🎙 FM Sergey Lavrov’s statement and answers to questions following the G20 Ministerial Meeting

📍 Rio de Janeiro, February 22, 2024

• Some of our Western colleagues’ attempts during the #G20 Ministerial Meetings to divert the discussion from this key issue to the topic of supporting the Kiev regime, focusing on groundless accusations against Russia and Ukrainising the agenda are not supported by developing countries and most of the Global South countries.

🌐 Our remarks also focused on the fact that, apart from the Bretton Woods institutions, the IMF, the World Bank, and the WTO, there are also new centres and unions of the Global Majority developing in different regions of the world. In the Eurasian space, these are the #SCO, #ASEAN, and #EAEU.

🇺🇳 Today, six members of the UNSC out of 15 are allies of the US, with nearly all of them doing Washington’s bidding. When we address the problem of expanding the UNSC in practical terms, we will support solely representatives of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said they should not by any means divide the world into isolated blocs which seems like a sound idea, but immediately, without missing a beat, he went on to say that they will, of course, cooperate primarily with democracies. To use his words, there are different “blocs.” The best part, though, is him saying that all countries have a choice, “If you are not at the table in the international system, you’re going to be on the menu.” That’s the kind of approach the top US diplomat has towards those who disagree with them.

• Many of our colleagues from the Global Majority share with us in confidence how the Americans demand that they join their sanctions against Russia and what threats they use. That prompts an interesting conclusion about US diplomacy and what it now amounts to.

🌎 Latin America is one of our major partners. Our trade is growing substantially and investment activities are also gaining momentum.

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Dear friends, have a good day! 🌅 भारतीय दोस्तों, आपका दिन मंगलमय और शुभ हो!

📸 Can you guess the location?

Indian participants are leaving from Mumbai to Sochi for World Youth Festival https://fest2024.com/en Good luck, friends! 👍

⚡️ President Vladimir Putin delivered his Address to the Federal Assembly (February 29, 2024)

Key talking points:

• Our Motherland is defending its sovereignty and security, defending the lives of our compatriots in Donbass and Novorossiya.

• The so-called West, with its colonial practices and penchant for inciting ethnic conflicts around the world, not only seeks to impede our progress but also envisions a Russia that is a dependent, declining, and dying space where they can do as they please.

• They [the West] want to replicate in Russia what they have done in numerous other countries, including Ukraine: sowing discord in our home and weakening us from within.

• We were not the ones who started the war in Donbass, but <...> we will do everything to put an end to it, eradicate Nazism and fulfil all the objectives of the special military operation, as well as defend sovereignty and ensure that our people are safe.

• They [the West] have recently made unfounded allegations, in particular, against Russia, regarding plans to deploy nuclear weapons in space. Such fake narratives, and this story is unequivocally false, are designed to involve us in negotiations on their conditions, which will only benefit the US. At the same time, they have blocked our proposal which has been on the table for over 15 years. I am referring to the agreement on preventing the deployment of weapons in outer space, which we drafted back in 2008.

• The West has provoked conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, and other regions around the world while consistently propagating falsehoods. Now they have the audacity to say that Russia harbours intentions of attacking Europe. Can you believe it? We all know that their claims are utterly baseless. And at the same time, they are selecting targets to strike on our territory and contemplating the most efficient means of destruction. Now they have started talking about the possibility of deploying NATO military contingents to Ukraine.

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