Briefing by Foreign Ministry Information and Press Department’s Deputy Director Andrey Nastasyin, Moscow, July 31, 2024

Table of contents

Answers to media questions:

Assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh

The Foreign Ministry strongly condemns the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, who headed the political bureau within Hamas, a Palestinian movement. He died after a missile strike hit his residence in Tehran. It is worth noting that this attack took place while the Hamas leader was visiting Iran. He travelled there at an official invitation to take part in the inauguration ceremony of President-elect of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian.

It is obvious that those who organised this political assassination understood that these actions were fraught with dangerous consequences for the entire region. There is no doubt that Ismail Haniyeh’s killing will have an extremely negative impact on the indirect contacts between Hamas and Israel, which offered a framework for achieving a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip on mutually acceptable terms.

Russia reiterates its insistent calls on all the parties involved to exercise restraint and avoid any steps that could dramatically worsen the security situation in the region, leading to a large-scale military confrontation.

Israel’s strike against Beirut

According to the latest reports, in the evening of July 30, 2024, an Israeli UAV carried out a strike against a residential building in a densely populated neighbourhood located in Beirut’s southern suburbs near the Bahman Hospital, one of Lebanon’s biggest healthcare institutions. Following the attack, officials in Tel Aviv claimed to have eliminated a prominent Hezbollah commander, whom they blamed for shelling Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights.

The Lebanese Healthcare Ministry reported that the attack left several people dead, including a woman and two children, and over 80 people were wounded. According to the available information, there were no Russians among the victims. The Bahman Hospital suffered extensive damage.

The Foreign Ministry strongly condemns Israel for carrying out this attack. It constitutes a grave violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty and the basic tenets of international law. We believe military operations of this kind to be unacceptable, especially in densely built-up neighbourhoods, given the high risk of civilian casualties and destruction of civilian infrastructure.

This incident could potentially lead to a major escalation in the Middle East, which is a matter of grave concern for us. The Foreign Ministry would like to urge the parties involved to exercise maximum restraint and refrain from taking any steps which could further escalate the situation and let it spiral out of control, with the region sliding into a full-blown armed confrontation. This is fraught with disastrous consequences.

Considering the current military and political escalation, the Foreign Ministry would like to remind Russian nationals about its advice to refrain from travelling to Lebanon.

The Ukraine crisis

This month marks the 80th anniversary of the Red Army’s Lvov-Sandomierz strategic operation against Nazi Germany during the Great Patriotic War. During this operation, Soviet forces defeated the Wehrmacht’s Army Group North Ukraine, pushing its units back over 200 kilometres to the west and liberating western Ukrainian territories. This success allowed them to reach the western Soviet border and start liberating Europe from the Nazi scourge.

On July 22, 1944, the Waffen SS Division Galicia, which had gained notoriety for their crimes against the civilian population, was destroyed near Brody during one of the operation’s stages. It is widely known that this punitive unit consisting of volunteers from western Ukraine burned villages and ruthlessly and methodically exterminated innocent Poles, Jews, Russians and Ukrainians. Consequently, after the Great Patriotic War, the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg recognised Waffen SS troops, including the Galicia Division, as a criminal organisation.

In another important stage of the Lvov-Sandomierz strategic operation, units of the Red Army’s 1st and 4th Ukrainian Fronts liberated Lvov from the Nazis. During the city’s occupation, the Nazis and their accomplices, Ukrainian collaborators, inflicted irreparable losses on the city and its residents. Nazi and pro-Bandera henchmen victimised approximately 500,000 people.

Ten years ago, on July 28, 2014, the personnel of the legendary Vostok (East) Battalion continued the cause of their fathers and grandfathers and managed to hold the Saur-Mogila height while being outnumbered by units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The people of Donbass who rejected the anti-constitutional coup in Kiev heroically defended their freedom with weapons in hand.

Today, Russia continues its liberation struggle against Nazism in Ukraine. In the past few days alone, the Russian Armed Forces, deployed in the special military operation zone, have liberated the communities of Volchye, Yevgenovka, Ivano-Daryevka, Lozovatskoye and Progress in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Rozovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic and Peshchanoye in the Kharkov Region.

Russian courts also continue their work, sentencing Ukrainian neo-Nazis who have committed grave crimes against peaceful civilians using evidence submitted by the Investigative Committee.

The Investigative Committee has indicted First Deputy Commander of the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces Sergey Krivonos and former Commander of the Ukrainian Airborne Assault Troops Yury Galushkin. As a result of their criminal actions, their subordinates fired at communities in the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics between 2014 and 2019, resulting in the deaths of 144 people, including seven children. They also destroyed and damaged about 190 civil infrastructure facilities. Russian authorities are currently searching for these criminals in order to arrest them.

The following criminal files have been submitted for indictment and further submission to court for conviction in absentia: against the citizen of Georgia Mamuk Mamulashvili who started the so-called Georgian National Legion in 2014 to fight against the residents of the DPR and the LPR; former ambassador of Ukraine to Kazakhstan Pyotr Vrublyovsky who called for killing Russians, and blogger Alexander Shpak who was charged with disseminating misleading information about the activities of the Russian Armed Forces.

The agency is also taking action regarding mercenaries involved in the conflict on Ukraine’s side in order to arraign them on criminal charges. They include citizens of Latvia, Georgia, Israel and France. Currently, investigation is complete for 25 criminal cases, with guilty verdicts in a number of them.

United States citizen St John Michael-Arthur was sentenced to 14 years in absentia for fighting on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces between February 2022 and May 2024. He is on the international wanted list.

