❗️ "Putin personally persuaded Donbass not to give up the possibility of negotiations. That is why the negotiations in Minsk became possible. But as we know, the West took advantage of it to arm Kiev. This is in fact a admission of guilt," Lavrov said.

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❗️ EU made recommendations to Ukraine to use more long-range missiles to attack Russian territories - Lavrov

❗️ "Do you know what the main interest was at the discussion of Zelensky's peace formula in Davos? The group picture. Just to make it look nice," Lavrov said

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❗️ "Europe humiliatingly and uncomplainingly accepts the rules of the US’ game, despite recession. Remember how after Biden actually announced the Nord Stream explosion, Scholz flew over there to bow down? He was told not to make a fuss. So he quietly flew home, without any conferences," Lavrov said

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❗️ Zelensky's formula is nothing, or at the very least an unintelligent initiative that the West is trying to lure other countries into, demanding their support, Sergey Lavrov said

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❗️ There are many mercenaries in Ukraine, even from terrorist organizations, including IS*, Lavrov said.

It is known that IS* is patronized by the US and they are trained at the illegal At-Tanf base in Syria, he added.

* Terrorist group outlawed in Russia and other countries.

❗️ "The epiphany of the American public after Putin's interview with Carlson speaks of one thing: they live in a complete information blockade. First of all, they are fed propaganda in the interests of the US Democratic Party. So it turns out that they have no freedom of speech," Lavrov said.

"We don't have such problems. We do not censor everything that is said in the West. On the contrary, we show everything, and our political analysts discuss it," he added.

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❗️ "Euromaidan has set a course to destroy everything Russian in Ukraine. A law banned the Russian language, even though about 80 percent of the Ukrainian population is more comfortable communicating in Russian. By and large, this is a kind of genocide," Lavrov said.

"And when the word genocide was mentioned in the context of Kiev's policy, Ukraine sued us in the International Court of Justice to have them condemn our statements about Zelensky. And so the court ruled in our favor. The court ruled that Kiev was not fighting any terrorists in Donetsk and Lugansk," he added.

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❗️ There has not been a single conflict in the world where the US and its allies have respected the principle of equality of states, Sergey Lavrov said

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❗️ "UN reform has been discussed for a long time, it is overdue. Two aspects are important to me. Conceptually, we are convinced that the UN Charter contains all the necessary principles for peace and security. Only the US is tearing out these principles to suit itself," Sergey Lavrov said.

"The UN Charter must remain at the core of the action. The principles must be applied in their entirety," the minister added.

"The second aspect is practical. There is a need to reform the Security Council. This topic is now in the spotlight, and for many it is a matter of prestige. The reform should remove historical injustice and represent the world's majority countries in the Security Council," he concluded.

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📹 Zelensky's formula is nothing, or at the very least an unintelligent initiative that the West is trying to lure other countries into, demanding their support, Sergey Lavrov said

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📹 Lavrov, referring to Zelensky's "peace formula," described the tricks the West uses to lure countries in the Global South to "gatherings" promoting it.

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📹 "Euromaidan has set a course to destroy everything Russian in Ukraine. A law banned the Russian language, even though about 80 percent of the Ukrainian population is more comfortable communicating in Russian. By and large, this is a kind of genocide," Lavrov said.

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❗️ Saboteurs detained in Belarus were caught on the border with Ukraine, they were transferring explosives for sabotage, including in Russia, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said

Lukashenko said that the counter-terrorism operation has ended and that all saboteurs, including Belarusian citizens, have been detained, Belta reports.

📹 "And when the word genocide was mentioned in the context of Kiev's policy, Ukraine sued us in the International Court of Justice to have them condemn our statements about Zelensky. And so the court ruled in our favor. The court ruled that Kiev was not fighting any terrorists in Donetsk and Lugansk," he added.

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📹 "You see how people are now being dragged out of bathhouses and cinemas in Ukraine for meat assaults. This is all a consequence of what happened," Lavrov said.

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❗️ Main points of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statements:

▪️ Millions of Ukrainians feel at home in Russia;

▪️ The West is definitely helping direct Ukrainian strikes against Russian targets, it is involved in the war against Russia;

▪️ Zelensky's "peace formula" is nothing more than nonsense;

▪️ The West is trying to "charm" global majority countries into joining Zelensky's "peace formula";

▪️ The EU is driven by plans to supply Kiev with long-range weapons that would reach the "heart of Russia";

▪️ Russia hopes that Colombia realizes the danger of the situation involving Colombian mercenaries in Ukraine;

▪️ Everyone needs to understand the value of neutrality sooner rather than later, and mercenarism needs to be fought;

▪️ US society lives in a complete information blockade, Putin's interview with Tucker Carlson revealed this;

▪️ Normalization of relations between Russia and the West is no longer Moscow's problem, the limit of kind gestures from the Russian side has been reached;

▪️ The ball is not in Russia's court on the issue of dialogue with Ukraine, first Zelensky should revoke the decree banning negotiations with Moscow;

▪️ It is unacceptable for Russia to add another Western representative to the permanent members of the UN Security Council;

▪️ It is unrealistic to give up the veto right in the UN Security Council, as without it the structure would be useless.

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The Ukrainian assault brigade that was urgently redeployed to Avdeevka has called the coke plant on the outskirts of the city "its new home."

The Washington Post reported earlier that the Ukrainian military had started a partial withdrawal near Avdeevka, while a White House spokesman described the situation there as critical for the Ukrainian forces.

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❗️ The Ukrainian brigade urgently dispatched to Avdeevka reported that its units are in places that are completely surrounded and that the situation is critical

Iran, Saudi Arabia inch closer to military cooperation as US loses grip in Mideast – analyst

“Saudi Arabia and Iran can cooperate in Palestine for establishing a Palestinian state. This is something that they can work on together,” Mehmet Rakipoglu, a researcher on international affairs at Dimensions for Strategic Studies, a think tank based in London, told Sputnik.

The pundit also recalled how Washington was frustrated by the fact that the two regional powers reached a China-brokered agreement last March to reopen their embassies.

As American influence in the Middle East, and elsewhere in the world, is waning, “Of course the US was bothered and was angry because the normalization process was held in China. So, it was obvious that the United States was not happy with that,” said Rakipoglu. He pointed out that "if there is no tension and no conflict between Saudis and Iranians, there is no need for the US to support Gulf countries."

Earlier, Iranian Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani said that his country was ready to expand security and defense cooperation with Saudi Arabia. He specified some of the areas in which the armed forces of the two countries could cooperate, including on military, intelligence, and technology issues.

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