🎙 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's interview with VGTRK broadcasting company (Moscow, August 14, 2026)

Key points:

• President of Russia Vladimir Putin made it very clear that we will respond in kind to Western maritime piracy. We will choose the targets ourselves. They will include vessels operating in the interests of countries that have made piracy and plunder part of their official policy.

• We will not stoop to the level of the Ukrainian leadership, which celebrates on social media its terrorist strikes on beaches, dormitories housing young students and other civilian sites. ☝️ We will make our own methods far tougher, targeting everything that enables the West to fuel Kiev’s war machine. And we are already doing so.

• Hostilities should stop only when there is a long-term, reliable and sustainable settlement. If we were suddenly to halt now along the line of contact, we would, in effect, allow the feat of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers who defeated Nazism to be erased. That is simply not an option.

• As for the episode at the press conference of Aleksandar Vucic and Zelensky, where a question was asked about “how Europeans could help kill more Russians”, I saw that President Vucic was simply taken aback. Given Serbia’s enormous contribution to the Victory over Nazism, we would of course like to hear some reaction from our Serbian friends.

• The metastases of Nazism continue to resurface in German society under Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who openly speaks of the need to make Germany Europe’s leading military power again. Does he understand what the word “again” means in this context? 👉 I am not sure.

• We do not refuse to talk with US presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. If they come, they know that President Vladimir Putin is ready to receive them once again. The question is what they will bring with them.

• We do not issue ultimatums. We have submitted a number of questions to the US State Department and asked for clarification, including regarding intelligence data and the fact that the US is much more deeply involved in organising and carrying out strikes deep inside Russia against civilian targets. We will await a response.

• Our Turkish colleagues are once again saying that some arrangement should be reached to ensure that shipping is not targeted. ❗️ But we did not start this. When a Ukrainian drone strikes a Turkish bulk carrier, tanker or other civilian vessel, or hits ships linked to US companies Chevron and ExxonMobil, neither Turkiye nor the US publicly states that such actions by Ukrainian terrorists are unacceptable.

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🏙 On November 23-24, 2026, the International Municipal Forum will take place at the National Centre RUSSIA in Moscow.

The Forum is a flagship platform for discussing urban development in Russia and advancing international cooperation in the field of urban infrastructure.

This year’s theme is "A More Sustainable Urban Transformation: Responding to Global Challenges".

🌐 The Forum will bring together Russian officials, representatives of federal and municipal authorities, business leaders, investors, public and political figures, as well as delegates from Asia, Australia and Oceania, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, North and South America, and the #CIS.

The event is organized by the Roscongress Foundation with the support of the Russian Government. The Government of Moscow is the General Partner.

💬 Executive Secretary of the Forum Organizing Committee, Adviser to the President of Russia Anton Kobyakov:

“The 21st century is an age of transformation, with the foundations of a new reality now being laid. The exchange of international experience enables us to find joint responses to common challenges and overcome existing barriers.

This Forum is about more than identifying trends – it is about shaping the DNA of our shared future. Our primary mission is to bring advanced technologies and people together in harmony, creating a future in which we can live and grow together”.

📄 The Forum’s business programme will cover all key areas of municipal development:
• urban planning
• integration of adjacent territories into the economy
• innovation, digitalization and high-tech manufacturing
• the environment, healthcare and social services
• education of the future and youth initiatives
• culture, sports and tourism

The 6th NEASPEC International Forum on Low Carbon Cities is expected to be one of the highlights of the event. The Forum exhibition will also showcase best practices and achievements in urban planning and infrastructure development.

☝️ Full information about the event is available on 👉 the OFFICIAL WEBSITE.

🎙️Comment by the Embassy of Russia in Norway to the Norwegian news agency NTB on the progress of the special military operation (14 August 2026)

❓Is Russia capable of escalating the conflict in the coming months? Are Russian troops facing a severe shortage of weapons and personnel?

💬 Answer: Claims regarding a shortage of weapons and personnel are untrue. The rate of recruitment of contract soldiers meets the army’s needs. Russia possesses sufficient mobilisation potential. In July this year, Professor J. Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago noted that Russia’s offensive is relentless, whilst Ukraine finds itself in a dire situation.