For similar crimes, citizen of Georgia Shota Demetrashvili and Latvian citizen Atvars Anins were sentenced in absentia to 14 and 13 years, respectively. They are also on the international wanted list.

Ukrainian fighter Oleg Shlapakovsky, who opened mortar fire at residential buildings in Kominternovo, DPR, in February 2022, was sentenced to 27 years in a penal colony.

None of the criminals will be able to evade punishment. They will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.

I want to mention another example of the West dropping its mask of sham humanism and revealing its true colours.

Earlier, we commented on the so-called conference on restoring Ukraine that took place in Berlin on June 11-12, 2024. By restoring, participants actually meant sending more weapons there.

On July 24, 2024, it was reported that Germany’s Rheinmetall received an official order to build an ammunition plant in Ukraine. The deal is worth over 100 million euros. Unlike development and restoration investment, Western military circles have no scruples about funding arms manufacturing. Making money on war and bloodshed has always been and remains a habit of Western wheeler-dealers.

In this context, I would like to remind you that any military plants in Ukraine are legitimate targets for the Russian Armed Forces.

On July 28, 2024, we celebrated Christianisation of Rus’. Being a pillar of the Early Russian statehood, the Orthodox Church saved people from falling into moral poverty and losing their identity amidst challenges many times. Today, it is experiencing another round of attacks from those who dream of inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Russia.

The first attempt to split the Orthodox Church goes back to 1439. At that time, the Constantinople hierarchs, counting on the Pope’s help in the fight against the Ottoman Turks, signed the union with the Catholics at the Council of Florence. Further history showed that betraying one’s own faith in the hope of gaining favour and help from foreign patrons does not lead to anything good. Help from the Pope never came, and the Ottoman Turks, who seized Constantinople, immediately expelled the Uniates.

The second attempt took place in 1596 due to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth’s active efforts to Polonise local Slavs, when the Kiev schismatics adopted another Union of Brest. The unity of the Orthodox Church was only restored after the Left Bank of the Dnieper, including Kiev, was reunited with Russia.

Today, the Orthodox Church haunts the minds of the Kiev authorities and their Western patrons once again. Continuous attempts are being made to push through the Verkhovna Rada a bill banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. On July 23, ex-president Petr Poroshenko, the main lobbyist for banning the UOC, speaking in parliament called the Ukrainian Orthodox Church “an evil force” connected to the FSB. He has degraded so much that he addressed its parishioners with foul language.

However, even in the absence of a respective discriminatory law, Ukrainian fighters with God are trying to hinder the work of the UOC as hard as they can. It is noteworthy that just a few years ago most of these persecutors were lining up for a blessing at the Lavra. This is the state of affairs in Ukrainian politics. Kiev continues to detain church hierarchs under far-fetched pretexts, holding them under arrest for months without recourse to court, and openly declaring its desire to use the clergy in POW swaps.

Illegal takeovers of UOC churches by representatives of the schismatic OCU and the Ukrainian police continue. On July 11, the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Kiev Region was taken away from the believers. On July 18, the same happened to the St Nicholas Church in the Khmelnytsky Region. On June 28, a court in Ternopol denied the UOC the right to use the local cathedral, and on July 5, a Kiev court seized the Yeletsky Monastery from the UOC. Apparently, the current state of the judicial system in Ukraine would not rule in favour of the UOC in principle.

No matter how hard Vladimir Zelensky’s regime tries to fulfill the its American masters’ order to destroy canonical Orthodoxy, he will not succeed. True faith will forever remain in the hearts of millions of Ukrainians.

Ukraine continues destroying its own population using the method of mobilisation, also nicknamed “gravelisation” among the people.

The Kiev junta does not plan to leave alone those few who have not left Ukraine yet. However, those who have managed to do so should not think that it is all over. I will speak more on that later.

On July 23, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada extended the martial law and general mobilisation regime by another three months. Verkhovna Rada chief Ruslan Stefanchuk recently intimated that an end to the campaign of terror maintained by the territorial draft and social support centres was not on the agenda. He announced on July 25 that there would be no demobilisation in Ukraine until the hostilities end. The Ukrainian army was short of manpower because of huge losses on the battlefield. Speaking in an interview with The Guardian on July 24, Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Alexander Syrsky said that the citizens of Ukraine, who were currently residing abroad, should return home to perform their “constitutional duty.” He hoped that after victory, they would be able to tell their children “where they were.” I wonder if the citizens of Ukraine, who have lost their lives defending the interests of Vladimir Zelensky and his junta, will be in a position to tell their children “where they were.”

We indicated at our briefing on July 18 that the Kiev regime seemed to be engrossed in planning new levies for the front to include the Ukrainians that had left the country after the start of combat operations. Just a week later, a bill was introduced to the Ukrainian Parliament proposing the creation of a Ministry for Demography and the Diaspora, and a Demographic Revival Fund, which were due to “encourage the expatriate Ukrainians to return to Ukraine.” The demographic situation in Ukraine is truly disastrous, for Zelensky is turning the country into an unpopulated wasteland. According to the latest IMF statistics, the Ukrainian populace numbers close on 33 million, or even less than 23 million, if we believe the most pessimistic expert estimates. Since the disintegration of the USSR, Ukraine has lost more than 20 million people. It seems high time we spoke about the Kiev regime’s genocide of the Ukrainian nation.

The above facts confirm once again the relevance of the special military operation meant to denazify and demilitarise Ukraine and to remove threats coming from its territory. All of these aims will certainly be achieved.

