#Day2 highlights! 📹

High-Level Week of the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly is on-going!

Russian delegation helmed by FM Sergey Lavrov is keeping busy 👇

• Sergey Lavrov's remarks at the UNSC meeting on Ukraine
• Group of Friends in Defence of the Charter of the United Nation Ministerial
• Talks with 🇺🇳 Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres
• BRICS Ministerial
• Talks with FMs of 🇿🇦 South Africa, 🇮🇩 Indonesia, 🇧🇭 Bahrain, 🇵🇦 Panama, 🇲🇦 Morocco
• Talks with PM of 🇻🇨 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines & VP of 🇸🇸 South Sudan.
• Meeting with Secretary of State of the 🇻🇦 Holy See Cardinal Pietro Parolin
• Meeting with Arab League (LAS) Contact Group on the Ukrainian Crisis

#UNCharterIsOurRules #UNGA77

More to come!

🔴 #LIVE: Foreign Minister Sergey #Lavrov chairs UN Security Council debate on effective multilateralism through defence of principles of #UN Charter

📍 New York, April 24

🔗 https://www.ruptly.tv/en/events/202304241400-LIVE14110-Lavrov-chairs-Security-Council-debate-on-effective-multilateralism-through-defence-of-principles-of-UN-Charter-first-part

🔗 https://mid.ru/en/press_service/video

#UNCharterIsOurRules

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's video address to the participants and organisers of the World Online Conference on Multipolarity (Moscow, April 29, 2023)

Key talking points:

🌐 Today, the movement towards global multipolarity is a fact, a geopolitical reality.

☝️ We see new global centres, primarily in Eurasia, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, grow and achieve impressive success in various fields relying on their independence, state sovereignty and cultural and civilisational identity.

• We are witnessing the continued transformation of the structure of international relations. A striking example of multipolar diplomacy is the work of multilateral associations of a new type such as the SCO and BRICS.

❗️ It makes perfect sense that Washington and its satellites’ efforts to reverse the course of history and make the international community live according to the “rules-based order” they invented are failing. I will mention only one of them, the Westerners’ policy to isolate Russia.

• In today's multipolar world, in the face of cross-border challenges and threats, the only reasonable alternative to confrontation (those who initiate confrontations will lose, too) is to combine the efforts of key global centres on the principles of the UN Charter, including respect for the sovereign equality of states ensured in practice. Everyone needs to recognise the irreversibility of the emergence of a more equitable polycentric international system.

🇷🇺 Russia remains at the forefront of international efforts to strengthen the multipolar, legal and democratic principles of interstate communication. <...> We will certainly continue to closely coordinate our steps with our numerous friends, allies and countries that share our views, including our partners in the #CSTO, the #EAEU, the #CIS, #BRICS, the #SCO and other regional associations of the developing world.

#UNCharterIsOurRules

📰 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s article for Russia in Global Affairs magazine (May 5, 2023)

Read in full

Key talking points:

• The UN-centric system is undergoing a deep crisis, the root cause of which was brought on by the decision of certain UN members to replace international law and the UN Charter with some “rules-based international order”. <...> Its masterminds haughtily reject the key principle underlying the UN Charter, which is the sovereign equality of states.

• Since World War II, Washington has pulled off dozens of reckless criminal military operations without even trying to secure multilateral legitimacy. Why bother when your “rules” are unbeknownst to everyone.

• Everyone is aware of it, even though not everyone is talking about it openly: the real issue is not about Ukraine, but rather about the future of international relations. Will they be forged on a sustainable consensus, one based on the balance of interests? Or will they be reduced to an aggressive and explosive advancement of hegemony? The Ukraine issue cannot be considered outside its geopolitical context.

• There should be no double standards. Multilateralism and democracy should enjoy respect both within the member countries and in their relations with one another.

• At this juncture, genuine multilateralism requires that the UN adapt to objective developments in the process of forming a multipolar architecture of international relations. It is imperative to expedite Security Council reform by expanding the representation of countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

• It is our common duty to preserve the United Nations as the hard-won epitome of multilateralism and coordination of international politics. The key to success lies in working together, renouncing claims on exceptionalism and – I reiterate – showing respect for the sovereign equality of states. This is what we all signed up for when we ratified the UN Charter.