❓Has the Ukrainian army been strengthened by the construction of defensive lines?

💬 Answer: The key factor is the depletion of Ukraine’s own resources. On 5 August this year, the former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valeriy Zaluzhny, stated explicitly: ‘In 2026, Ukraine used all types of weapons... Resources have been exhausted. Russia has found a countermeasure to all of this.’ On the same day, the European Union tightened the rules on granting temporary protection to Ukrainian men of conscription age, which points to an acute shortage of manpower in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

❓Are Russian troops really poorly trained?

💬 Answer: Andrius Kubilius, European Commissioner for Defence and Space, warned in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Mundo on 29 May this year that Russia possesses an army with real combat experience and capable of deploying millions of drones. He also stated that Russia is significantly ahead of Europe in military terms and has become much stronger than it was in 2022.

❓Is it true that Russia is recruiting inexperienced soldiers to deplete Ukrainian ammunition stocks?

💬 Answer: By definition, any recruit lacks combat experience – it is the command’s task to train them. The problem of a shortage of trained reinforcements is currently more acute for Ukraine. According to the Polish think tank OSW, around 290,000 cases have been brought against Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel who left their posts without authorisation. Two million citizens of conscription age are evading mobilisation. The Ukrainian Armed Forces’ monthly losses amount to at least 40,000 personnel, whilst mobilisation yields only 15,000–16,000 new recruits.

❓Does Russia use its soldiers as ‘cannon fodder’?

💬 Answer: This claim is unsubstantiated and ethically unacceptable. Defending the Motherland and its citizens is a sacred duty for the Russian state. The Russian Ministry of Defence gives the highest priority to preserving the lives and health of its servicemen. As for ‘human resources’, it is the NATO countries that are using Ukraine and the lives of Ukrainian citizens as ‘cannon fodder’ to contain Russia.

Link to the publication

📰 Comment of the Embassy of Russia in Norway to the “Aftenposten” (14 August 2026)

On democracy, Nazism, Europe and the world

In an article dated 11 August, the editorial team of the Norwegian newspaper “Aftenposten” asks the question, ‘When will the Russians talk about peace rather than Hitler?’, and expresses the hope that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will ‘stop referring to democratically elected leaders in Europe as Nazis’.

In January 1933, the editorial board of “Aftenposten” viewed the formation of a government headed by Adolf Hitler with relief as a ‘sign of recovery and the restoration of peace and order in Germany’. During the occupation of Norway, the newspaper became a mouthpiece for Nazi propaganda.

It is hardly surprising that “Aftenposten” does not want “the Russians to talk about Hitler” – the subject is not a particularly pleasant one for the newspaper. However, Norwegian journalists would still do well to look into it, so as to prevent a repeat of the underestimation of the threat posed by misanthropic forces, which may turn against those who pander to them.

Since 2022, Norway has been voting at the UN against the draft resolution put forward by Russia ‘On combating the glorification of Nazism’.

According to “Aftenposten”, Europe is governed by leaders who, ‘unlike the President of Russia, came to power as a result of free elections’. On the basis of what criteria does the Norwegian newspaper decide that certain ‘European’ elections are freer than ‘Russian’ ones? On what grounds do “Aftenposten” and certain European politicians speak on behalf of the whole of ‘Europe’, when Europe, in the generally accepted geographical sense, extends as far as the Ural Mountains and the Caucasus Range?

“Aftenposten” wants Russia to ‘start talking to Ukraine and other countries about peace’. Russia has never refused to negotiate. The Russian side is open to resolving the conflict through political and diplomatic means, but the focus must be on addressing the root causes of the conflict and creating the conditions for building a sustainable security architecture that takes account of the realities on the ground.  

It is claimed that Moscow must recognise ‘Ukraine’s right to be a free and independent country’. But our very premise is that Ukraine must become free and independent – from the destructive influence of the West. It is vitally important for Ukraine to return to the non-aligned, neutral status enshrined in the 1990 Declaration on its State Sovereignty, and to good-neighbourly relations with Russia, which were destroyed as a result of the anti-constitutional coup d’état of 2014, instigated and supported by the West.