Kiev’s decision to cut off Druzhba oil pipeline

We have pointed out more than once that the Kiev regime is using the transit of energy resources through Ukraine to manipulate the situation, with the West’s encouragement. These schemes have been in use for years. All of us remember the gas wars with Kiev in 2008 and 2009. Zelensky’s handlers now want to sever Russia’s energy cooperation with the countries that are still guided by their national interests and rational economic considerations.

The Druzhba oil pipeline has been affected by Kiev’s anti-Russia actions several times. The Bandera followers have even resorted to terrorist attacks, using drones to attack the pipeline’s infrastructure. Despite this, Russian companies have continued to honour their contractual obligations to deliver oil to their European clients. Russian suppliers have been working for years under unprecedented pressure by the Kiev authorities, who create various legal obstacles to their operations.

We were not surprised when a recent round of legal pressure on a Russian supplier, LUKoil, which sells oil to Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, coincided with Hungary’s peaceful diplomatic initiatives for an early settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, and Hungary and Slovakia’s refusal to obediently support the EU’s new illegal anti-Russia sanctions.

Kiev upped the stakes on July 17, probably after getting the nod from its Washington and EU handlers, who decided to put pressure on incompliant Hungarians and Slovaks. It announced its decision to cut off oil deliveries from LUKoil, even though the EU had not imposed sanctions on the company.

The Zelensky regime’s decision to stop oil transit to Hungary and Slovakia is further evidence of Kiev’s inability to honour its commitments and its propensity for blackmail. This is especially surprising considering that Ukraine is focused on joining the EU as soon as possible. These reckless actions by the candidate country have endangered the energy security of two EU member states and several candidate countries. In addition, it is well-known that both Hungary and Slovakia have more than once provided neighbourly assistance to Kiev by sending hydrocarbons and electricity.

As we have said more than once before, millions of ordinary Europeans have become victims of their governments’ anti-Russia policies.

Moldova update

The ongoing deterioration of the socioeconomic situation in Moldova, caused by the incompetent actions of the authorities and their dictatorial methods of government, has discredited the Moldovan leaders’ “European integration project” in the eyes of the citizens.

Unable to rectify this situation, official Chisinau continues to step up its Russophobic rhetoric. On July 26 of this year, Foreign Minister of Moldova Mihail Popșoi said that all Russia had given Moldova was grief and despair. He added that Russia was undermining the legitimate aspirations of the Moldovan people to be part of the European family of nations.

The following facts show the absurdity of such statements coming from a representative of the regime, which is guided by instructions from Brussels and Washington instead of the interests of the Moldovan people.

In the same statement, Mihail Popșoi hinted at a possibility of dropping the clause on neutrality from the country’s Constitution, since, allegedly, “the neutral status has never stopped an aggressor.”At the same time, recent polls indicate that 65 percent of Moldovans consider neutrality to be a guarantee of their country’s security, while 69 percent of respondents do not support its putative accession to NATO.

On July 23, the Moldovan Foreign Minister said that even if the voters said “no” to Moldova’s accession to the European Union at the referendum on EU membership scheduled for October 20, the accession negotiations would continue notwithstanding, because, according to him, there was no legal relation between results of the vote and the talks with Brussels. The Moldovan public took this as a “sincere admission” of the authorities’ total indifference to what the people want or think. It is estimated that the irrelevant referendum will cost millions of dollars in taxpayers’ money. According to experts, the Moldovan government is playing its European integration games against the background of a record high budget deficit and an unprecedented amount of public debt. Official statistics show that Moldova’s domestic and external borrowing in June topped $6 billion, a colossal sum for the country.

With the referendum idea discredited, the authorities are attempting to use all available expedients, including the ethnic factor. Moldova’s Interethnic Relations Agency invited its accredited organisations to sign an appeal to the local ethnic communities in support of the European integration policy. The plan failed miserably: out of 78 organisations, a little more than 20 agreed to do so.

We have repeatedly pointed out that the Moldovan authorities are leading the country along the same path as that taken by Ukraine and the Baltic states. This trend continues. On July 25, Prime Minister Dorin Recean welcomed the launch of a Moldovan website identical to the Ukrainian Myrotvorets facility. According to him, initiatives like this one are what will help build Moldova’s “European future.”

Such unrealistic statements and incompetent actions by the country’s leadership are causing growing protests not only in Moldova itself, but also in Moldovan diasporas abroad, including in Western Europe. The media have published footage of President Maia Sandu’s recent meeting with France-based Moldovans, who started asking her hard questions about the corruption schemes involving some government members. Trying to justify herself, the president, in her characteristic dismissive manner, irritably accused her compatriots of peddling “falsehoods.”

All of this is a logical outcome of the policy aimed at dismantling the country’s statehood and national identity and at renouncing the traditional values. It is for a reason that the Moldovans display warm feelings towards Russia, which has always treated Moldova as an equal partner, and openly laugh at the “Russian threat” allegations. We remain friends. All attempts to destroy this are doomed to failure.

Japan and the United States renew an agreement on the parameters of lethal arms exports

We have taken note of Japan making yet another step on the path of consistent dismantling of its self-imposed defence restraints. This time, it has given the green light to exporting to the United States military products produced in Japan under a license from the US. In this context, both Tokyo and Washington cynically refer to their bilateral Mutual Defence Assistance Agreement signed in 1954, while concealing the fact that the document bans such assistance from including “any armaments which could be an offensive threat or serve other than to promote peace and security.”

Both sides are not concealing that their new understandings are about Japan exporting to the US Japanese-made interceptor missiles for Patriot systems. We have almost no doubt that these missiles could ultimately turn up in Ukraine, something that will inevitably entail grave negative consequences for global and regional security.