#UNCharterIsOurRules

📰 Article by FM Sergey Lavrov (October 10, 2023)

Adherence to the UN Charter principles in their entirety and interconnection underwrite international peace and stability

Read in full

💬 The recently held general political discussion during the 78th session of the UNGA affirmed that the world is going through profound and tectonic changes.

We are witnessing the emergence of a new and fairer multipolar order that reflects the world’s cultural and civilisational diversity. The future world is taking shape in the midst of a battle. The global majority, representing 85 percent of the world's population, advocates a more equitable distribution of global resources and respect of cultural diversity, as well as consistent democratisation of international affairs. On the other hand, a select group of Western nations led by the US is endeavouring to hinder progress through neo-colonial methods and to maintain its waning dominance. <....>

Key talking points:

🔸 One can’t help but get the strong impression that the US and its subservient “Western team” have decided to impart a global dimension to the Monroe Doctrine.

🔸 Western ruling elites, in violation of the UN Charter, are telling other countries who they should maintain relations with and how.

🔸 The aggressive and self-serving approach adopted by the Western minority has sparked a major crisis in international relations, and the risks of a global conflict are running high. <...> It is critical to endeavor to turn the spirit of multipolarity enshrined in the UN Charter into reality.

🇺🇳 The mission of the United Nations lies precisely in seeking consensus, rather than dividing the world into “democracies” and “autocracies.” Russia, along with its like-minded partners, is fully prepared to contribute to this mission.

❗️ If global community members muster the determination to get back to basics and put their UN Charter commitments into practice, humanity will have a chance to overcome the destructive legacy of the unipolar era.

#UNCharterIsOurRules

🇺🇳 The UN Charter entered into force 7️⃣8️⃣ years ago, having been signed at the concluding session of the UN Conference on International Organisation in San Francisco on June 26, 1945. This is the official date of the founding of the UN.

💬 Sergey Lavrov: It is critical to endeavor to turn the spirit of multipolarity enshrined in the UN Charter into reality. An increasing number of countries from the global majority seek to strengthen their sovereignty and uphold their national interests, traditions, culture, and way of life.

🇷🇺 Russia consistently calls for strengthening the UN’s central and coordinating role in global affairs.

💬 Sergey Lavrov: It is time to look at fairer methods of making up the UN Secretariat. The criteria that have been in place for many years do not reflect the actual influence of states in global affairs and artificially ensure the excessive dominance of citizens of NATO and EU countries.

👉 Article Adherence to the UN Charter principles in their entirety and interconnection underwrite international peace and stability by Sergey Lavrov (October 10, 2023)

#UNCharterIsOurRules

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s greetings to organisers and guests of an official United Nations Day reception (Moscow, October 24, 2023)

💬 Today, when the world is experiencing genuine tectonic shifts linked with the creation of a multipolar system, it is hard to overestimate the significance of the UN in promoting equitable interstate cooperation and searching for concerted answers to numerous challenges and threats.

Owing to its universal legitimacy, the UN boasts unique capabilities for facilitating multilateral interaction in multiple spheres, including efforts to maintain international peace and security, protecting human rights and ensuring sustainable socio-economic development.

Consequently, genuine multilateralism is inseparably linked with the UN and the principles of the UN Charter. No organisations established on a limited scale outside the UN framework can claim the right to express the opinion of the entire international community.

As a UN co-founding state and as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Russia comprehends its special responsibility for the future destiny of this highly important international body. We will closely coordinate our actions with our supporters, and we will continue to enhance the effectiveness of the UN, including within the framework of the Group of Friends in Defence of the Charter of the United Nations.

🇷🇺🇺🇳 We are certainly ready to continue constructive dialogue with UN representatives in Russia.

Read in full

#UNCharterIsOurRules

🌐 April 24 marks the International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace. Established by the UN General Assembly resolution 73/127 of December 12, 2018, it seeks to promote the values of the United Nations and reaffirm the faith of our peoples in the purposes and principles enshrined in its Charter.

