🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's remarks at the ambassadorial roundtable discussion of Ukraine crisis settlement (Moscow, September 12, 2024)

Key talking points

• The offensive weapons used for such terrorist attacks have been supplied by the West. When sending these weapons, the West says that the Kiev regime can use them as it sees fit, and that these weapons cease to be Western as soon as they cross the border and are accepted by the Ukrainian army.

• There is no doubt whatsoever that the decision to lift restrictions on the use of long-range weapons on targets inside Russia was taken long ago, and now they are only trying to find the most suitable, acceptable and elegant way of presenting it to the public.

• In addition to providing increasingly long-range weapons, NATO also supplies Kiev with data from its military space intelligence. This intelligence is used to locate and strike targets deep within Russian territory, including residential buildings, life-support facilities, energy and industrial infrastructure, and social facilities such as schools, kindergartens, and clinics.

• Western military specialists are literally coordinating the strikes on civilian targets in real time, using high-precision weapons. The planning and programming of flight missions are carried out by instructors and representatives from NATO countries that supply these weapons to Kiev. Our experts are confident that without such specialist involvement, it would be impossible to use these complex systems. These tasks can only be performed by professionals who have worked with these systems for a long time and know how to operate them.

• Ukrainian special services, with the help of their Western patrons, are simultaneously actively involving radical Islamists in terrorist activities. We would like to thank everyone present here for their condolences in connection with the March 22, 2024 terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert facility, which claimed the lives of 145 people. The ongoing investigation has already uncovered evidence that the main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry was involved in preparing the attack. Specifically, the escape routes for the perpetrators through the Russian-Ukrainian border were meticulously mapped out. This is not the only time when Ukrainian special services enlisted radical Islamists in the preparation and execution of terrorist attacks.

• We have recently received information that “emissaries” from the Ukrainian intelligence service are present in the Idlib de-escalation zone within the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic. They are recruiting local militants from Jabhat Al-Nusra, now known as Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, with the intention of involving them in nefarious operations.

• Nuclear terrorism has become Ukraine’s chief trademark. You certainly must be following the reports about attacks and attempted attacks at the Leningrad, Kalinin, Kursk and Zaporozhye nuclear power plants. The Zaporozhye plant was on the verge of disaster on August 11 of this year, when the Armed Forces of Ukraine fired at it, igniting one of the two cooling towers. The fire seriously damaged the facility. This is a grave situation.

• Tensions are riding high in the area adjoining the Kursk nuclear power plant. During his August 27 visit to the facility, #IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi saw for himself the traces of Ukrainian criminal drone assaults. Yet, Kiev does not conceal that the Kursk nuclear power plant was a target of their deliberate attacks.

• The Kiev regime continues to terrorise its own citizens as well. On August 20 of this year, they approved a bill that actually outlaws (with several months delay) the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

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🎙 Remarks by Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova at the opening of the BRICS Media Summit (13 -17 September, 2024) held today in Moscow.

💬 BRICS does not seek to create new dividing lines based on bloc mentality. On the contrary, BRICS promotes synergy of different civilisations and advocates a collective approach to solving current problems.

• The BRICS philosophy is based on the traditions of equal dialogue, openness and consensus, respect for the development path chosen by the states, and consideration of each others’ interests.

• The countries of the association share similar views on the modern world, aspiration to multipolarity as a basis for sustainable development, commitment to the central coordinating role of the United Nations, principles and standards of international law.

• Yesterday, Russian journalists were subjected to aggression by the United States. This is not an accident, it is not a mistake, it is a chain of planned actions to which our journalists – Rossiya Segodnya, RT, Sputnik (even the guests of their broadcasts!) – have been subjected year after year for several years.

❗️ Support for your colleagues (Russian journalists and media outlets) ought to be expressed because the crime being committed against them is an attack on freedom of speech, an attack on the profession of journalism, an attack on human dignity. We must show solidarity.