We have to make yet another warning to the effect that we will regard Tokyo’s deliveries of Japanese lethal military products to the Armed Forces of Ukraine as clearly hostile acts and reserve the right to undertake most resolute countermeasures, including in the context of bilateral relations with Japan.

Germany detains Russian citizens accused of raising funds for ISIS

We have taken note of a report about Germany detaining on July 25 two Russian citizens accused of collecting money for the ISIS terrorist group.

Though unwilling to anticipate the outcome of the investigation, we can clearly discern a trend towards an increase in terrorist threats in the European countries. In many respects, this results from the short-sighted policy pursued by the EU states that have become engrossed in helping the criminal Kiev regime to the detriment of their own security. They supply Kiev with arms, many of which end up being sold on the black market to criminal elements. They recruit mercenaries all over the world, who transit through Ukraine to more comfortable destinations in Europe, where they join the terrorist underground and “sleeping cells.”

We would like to remind everyone that the UN Secretary-General’s eighteenth report on ISIS threats to international peace and security of January 31, 2024, emphasised concerns in connection with ISIS-affiliated persons of North Caucasian and Central Asian origin migrating from Ukraine to Europe.

Thus, the West’s blind obsession with the idea to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia in Ukraine at all costs is boomeranging against them in the form of increased terrorist threats to their own citizens whose security seems no longer a priority for the EU leadership.

For our part, we condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Terrorism has no national, religious, or ethnic identity.

Statements by IOC President Thomas Bach

In one of his recent interviews, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach made new anti-Russia slurs. Thomas Bach baselessly called Russian initiatives on holding international sports competitions political propaganda running counter to the values of sport. He also claimed that athletes allegedly did not want to take part in “performances” and that sport federations did not want to fall under Russian control.

The openly anti-Russia sentiment of Thomas Bach no longer surprises us. For some reason, however, he speaks on behalf of athletes and sport federations that can independently define their attitude towards new formats of international sport competitions suggested by Russia.

We would like to emphasise that Russian initiatives are not directed against the Olympic movement and do not aim to create alternative platforms. They are called on to harmoniously supplement the current international timeframe of sport competitions. Our goal is to create favourable conditions for leading Russian athletes, being discriminated against by the IOC leadership, in honest and open competitions with athletes from other countries. What “political performance” and propaganda does Thomas Bach see here?

Speaking of “performances,” the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris stunned the public with its outright lack of taste and disdain for the feelings of believers all over the world. If this is “inclusivity” with regard to the Olympic Games (something that Mr Thomas Bach likes to speak about so much), then we are not sure that athletes and national federations share his approaches and those of organisers of the Olympic Games towards inclusivity.

It is deplorable that the IOC President follows the directives of Western states and splits the world sport movement, and that he has virtually deprived Russian and Belarusian athletes of their dream – to take part in the Olympic Games and to represent their states there. He thinks that this is not enough, and he strives to undermine the development of sport and international sport cooperation that involves Russia.

We would like to remind everyone once again that sport is a universal value, and that participation in sport competitions is an inalienable right of any person. No one, including Mr Thomas Bach, can monopolise this sphere of human activity.

We are urging the IOC leadership to renounce their destructive anti-Russia line and to unfailingly honour the fundamental principles of the international Olympic movement.

Interim results of Russia’s CIS Chairmanship in the first six months of 2024

Russia is holding CIS Chairmanship this year. A great deal has been accomplished in the first six months of the year. About 80 events have been held in various spheres within the Concept of Russia’s CIS Chairmanship, including all the scheduled meetings of the charter bodies.

Further efforts were taken to strengthen foreign policy coordination. During a meeting of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers held in Minsk on April 12, 2024, two statements were adopted on Russia’s initiative, one on ensuring safe conditions for the professional activities of journalists and preventing infringements on their rights, and the other on the 30th anniversary of receiving observer status at the UN General Assembly. Both documents have been circulated at the UN.

The implementation of the plan of multilevel inter-ministerial consultations between CIS countries is proceeding on schedule. It has been expanded compared to previous plans and currently comprises 17 items. We have held a half of the panned meetings on a wide range of issues, from combating new threats and challenges to cooperation within UNESCO.

During previous meetings of the CIS Heads of Government Council and the Economic Council, we determined the key areas for building up the economic and industrial capabilities of the CIS member states, primarily food, technological and energy security as well as transport connectivity. In particular, the CIS heads of government have approved a number of medium-term policy documents on these issues. We have held the Innoprom International Industrial Exhibition in Yekaterinburg on July 8-11, 2024. One of its partners was the CIS Executive Committee.

Special attention was paid to strengthening military cooperation and to security issues. The CIS countries’ unanimous approach to combatting terrorism and extremism has been reaffirmed during a meeting of the heads of national anti-terrorist centres held in Moscow in April 2024, and a meeting of the Council of the CIS Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services held in Bishkek in May. Brest hosted a meeting of the Council of Border Guard Commanders on June 21, and a meeting of the Council of Defence Ministers was held on July 3 in Minsk, where Defence Minister Andrey Belousov was elected chairman of the council.

As for cultural and humanitarian events, the largest of them have been held in Tashkent and Samarkand (Uzbekistan) and in Gyumri (Armenia) within interstate youth, culture and the CIS Sports Capital programmes. Of great importance for the preservation of our common historical memory was the Memory Train project, in which schoolchildren from nearly all CIS countries took part this year. We are drafting an address of the CIS heads of state to the CIS nations and the international community on the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. As part of the action plan for holding the CIS Year of the Volunteer Movement in 2024, an international forum of volunteers of the CIS countries will open on Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan, on August 1.