🇺🇳 #UNCharterIsOurRules

From Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the UN Security Council’s open debates “Effective multilateralism through the Defence of the Principles of the UN Charter” (New York, April 24, 2023):

💬 For a little less than 80 years of its existence, the UN has been carrying out the important mission entrusted to it by its founders. For several decades, a basic understanding by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council as regards the supremacy of the charter’s goals and principles guaranteed global security.

• Today, our UN-centric system is going through a deep crisis. The main reason is a striving by some UN members to replace international law and the UN Charter with a certain “rules-based” order.

• Our Western colleagues have been inconvenienced by holding talks based on universal formats, such as the UN, for a long time now. In order to provide an ideological substantiation for the course on undermining multilateralism, they initiated a concept of united “democracies” as opposed to “autocracies.”

• Summits for Democracy, the Alliance for Multilateralism <...> – all these and other non-inclusive projects were designed to thwart talks on the corresponding matters under the auspices of the UN.

❗️ Let's call it what it is: no one authorised the Western minority to speak on behalf of all humankind. Please act decently and respect all members of the international community.

👉 It is our common duty to preserve the United Nations as the hard-won epitome of multilateralism and coordination of international politics. The key to success lies in working together, renouncing claims to anyone's exceptionalism and showing respect for the sovereign equality of states.

7️⃣9️⃣ years ago, on June 26, 1945, The United Nations Charter was signed, which became the main result of the San Francisco Conference.
 
This fundamental document was signed by 50 participating countries, including the USSR as well as its constituent entities: the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. On behalf of the USSR, the UN Charter was signed by Andrey Gromyko.

The establishing of the UN – a universal international organization, the main goals of which are defined as the maintenance and strengthening of peace and security – was a natural consequence of the Second World War, an expression of the desire of the world community to resolve conflicts without global military action.

📃 The UN Charter is a fundamental international document mandating the main principles and norms of states’ international behaviour and regulating relations between states as well as the activities of UN agencies and organisations within its system.
 
🇺🇳 Today, the UN comprises 1️⃣9️⃣3️⃣ Member States, with its activities embracing every sphere of the planet’s international, political, economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian life through its specialised agencies, committees and sub-committees.
 
🇷🇺 Russia invariably remains committed to multilateralism and the UN’s coordinating role in world affairs, and is actively involved in the effort to reform and adapt the UN to new international realities.

🎙 From Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's remarks during the UN Security Council open debate on "Effective Multilateralism through the Protection of the Principles of the UN Charter" (New York, April 24, 2023):

💬 It is our shared responsibility to preserve the UN as the enduring model of multilateralism and coordination of world politics. The key to success is working together, refusing to claim exclusivity and - I repeat once again - respecting the sovereign equality of states. This is what we all signed up to when we ratified the UN Charter.

#UNCharterIsOurRules

⚡️ Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview for a documentary titled "The UN from the 20th to the 21st Century" (Moscow, September 25, 2024)

Key points:

• Less than a year after the victorious powers established the UN based on the noble principles formulated in its charter, it became clear that the West, acting contrary to these principles, intended to launch a war against the Soviet Union, and not merely a cold war but an all-out war. These plans hatched by the then "Anglo-Saxons" [nations of the Anglosphere led by the US & UK] have long become public knowledge.

• Once NATO was created, the Soviet Union circulated a large document which demonstrated the detrimental effect of that and the danger of building walls between the East and the West, especially in Europe, and called for respecting the #UNCharter and for working towards this. Our call was not heeded.

✊ However, we kept fighting for justice and the implementation of the principle of sovereign equality of nations. Decolonisation was a bright stage and a major embodiment of that principle. The Soviet Union was the main initiator of the 1960 Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. Following its adoption, the number of UN states increased by 80-90 members.

• They tell us that the main goal today is to ensure the territorial integrity of Ukraine. It is a misleading interpretation of the UN Charter, where the right of nations to self-determination is put before territorial integrity.

• Even before demanding respect for territorial integrity, the UN Charter demands respect for human rights without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion <…> Now that Zelensky’s Nazi regime, which the West nurtured, has banned both the language and religious rights of a large number of its own population, the West has put away the banners it was waving for decades.

❗️The top priority now is to ensure the achievement of the initial goals and principles of the UN Charter in their entirety and as a whole, rather than selectively or occasionally.

