the goals of the special military operation, and President Vladimir Putin’s June 14 speech at the Foreign Ministry.
Other key points
• The prevailing discourse we are hearing both in the West and in Ukraine today is about a truce and only truce. It is about buying time to allow the Kiev regime to regain strength, with the help of the West, and resume its attempts to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, acting on their Western bosses’ instructions.
President Vladimir Putin has mentioned this repeatedly – during the Direct Line, at the Valdai Discussion Club meeting, and at the Russia Calling! investment forum. We will not be satisfied with a truce. We need reliable and legally binding agreements aimed at eliminating the root causes of the conflict, addressing problems such as common security in Europe, NATO expansion, the European Union’s recent decision to become an appendage of the North Atlantic bloc, in fact, erasing all differences between these organisations, and above all, upholding the rights of the people living in these territories who have supported reunification with the Russian Federation.
• We have never initiated a discussion regarding what should be done with nuclear weapons and whether they can be used. On the contrary, it was at Russia's initiative that in 2021, first at the level of Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, and subsequently among the leaders of the entire G5 nuclear-armed states – the permanent members of the Security Council – the 1987 Gorbachev-Reagan principle was reaffirmed: there can be no victors in a nuclear war, thus it should never be instigated. This was a Russian initiative.
We are not interested in escalating the issue of nuclear weapons usage risks. We firmly adhere to the principle I mentioned earlier: there can be no victors in a nuclear war.
• Regarding the incessant terrorist acts perpetrated by the Kiev regime, which deliberately targets purely civilian structures such as residential buildings, hospitals, clinics, shops, and places where people congregate and relax – this is outrageous. It is a blatant violation of all anti-terrorism conventions and relevant UN Security Council resolutions. We express our condemnation, although regrettably, almost no one in the West and none of the leaders of international organisations, including the #UN, the #OSCE, #UNESCO, and others, join us in this denunciation. Naturally, we do not stop there.
We regularly disseminate information and present relevant videos illustrating our efforts to dismantle facilities directly associated with the preparation and execution of activities by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
❗️We caution that any continuation of this path will be met with increasingly decisive responses on our part.
Read in full