Supporting and promoting the Russian language has been a major priority on our agenda. On April 3-9, 2024, St Petersburg hosted the Meetings in Russia festival for Russian-language theatres. Held to mark Alexander Pushkin’s 225th birthday, it brought together Russian theatres from several CIS countries, including Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

We also attach great importance to forging closer ties on matters dealing with defending and encouraging human rights. In June 2024, the Commission of Children’s Rights Commissioners (Ombudsmen) and the CIS Human Rights Commission held their meetings in Moscow and St Petersburg. They have many elaborated plans for working on various matters, including efforts to improve national laws, exchange best practices on social guarantees and cyber security for minors.

Russia has an equally packed agenda for the second half of the year as part of its CIS Chairmanship. In fact, it includes over 150 items, with more new projects expected to be added down the road. The chairmanship will culminate with the CIS Heads of State Council Meeting. It will take place on October 8 in Moscow. As per tradition, the CIS foreign ministers will hold a meeting on the eve of this event. The permanent representatives to the CIS in Minsk have already coordinated the agendas for these meetings.

Finally, I would like to remind you that there is a special tab on the CIS Executive Committee’s website where we post updates on the highlights of Russia’s chairmanship. The Foreign Ministry’s corresponding department also runs the CIS in Brief Telegram channel. We also publish this information on our official website.

80 years of liberating Kaunas from Nazi invaders

The Kaunas offensive started on July 28 and continued through August 28, 1944. It came down in history of the Great Patriotic War as part of the Belarus Strategic Offensive, which, in turn, took place during the offensive code-named Bagration.

With Vilnius liberated on July 13, 1944, the Soviet troops were ordered to defeat an enemy force on Neman’s left bank, liberate Kaunas and reach the East Prussian border. The troops taking part in liberating Kaunas included units of the 3rd Byelorussian Front under Army General Ivan Chernyakhovsky’s command.

Kaunas was a major stronghold and provided the shortest path to the German border. It was also a big transport hub, and Nazis used it to move around reserves and supply their units in the rear.

The offensive started on July 29, 1944, with a barrage of artillery fire, followed by the Red Army troops advancing their positions. The Soviet army liberated 53 communities and started encircling Kaunas in the first 24 hours.

The Red Army’s vanguard entered the city in the early hours of July 31, and fought its way to the city centre by the middle of the day after crossing the Neman.

Street fighting ensued with the Red Army personnel demonstrating its heroic bravery and courage. Led by Senior Lieutenant Mikhail Batrakov, a tank squadron came across a superior enemy force of over 30 German fighting vehicles, confronted them and destroyed 14 enemy tanks. Mikhail Batrakov’s crew destroyed four enemy tanks, including by ramming through one of them.

Kaunas was fully liberated by the morning of August 1.

The Soviet troops took 43,966 German soldiers and officers prisoner during the operation, captured 912 weapons, 67 tanks and self-propelled artillery systems.

During the battle to liberate Kaunas, 21 units distinguished themselves, earning the Kovno designation, the old name of Kaunas.

The 80th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Lebanon

On August 5, 1944, the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations with Lebanon. Moscow was one of the first to recognise this country’s independence and for the next 80 years, we have unfailingly maintained friendly links in politics, trade and the economy, and in humanitarian affairs.

The history of our bilateral cooperation goes back generations. In 1839, Emperor Nicholas I decided to transfer the Russian consulate from Jaffa to Beirut. The major part of Russian pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land transited through Lebanon. Until 1917, there were dozens of Russian schools in Lebanon, managed by the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society.

Our country contributed to ceasing the civil war in Lebanon after it continued for 15 years (1975-1990), and Lebanon’s armed conflict with Israel in July and August 2006. Since the 1990s, our political contacts have notably intensified; we have substantially expanded the legal framework of our relations and established a bilateral Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation. Thousands of Lebanese nationals were educated in the educational institutions of the Soviet Union and Russia.

From the early years, our partnership with Beirut has been founded on mutual respect and consideration for each other’s legal interests. Russia has always held a principled stance in support of the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Lebanon. We proceed from the premise that any issues on the national agenda must be resolved by the Lebanese people according to law through a dialogue involving all major political and religious powers.

The multidimensional bilateral links between Russia and Lebanon continue to develop consistently for the benefit of our friendly nations, in the interests of strengthening peace and stability in the Middle East. We maintain a trusted political dialogue. We have regular cultural and humanitarian contacts and continue fruitful cooperation in education. Every year, citizens of Lebanon get an opportunity to study in Russian universities with sponsorship from the federal budget, under a quota of the Russian Government.

Russians have a sincere and deep feeling of commonality with the people of the Republic of Lebanon. We congratulate our Lebanese friends and colleagues on this shared holiday and wish them success and prosperity.

Answers to media questions:

Question: At the beginning of the briefing, you spoke about the significant escalation in the Middle East. Is it possible to discuss the increased risks of a full-scale conflict in this region?

Andrey Nastasyin: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov provided a detailed commentary on this issue following talks in Kuala Lumpur on July 28, 2024.

The region has been on the verge of a full-scale conflict for many months now. Unfortunately, there are no prospects for changing the situation at this point. The parties to the conflict continue to escalate tensions, leading to more civilian casualties, destruction of civilian infrastructure and a higher potential for military mistakes that could plunge the Middle East into a full-scale confrontation.