• The reform of the UN Security Council is not a one-off event. It’s a process which has been ongoing since the time the United Nations came into being <...> Nevertheless, it relies on principles that must be preserved at all costs. The main principle is that the Security Council reform should be based on a broad-based agreement among states. It does not say “consensus,” but it does state “broad-based agreement among states.”

🌍 🇮🇳🇧🇷 We have invariably supported the legitimate aspirations of India and Brazil to secure permanent seats in the Security Council. However, African aspirations must be met as well. Africa has common collective positions, which we respect. And we would have like that.

• Our position implies providing additional seats for Asia, Africa, and Latin America. We are open to some of these seats being permanent, but we need to achieve general agreement before we can move forward. It is a complicated process. I don’t see any chance for bringing this process to a swift and expedited completion any time soon.

• Since the UN was created, there has never been a time, a region, or a situation that involved the United States in one way or another, where the country would actually respect that principle. Every time, everywhere they acted as a hegemon, or like a "bull in a china shop".

• When they wanted to punish Russia, the West abandoned all the principles which it was feeding to us and which it declared sacred. The same is happening to the principles of the UN Charter. The West is trampling and destroying them without a moment’s hesitation.

➡️ Read in full

#UNGA79 #UNCharterIsOurRules

🎙 Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov's remarks at the General Debate of the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly

📍New York, September 28, 2024

💬 A few days ago, this building hosted a forum called the Summit of the Future.

Russia was supportive of the idea of the Secretary-General to convene it, since the crisis of our Organisation is deepening and something needs to be done about this. We devoted our efforts to preparing the summit. However, we were realistic in our expectations. There have been many ambitious events in the modern history of the United Nations which ended up with loud declarations which were soon forgotten. <...>

The current UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, just like Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon before him, has put forward an initiative under the slogan of a new start for global cooperation. This is a wonderful idea. Who could disagree? But what global cooperation is there to talk about, when the West has trampled all those unshakeable values of the globalisation that speakers on the podium talked so much about, trying to convince us that they would give everyone equal access to the goods of modern civilisation?

Where is the inviolability of property, the presumption of innocence, freedom of expression, access to information, fair competition in markets under fair and constant rules?

The Secretary-General speaks of global cooperation at the very moment when the countries of the West have unleashed a veritable war of sanctions against more than half, if not the majority, of the countries of the world, and the US dollar, promoted as an asset and a good for all humanity, has been crudely turned into a weapon.

<...>

It is not late to breathe new life into the United Nations. But this can be achieved through restoration of trust based on the charter principle – sovereign equality of all states – rather than out-of-touch summits and declarations. However, while the trust is undermined, including through actions by the West to create its subordinate narrow formats to resolve crucial issues bypassing the UN such as control over the Internet or determination of legal frameworks to use AI technologies. These issues touch upon the future of the entire humanity and they have to be considered on a universal basis, without discrimination and aspiration to achieve unilateral benefits. Thus, everything has to be agreed on a fair basis involving all UN members.

Key points:

• The world faces massive challenges which require united efforts rather than confrontation and desire of global domination.
• It is obvious for the world majority that confrontation and hegemonism do not solve a single global problem. They just artificially restrain the impartial process of forming a multipolar world.
• Russia will always be on the side of collective work, truth and law, peace and cooperation in the interests of reviving the ideals laid down by the founding fathers.
• The unprecedented level of hypocrisy and aggressiveness of the western policy against Russia not only brings to naught the idea of global cooperation promoted by the Secretary General.
• The UN Secretariat cannot remain aloof from efforts to establish the truth in situations that directly affect global security and must act impartially in accordance with Art. 100 of the Charter, acting impartially and avoiding the temptation to play into the hands of certain states, especially those who openly call for the world to be divided into a flowering garden and a jungle, or for a democratic table to be set for dinner and those on the menu instead of cooperation.
• A more equitable world order unconditionally presupposes increased representation of the Global South in the UN Security Council. We reaffirm our position in support of Brazil and India provided a positive decision is reached in the framework of the well-known initiatives of the African Union.

#UNGA79 #UNCharterIsOurRules

🗓 On October 24, 1945, exactly 7️⃣9️⃣ years ago, the UN Charter entered into force, almost four months after its singing at the concluding session of the UN Conference on International Organisation in San Francisco (June 26, 1945).

