Statement by Russian Embassy's Press Secretary Dmitry #Solodov: In response to a number of queries from the Indian media we would like to clarify that #Russia's dedicated cooperation with India as an active participant in dialogue mechanisms on Afghan issues and the special and privileged strategic partner is natural, trusted and forward-looking.

Our deep involvement in such established formats, as the #SCO, including the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group, the #Moscow format, etc., is very effective and result-oriented.

Given the deteriorating situation in #Afghanistan, the task to shape a relevant regional consensus to support the Intra-Afghan negotiations is becoming even more vital. As Russian Foreign Minister Sergey #Lavrov recently stated in Tashkent, referring to the relevant 𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, the 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 of having #India and #Iran in the extended #Troika format would further enrich its potential in this regard.

🎙 Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin’s interview with Rossiya Segodnya, November 17, 2022.

Read the interview in full

#BlackSeaInitiative

💬 The decision to extend the Black Sea Initiative depends on the bona fide fulfilment of this agreement, including the non-use of the respective humanitarian sea-transit corridor for military purposes <...>

Although the US and the EU have verbally announced the exemption of Russian agricultural products, including fertilisers, from the unilateral sanctions, in reality, our producers and suppliers continue to face obstacles caused by their partners’ overcompliance and effectively prohibitive terms of insurance, freighting and bank payments, including transactions through the Russian Agricultural Bank, which is still removed from the SWIFT system. <...>

Another eloquent example of the Western sanctions’ disruptive effect is that they are even preventing a free transfer of some 280,000 tonnes of Russian fertilisers to the poorest countries.

#JCPOA #Iran

💬 Those who inspire and orchestrate politically biased allegations of the supply of Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to Russia know deep down that all their efforts are in vain. By doing this, they have completely discredited themselves as reliable participants of the JCPOA.

I would like to remind you that it all began with the Ukrainian allegations at the UN Security Council based on information from public sources. It turned out that the public sources in question were... Western media outlets.

In fact, this is only a smokescreen created in the West to camouflage their inability to ensure the full-fledged implementation of the JCPOA and resume their obligations under the nuclear deal.

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Russia does not see any reasonable alternative to the revival of the JCPOA. Any other option will only lead to an escalation with grave and possibly irreversible consequences for international security and global markets.