At the same time, Russian diplomats’ contacts in the region show that all local countries without exception are striving to avoid a tragic scenario. We are convinced that these states have the necessary political will and capabilities to resolve conflicts through dialogue, rather than confrontation. Foreign players should support this commitment in all possible ways and refrain from acting in accordance with the favourite Western paradigm of balancing acts, which pits regional countries against each other. It is important to note that there is an international legal framework for resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the broader Arab-Israeli confrontation.

This framework primarily includes resolutions of the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly that call for the creation of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with its capital in East Jerusalem. This state should coexist in peace and security with Israel. There are various mechanisms for coordinating positions on Middle East peace settlement issues, including the quartet of international mediators (Russia, the United States, the UN and the EU), as well as UN formats for de-escalating the situation on the Lebanese-Israeli Blue Line and in the Golan Heights.

However, it appears that not all external parties are interested in promoting peace and the renunciation of military scenarios in the Middle East. They prefer to impose a bloc mentality on the region and exacerbate tensions. Instead of taking practical steps to resume a comprehensive peace process, they hinder any attempts to launch collective diplomatic efforts in the Middle East peace settlement. For example, the United States and later the EU unilaterally withdrew from the quartet of international mediators, preventing global and Middle East players from presenting peace initiatives. It is the insatiable desire of unscrupulous countries, primarily the United States, to monopolise regional processes that has led to the dramatic results we are witnessing today.

Russian diplomacy is based on a high level of trust. Building the trust displayed by all regional countries, we are actively working to stabilise the situation in the Middle East. In the context of creating favourable conditions for resuming the peace process, in coordination with our Chinese partners, we prioritise the task of overcoming divisions among the Palestinians on the political platform of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. The task aims to honour international decisions on the Palestinian-Israeli issue and facilitate the reunification of Palestinian territories, specifically the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as the foundation for establishing the sovereign State of Palestine.

Question: What can you say about the Etelä 2/24 military drills held in Finland near the Russian border?

Andrey Nastasyin: We view the Finnish military exercises involving about 1,700 personnel and 300 vehicles, which were held on July 21-26 near the Russian border, as an integral part of NATO’s comprehensive provocative efforts to contain Russia, including within Finland’s ongoing accelerated integration into the North Atlantic Alliance.

We see that the political leadership of that North European country, being in a state of deep and unprovoked Russophobia – I would like to emphasise this, has voluntarily sacrificed its own national interests, turning the once good-neighbourly Finland into an outpost of NATO’s military aspirations in the Baltic Sea region and the Arctic.

Question: How would you comment on the German Foreign Ministry’s request to the Venezuelan authorities to publish the detailed results of the presidential election held on July 28, 2024, for every polling station “to dispel doubts about the vote count?”

Andrey Nastasyin: As far as we know, the German Foreign Ministry has published its request on an American social network. Well, I can only say that German diplomacy has not changed. It has again demonstrated an arrogant attitude towards non-Western countries – and disregard for the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states. This behaviour has long become a distinctive feature of Berlin’s foreign policy, which never misses an opportunity to lecture or reprimand someone. The German government is not trying to hide its neo-colonial views on the international stage.

Venezuela surely does not need any guidance from the German state and can independently decide how it should live and what it should do.

We would like to remind everyone about the unprecedented chaos that engulfed German polling stations during the 2021 parliamentary election. The German authorities are in no position to lecture anyone on holding elections. They should first mend their own ways.

We strongly urge Germany not to meddle in others’ affairs but get down to resolving very serious problems at home, like conducting a real investigation into the terrorist attacks on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines. The outcomes of these crimes have affected the basic interests of millions of German citizens. However, there is abundant evidence that the German Government is trying to shove them under the rug even though Germany is one of their main victims, no matter how paradoxical this may sound to any reasonable person.

Question: Sergey Lavrov has said that Wang Yi told him about his talks with [Ukrainian FM] Dmitry Kuleba. What exactly did the Chinese foreign minister say? What do the Chinese partners think about Ukraine’s readiness for talks? Did they mention Ukraine’s self-imposed ban on talks with Russia?

Andrey Nastasyin: I believe that you should address these questions to the Foreign Ministry of China, considering that our Chinese colleagues have made a number of public statements on the results of the talks with the Ukrainian party.

As for Ukraine’s readiness for talks, we see no political will for peace in Kiev or the West. They continue to think in terms of war and have a horror of Ukraine’s defeat because this would put an end to their rules-based world order. The self-imposed ban on talks with Russian authorities, which Zelensky formalised on September 30, 2022, remains effective. The Kiev regime and its Western masters reject out of hand all the third countries’ peace initiatives.

Question: Many Christian organisations around the world, including in France, have already spoken out on the obscene nature of one of the performances during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. What is the Foreign Ministry’s take on this matter?

Andrey Nastasyin: This has become a hotly debated topic, and we have already mentioned it in the course of the briefing. Overall, observers around the world are increasingly questioning what happened at the start of the Olympics.

The opening ceremony of the 2024 summer Olympics in Paris culminated with what amounted to a perfect illustration of moral and political decay, demonstrating the extent to which the Western civilisation has lost its moral and spiritual bearings.

During this event, the French hosts insulted and desecrated the Last Supper, a sacred topic for all Christians. The French recreated Leonardo da Vinci’s fresco presenting this scene, but in a perverted manner by inviting transgender actors to perform it. I do not think that we need to describe this show. Its shocking footage has circled the world.

What we can say is that members of the aggressive LGBT minority have been able to shape the opening ceremony’s programme so as to use the Olympics to push their perverse agenda, all while benefiting from the backing and support of the French officials.

There were scandals dealing with values and morality, traditional cultures and religion before the Olympics even started.