“Aftenposten” states that ‘no one in Europe or North America poses even a remote threat to Russia’, and that ‘Norway and Europe merely wish to live in peaceful and predictable neighbourly relations with this great country’. If this were the case, there would be no unchecked eastward expansion of NATO, no crude Western interference in the internal affairs of Russia and the post-Soviet states, and no supply of weapons and intelligence to the Kiev regime for its invasion of the Kursk region and strikes deep into our country.

Today we are hearing more and more irresponsible talk from European politicians and military figures about preparations for a ‘major war’ with Russia and the possibility of strikes against its north-western regions.

👆🏻 Moscow is accused of seeking to weaken ‘Europe’, but we would like to see European ruling circles become truly sovereign and independent, because, guided by genuine national interests, they would undoubtedly reject confrontation and futile attempts to ‘crush’ Russia, setting a course towards restoring relations with our country based on mutual respect for each other’s interests.

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🎙️Комментарий Посольства России в Норвегии в связи со статьей в газете «Aftenposten» (10 августа 2026 г.)

В связи со статьей «Hun er Russlands rikeste kvinne. Nå brenner forretningsimperiet hennes» от 8 августа 2026 г. хотели бы обратить внимание на формулировку в подзаголовке статьи: «væpnede tsjetsjenske banditter» («вооруженные чеченские бандиты»). Показательно, что в самом тексте статьи используется более нейтральная формулировка - «væpnede tsjetsjenske menn» («вооруженные чеченские мужчины»).

То есть сама редакция, судя по всему, чувствовала разницу между этими двумя определениями, но оставила более хлесткий и негативно окрашенный вариант именно в резюме - том фрагменте, который читает наибольшее число людей и который формирует первое впечатление от материала.

Преступность не имеет национальности. В России проживает около 200 народов и этносов, и увязывание с их этнической принадлежностью  криминального поведения конкретной группы лиц бросает тень на весь народ, а не только на причастных к конфликту лиц.

Хотели бы также напомнить, что в Норвегии проживает многотысячная чеченская диаспора - люди, многие из которых давно стали частью норвежского общества. Формулировка вроде «tsjetsjenske banditter» в заголовочном блоке крупной норвежской газеты читается и воспринимается этой аудиторией как ярлык, навешанный на весь народ по имени, а не по факту причастности к конкретному эпизоду. Хотелось бы верить, что редакция, дорожащая репутацией издания не стремилась сознательно задеть эту группу читателей, но результат от этого не меняется.

Отдельно хотели бы отметить фактическую асимметрию, которую, на мой взгляд, стоило бы иметь в виду. Сама героиня статьи, Татьяна Ким, - этническая кореянка, родившаяся в Грозном, тогдашней столице Чечено-Ингушской АССР. Об этом в статье не сказано ни слова, хотя это заметная и по-человечески интересная деталь её биографии. Получается, что этническая принадлежность упоминается только применительно к вооруженным людям, а собственное происхождение главной героини - как раз тесно связанное с Чечней - остается за кадром. Такая избирательность в использовании этнических маркеров, даже неумышленная, создает однобокое впечатление у читателя.

Предложили бы редакции рассмотреть возможность уточнения формулировки в подзаголовке и при последующих публикациях на эту тему воздерживаться от негативно окрашенных формулировок, связанных с этнической принадлежностью.

🎙️Statement by the Embassy of Russia in Norway regarding an article in the «Aftenposten» newspaper (10 August 2026)

In response to the article ‘Hun er Russlands rikeste kvinne. Nå brenner forretningsimperiet hennes’, published on 8 August 2026, we would like to draw attention to the wording in the article’s subheading: ‘væpnede tsjetsjenske banditter’ (‘armed Chechen bandits’). It is telling that the body of the article itself uses a more neutral phrase – ‘armed Chechen men’. In other words, the editorial team itself apparently recognised the difference between these two terms, but retained the more inflammatory and negatively charged version specifically in the summary – the section read by the greatest number of people and which forms the first impression of the article.

Crime has no nationality. Around 200 nationalities and ethnic groups live in Russia, and linking the criminal behaviour of a specific group of individuals to their ethnic background casts a shadow over the entire people, not just those involved in the conflict.