With the ratification of this founding document the United Nations officially came into being.

💬 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov: After the UN Charter came into force, the constituent conference was held in San Francisco, and the UN was established, the Soviet Union acted energetically to ensure respect for implementation of the principles set out in the UN Charter (excerpt from the interview for a documentary titled "The UN from the 20th to the 21st Century", Moscow, September 25, 2024).

🇷🇺🇺🇳 Strict adherence to the letter and spirit of the UN Charter is a prerequisite for building a more peaceful, prosperous, genuinely just and equitable world order.

💬 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov: Today, the international community faces massive challenges, <...> which require united efforts rather than confrontation and desire of global dominance. Russia will always advocate collective efforts, truth and the rule of law, peace and cooperation in the interests of reviving the ideals set forth by the UN’s founding fathers. <...> [The] objectives and principles [of the UN Charter] remain fully relevant. The main thing is that everyone, without exception, respects these principles, not selectively, but considering their holistic and interconnected nature (excerpt from the article for Russia in Global Affairs magazine "The UN must recover its central role in coordinating actions by nations", October 4, 2024)

👉 Article by FM Sergey Lavrov "Adherence to the UN Charter principles in their entirety and interconnection underwrite international peace and stability" (October 10, 2023)

#UNCharterIsOurRules

🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview to Tucker Carlson (Moscow, December 6, 2024)

Read in full
Watch on Youtube

Key talking points

#RussiaUS

• We would like to have normal relations with all countries especially with the United States. We don't see any reason why Russia and the United States cannot cooperate for the sake of the universe.

• The Ukrainians would not be able to do what they're doing with long-range modern weapons without direct participation of the American servicemen. We don't want to aggravate the situation, but since ATACMS and other long-range weapons are being used against mainland Russia as it were, we are sending signals. <...>

[The US and its allies] must understand that we would be ready to use any means not to allow them to succeed in what they call strategic defeat of Russia. They fight for keeping the hegemony over the world on any country, any region, any continent. We fight for our legitimate security interests.

• We don't want to aggravate the situation, but since ATACMS and other long-range weapons are being used against mainland Russia, we are sending signals. We hope that the last one, a couple of weeks ago, the signal with the new weapon system called #Oreshnik was taken seriously.

• When the United States and other Western countries recognized unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo, they said this is the self-determination being implemented. There was no referendum in Kosovo — unilateral declaration of independence. <...> And when a few years later, Crimeans were holding referendum with invitation of many international observers, not from international organizations, but from parliamentarians in Europe, in Asia, in post-Soviet space, they said that they cannot accept this because this is violation of territorial integrity 🤷‍♂️

The UN Charter is not a menu. You have to respect it in all its entirety 👉 #UNCharterIsOurRules

• I think [Donald Trump] is a very strong person. A person who wants results. Who doesn't like procrastination on anything. But this does not mean that he's pro-Russian as some people try to present him. The amount of sanctions we received under the Trump administration was very big.

#Ukraine

• We strongly prefer peaceful solution through negotiations on the basis of respecting legitimate security interest of Russia, and on the basis of respecting the people who live in Ukraine, who still live in Ukraine being Russians. <...>

No military bases, no military exercises on the Ukrainian soil with participation of foreign troops. <...> We cannot tolerate a deal which would keep the legislation which are prohibiting Russian language, Russian media, Russian culture, Ukrainian Orthodox Church, because it is a violation of the obligations of Ukraine under the UN Charter.

• We are not talking about exterminating anybody's population. We don't have any intention to exterminate Ukrainian people. They are brothers and sisters to the Russian people.

• It is becoming clear that there is a fatigue in some capitals, and there are talks every now and then that the Americans would like to leave [Ukraine] with the Europeans and to concentrate on something more important.

#Syria

• The Americans in the east of Syria groom some Kurdish separatists using the profits from oil and grain sold, the resources which they occupy. <...> The information [on who's backing Islamist groups] which is being floated and it's in the public domain mentions among others the Americans, the Brits. Some people say that Israel is interested in making this situation aggravate. So that Gaza is not under very close scrutiny.