For instance, the organisers prevented Sounkamba Sylla, a black Muslim French runner, from taking part in the opening ceremony. To justify its decision, the French Olympic Committee said that wearing traditional dressing items during the event was prohibited. We have already discussed these outrageous segregationist practices.

Paris has now insulted all Christians and other believers by desecrating the figure of Jesus Christ the Saviour and his apostles, and it did so officially and intentionally. Let me remind you that there are over 2 billion Christians around the world.

There is no doubt that the French authorities acted knowingly and intentionally when taking this step. It had nothing to do with art or creativity. This was a way for them to show their undisguised disregard for something so many people view as being part of their tradition and as something sacred.

The mission of the Olympics consists of promoting harmony and the triumph of peace, but their organisers reduced this event to crass performances, turning it into an orgy of sorts. It is quite symbolic that the Olympic flag was facing the wrong side up when it was lifted during the opening ceremony. This offers a perfect illustration of the perverse logic and morality behind this event.

Instead of building bridges, the West persists in its efforts to erect impenetrable walls between people and world cultures. Neo-liberal ideas rule the minds of the political elites in many EU countries, which play an increasingly destructive role in terms of civilisational development.

Question: What would be your comment regarding the incident with Mika Badalyan, who is a senior executive at Eurasia, a non-profit organisation. The Moldovan authorities denied him entry into the country on what clearly amounts to political reasons?

Andrey Nastasyin: We have been keeping a close eye on the important and ambitious initiatives carried out by Eurasia, an autonomous non-profit. These events bring together young people from many Eurasian countries. There is a lot of creative and unifying potential, so we cannot but welcome these projects.

There is hardly any way to explain why Moldova denied Eurasia’s activists entry to its territory, including Mika Badalyan, who is a member of Eurasia’s Council, other than for far-fetched political reasons. Officials in Chisinau have been obedient and thoughtless in their determination to follow Washington’s and Brussels’ policies, which seek to dismantle the existing ties across the Eurasian space. We can only regret these efforts to politicise initiatives designed to promote people-to-people ties.

We strongly believe that these actions will not deter activists who really care about strengthening youth friendship across Eurasia.

Question: I have a question on Russia’s relations with the countries of the Global South. How will Nicolas Maduro’s election impact Russia’s cooperation with ALBA countries?

Andrey Nastasyin: ALBA – the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – is an association of 10 regional countries, including Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Venezuela. Russia has been quite effective in its cooperation with them on the international stage, as well as in terms of maintaining constructive trade, economic, research, technical, cultural and humanitarian ties. We work closely with ALBA’s institutions and its executive secretaries (they are Venezuelans, by the way), and we intend to continue this dialogue.

It is our belief that Nicolas Maduro’s re-election as President of Venezuela will help Russia expand its relations with ALBA, whose members have congratulated the Venezuelan leader on his victory.

Just as in the past, we hope that ALBA members will be well represented at the international events Russia hosts. In addition, this organisation has demonstrated its commitment to forging closer ties with the EAEU, where one of the alliance members – Cuba – is an observer state, while another country – Nicaragua, signed a memorandum of cooperation with the EAEU in January 2024.

Question: How did the election of Javier Milei in Argentina affect Russian-Argentinian relations after the passage of time?

Andrey Nastasyin: No doubt that the role of an individual in history is a factor that significantly influence the course of events. The world outlook of any leader, their vision of the international coordinates system is naturally reflected in the development of relations between the country they lead and the foreign states. This is fully true about the President of Argentina, extraordinary Latin American politician Javier Milei.

Large-scale reforms have been launched in the Argentinian economy and public administration under his leadership. There have occurred considerable adjustments in positioning Buenos Aires on the international stage. We take all these changes into account in developing cooperation with our Argentinian partners.

We proceed from the fact that for almost 140 years our countries have been united by good friendly relations based on respect for and consideration of each other's interests. We always strive to build a bilateral dialogue in a trusting and non-opportunistic manner on the basis of mutual sympathy and the desire to hear the interlocutor's point of view. Our principled approach to developing cooperation with the countries of the Latin American region (Argentina is no exception) is based on our readiness to promote projects and initiatives whose implementation meets common interests.

Contacts between our countries continue, including in trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian areas. Last March experienced Argentinian diplomat Enrique Ignacio Ferrer Vieira was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Argentine Republic to the Russian Federation by the executive order of President Javier Milei.

We plan to continue developing constructive dialogue with the Argentinian authorities.

Question: On Sunday, the United States has announced a major reform in command and control of its troops in Japan, which is to improve its interaction with the Japanese army and expand its operational capabilities. How does the Russian Foreign Ministry assess these steps by Washington and Tokyo? How will this affect security in the region? How will Russia respond? Are joint response measures being discussed with Beijing and Pyongyang?

Andrey Nastasyin: We are closely following the recent steps taken by Washington and Tokyo to strengthen their military-political alliance, including the joint statement issued on July 28 on modernising control over the US forces in Japan. It seems that both sides, under the cover of threats allegedly emanating from the DPRK, China and Russia, are fully engaged in preparations for a large-scale armed conflict in the Asia-Pacific Region. To this end, they are establishing joint headquarters that will manage allied actions in combat environment, planning a sharp increase in training activities and intend to equip US military bases, specifically in Okinawa Island, with new fire weapons.

We have repeatedly warned that such activities can only escalate tensions and accelerate the arms race in the Asian-pacific Region. We remind the official Tokyo on a regular basis that its provocative activities in close proximity to the Russian borders carried out together with the United States and other, including non-regional NATO countries, is duly accounted in our defence buildup and will inevitably cause adequate countermeasures.