We would also like to point out that Norway is home to a Chechen diaspora numbering many thousands — people, many of whom have long since become part of Norwegian society. A phrase such as ‘tsjetsjenske banditter’ in the headline of a major Norwegian newspaper is read and perceived by this audience as a label applied to the entire people by name, rather than on the basis of actual involvement in a specific incident. One would like to believe that the editorial team, which values the publication’s reputation, did not set out to deliberately offend this group of readers, but the outcome remains the same.

We would also like to highlight a factual asymmetry which, in my view, is worth bearing in mind. The article’s subject, Tatyana Kim, is an ethnic Korean born in Grozny, then the capital of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Not a word is said about this in the article, although it is a notable and, on a human level, interesting detail of her biography. It appears that ethnic background is mentioned only in relation to armed individuals, whilst the main protagonist’s own origins – which are, in fact, closely linked to Chechnya – remain unmentioned. Such selectivity in the use of ethnic markers, even if unintentional, creates a one-sided impression for the reader.

We would suggest that the editorial team consider clarifying the wording in the subheading and, in future publications on this topic, refrain from using negatively connoted language relating to ethnic background.

🎙 Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s answer to a media question regarding Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s statement on a proposal for Russia and Ukraine to introduce a moratorium on military activities in the Black Sea (August 14, 2026)

❓ Question: Has the Russian Side received Turkiye’s proposal to introduce a moratorium on military activities in the Black Sea, and is it prepared to consider such an option?

💬 Maria Zakharova: We traditionally give careful consideration to all peace initiatives put forward by our foreign partners, especially by Turkiye, which is an important regional player and our neighbour on the Black Sea.

Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan recently said in a media interview that Ankara had conveyed proposals to the Russian and Ukrainian sides on introducing a moratorium on military activities in the Black Sea.

❌ The Russian Side has not received through official channels any formal Turkiye’s proposal setting out the specific terms of this initiative.

If this refers to a one-sided arrangement along the lines of the 2022-2023 scheme, better known as the Black Sea Initiative, under which Moscow suspended military activities in the Black Sea – more precisely, retaliatory measures to protect Russian port infrastructure and energy facilities – then returning to that format would be inadvisable.

☝️ The arrangement was conditional on reciprocal measures by the other side. Those measures never followed.

At the time, as you may recall, we agreed to the moratorium in exchange for access for Russian agricultural products to global markets.

However, the West demonstrated a bad-faith approach: the humanitarian corridor we provided came to be widely used for terrorist attacks against Russian civilian and military facilities, while Russian agricultural products remained under sanctions. This ultimately led to the termination of the Black Sea Initiative.

Today, we regularly face brazen acts of terrorism carried out by Ukrainian drones in the Black Sea against civilian vessels from coastal states, several times a month. We regard these attacks as a deliberate policy aimed at destabilising civilian shipping in the Black Sea region, further escalating tensions and prolonging the conflict, with the open acquiescence of neighbouring countries in the region.

At the same time, we see no prerequisites for the situation to improve and, consequently, no grounds for half-measures that merely give the Kiev regime a temporary respite.

We have recently seen a growing number of international calls for a ceasefire and for settling the situation around Ukraine through familiar short-term arrangements.

Our position on these proposals and on the issue as a whole remains unchanged 👉 A sustainable and long-term settlement of the Ukrainian crisis is possible only if its root causes are eliminated.

❗️ First and foremost, this means removing the security threats created by #NATO’s eastward expansion and attempts to draw Kiev into the alliance.

It is equally important to secure guarantees for the restoration and observance of the legitimate rights of the Russian and Russian-speaking population in the territories that remain under the control of the Kiev regime.

🎙️Комментарий Посольства России в Норвегии для газеты «Афтенпостен» о референдуме в Исландии (19 августа 2026 г.)

Россия не вмешивается во внутренние дела суверенных государств. С полным уважением относимся к суверенному праву исландского народа на волеизъявление. Россия ничего не выигрывает от любого возможного исхода этого голосования.

Спекуляции о «российском вмешательстве» активно тиражируются проевропейскими силами в Исландии для эксплуатации русофобии и продвижения курса на вступление в ЕС, создавая искусственную дихотомию «Россия или ЕС».

Реальное давление на исландскую аудиторию оказывают представители Евросоюза. Власти Исландии официально просили Еврокомиссию воздержаться от вмешательства в предвыборную кампанию, однако высокопоставленные чиновники ЕС продолжают искать обходные пути. 20 июля Исландию посетил глава МИД Франции Жан-Ноэль Барро, заявивший, что стране «абсолютно нечего терять» в переговорах о вступлении.

Показателен промежуточный доклад Комитета по судебной системе Палаты представителей США от 3 февраля, где описано, как Еврокомиссия под видом борьбы с дезинформацией давила на онлайн-платформы в ряде стран (Словакия, Нидерланды, Франция, Румыния, Молдавия, Ирландия). При этом в том же докладе не найдено доказательств российского вмешательства в выборы в Румынии.

Что касается Норвегии, то 2/3 норвежцев стабильно против вступления в ЕС. Большинство не видит смысла в присоединении к объединению с внутренними проблемами. России не на что влиять, да и незачем – Норвегия все равно поддерживает все антироссийские санкции.

Призываем обратить внимание на тех, кто объективно заинтересован в расширении ЕС, – на евробюрократию, а не искать российский след там, где его нет.

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🎙️Comment of the Embassy of Russia in Norway to “Aftenposten” regarding alleged Russian influence on the referendum in Iceland (19 August 2026)

👆🏻It is futile to look for evidence where none exists. Russia has no intention to influence the outcome of the referendum in Iceland, nor does it seek to influence domestic political processes in other countries.

We treat with the utmost respect the sovereign right of the Icelandic people to express their will. Russia has nothing to gain from any possible outcome of this vote.

It is noted that "Russian interference" narrative is being most actively employed by pro-European forces in Iceland. In doing so, they seek to exploit the Russophobic sentiments of the electorate in order to secure greater support for the country's accession to the European Union, thereby de facto presenting voters with an artificial and contrived choice between Russia and the EU.

At the same time, one cannot underestimate the influence that representatives of the European Union and its institutions exert on the Icelandic public. According to available information, on the eve of the vote, a large amount of EU officials arrived in Iceland, openly advocating for the country’s accession to the EU. The situation has reached the point where Icelandic authorities have officially asked the European Commission to refrain from interfering in the election campaign. However, high-ranking EU officials are still seeking ways to support those in favor of membership without provoking Reykjavik’s displeasure. For example, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barro recently visited Iceland and stated that the country has absolutely nothing to lose in negotiations on EU accession. It is precisely such overt attempts to exert pressure that should be cause for concern.

Attention should be focused on those who have a genuine stake in a specific outcome namely, the entities that stand to benefit directly from EU enlargement. In this context, the interim report by the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, published on February 3 of this year, is highly indicative. It describes in detail how the European Commission, under the pretext of combating disinformation, exerted pressure on online platforms under the Digital Services Act (DSA), demanding that they remove or restrict political content ahead of national elections in Slovakia (2023), the Netherlands (2023 and 2025), France (2024), Romania (2024), Moldova (2024), Ireland (2024 and 2025), as well as ahead of the 2024 European Parliament elections. It is noteworthy that the same report concludes that there is no evidence of Russian interference in the 2024 presidential election in Romania.

As for a possible referendum on Norway’s EU membership, according to the latest poll conducted by the polling agency Verian for TV2, 65.9% of Norwegians oppose accession , and this figure has remained stable for a long time. It is clear that the majority of Norwegians see no point in joining an integration bloc that is losing influence in the global economy, facing a whole range of internal problems, and yet constantly encroaching on the sovereignty of its member states. Given these public sentiments, Norway’s leading political forces have repeatedly confirmed that they will not initiate a new referendum in the foreseeable future . Russia has no leverage in this matter, nor would there be any reason to seek it, given that Norway, despite remaining outside the EU, nonetheless aligns itself with most of the bloc’s illegal restrictive measures against Russia.

We suggest that anyone expressing concern about “Russian interference” take a closer look at those who have an objective interest in Iceland and Norway joining the EU as soon as possible. In addition to the pro-EU political forces in these countries, the Eurocracy clearly has a vested interest in expansion.

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