We are performing relevant coordination on these issues with our Chinese and North Korean partners.

Question: The world knows that the Israeli administration has killed 40,000 people in Palestine, more than half of which are women and children. Nevertheless, the US Congress greeted Benjamin Netanyahu as a hero and applauded him for a long time. What do you think of this attitude of American congressmen?

Andrey Nastasyin: Let their electorate judge American congressmen and their attitude to anything.

We stand for resuming an all-round peace process in the region, stabilising the situation and giving up military scenarios. It should proceed in strict compliance with the UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions.

Question: The United States has joined Israel’s aggression against Lebanon and Iran. What is your stance on their actions?

Andrey Nastasyin: We reaffirm our consistent point of view that utmost restraint is needed in an explosive situation aggravated by attempts to escalate it even further. We urge all parties involved to behave responsibly and refrain from any actions that can send the situation spiralling out of control and entail irreparable consequences, including large-scale combat operations.

Question: Mr Armen Koloyan took over as the head of Public Radio of Armenia on Monday. He is a former Radio Liberty employee and a US citizen, who resided in Prague, the Czech Republic, for the past 28 years. Earlier, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan threatened to block Russian TV channels. What do you think the increased Western influence on Armenian media resources will lead to?

Andrey Nastasyin: It is clear that the West’s increased influence on the media resources in Armenia, as for that matter in any other country, will lead to nothing good. The Americans and the EU pursue their own interests, seeking to turn public opinion everywhere against Russia. They also want to diminish the importance of centuries-old Russian-Armenian friendship and the assistance that Moscow has provided to fraternal Armenia in various areas.

Moscow and Yerevan maintain well-established mechanisms for interaction in mass communications. Specifically, there is an Intergovernmental Agreement in this sphere and an ongoing active inter-agency dialogue. Journalists are in contact with each other as well. In 2023, consultations on information support for foreign policy activities and media outreach were held, as was a Russian-Armenian media forum in Yerevan. We hope that Russia and its Armenian partners will continue to address all emerging problems in a professional manner.

Question: Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico threatened to retaliate against Ukraine for its cutting off the transit of oil from Russia. He said Ukraine will be left without diesel fuel if it refused to resume supplies on short notice. Will the Foreign Ministry comment on this dispute between Bratislava and Kiev?

Andrey Nastasyin: This matter falls within the purview of the related agencies and energy sector structures. I would recommend that you reach out to them for comment.

Question: Syria believes that Israel is behind the attack on Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights. Hezbollah explains the incident as a result of a downed Israeli interceptor missile. Israel believes that the strike was delivered by an Iranian missile from Hezbollah’s arsenal and promises to give a harsh response. Washington has reaffirmed its “unwavering” support for Israel. Josep Borrell called for an independent international investigation. What is Russia’s position in this regard?

Andrey Nastasyin: I can only reiterate that Russia’s position is consistent and favours maximum restraint in the current explosive situation. It is important to clarify all the details of this tragic incident. We call on the parties involved to behave responsibly and refrain from any actions that can send the situation spiralling out of control and lead to irreparable consequences.

Question: Venezuela has been under pressure after the presidential election there. Several countries refused to recognise the results and Nicolas Maduro’s victory. Many of the dissenters have previously recognised Juan Guaidó as the head of Venezuela. How would you comment on this?

Andrey Nastasyin: It is a fact that President Nicolas Maduro won the presidential election. The people of Venezuela have spoken, and their choice must be respected. These groundless accusations must stop, along with attempts to influence the political situation in this country.

Question: Orgiastic and sacrilegious performances cast a shadow on the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. Nevertheless, it will also be remembered for a positive political gesture. The Algerian delegation commemorated the victims of the October 17, 1961, demonstration for Algeria’s independence by laying flowers on the Seine. This event came to be known as the Paris Massacre. Do you think that the host country must repent its crimes against peace and humanity before receiving the right to hold the Olympics?

Andrey Nastasyin: The Paris Olympics have just started, but there were already several scandals. Take the opening ceremony. It provided a perfect example of moral and political decay, demonstrating the extreme extent to which the French hosts have lost their spiritual and moral bearings.

Sadly, this ostensible and outright outrage against the values preached by the world’s major religious denominations during the opening ceremony of the Olympics did not cause any misgivings among international officials in charge of inter-cultural cooperation and civilisational dialogue. Even UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay turned a blind eye to the provocation which drew a wedge between peoples, despite the fact that this performance was at odds with the UNESCO Constitution, which calls for intellectual and moral solidarity.

We have also taken note of the commemorative event organised by the Algerian delegation. We would like to emphasise that France has so far been unable to resolve the contradictions and disagreements it has with Algeria. Most of them are rooted in France’s colonial past and deal with the crimes it perpetrated against Algerians over a long period starting in 1830. Moreover, historical memory has been a major issue in terms of France’s relations not only with Algeria, but also with other African and Asian countries. It seems that the current French government still views the former colonies and territories as its exclusive domain and follows neo-colonial practices when dealing with them.

Let me remind you that, according to various estimates, between 200,000 and 1.5 million independence fighters lost their lives during the 1954-1962 Algeria independence war. There were also between 55,000 and 250,000 civilian casualties, while between two and three million people had to leave their homes. About two million people were deported to special camps where they had to endure extreme hardship. The French used napalm in combat, while also torturing, kidnaping people, and perpetrating extrajudicial killings.

It is not up to us to assess what the French have done there from a legal perspective. At the same time, we can see that the French government is doing everything to bury in oblivion the inconvenient past so that the country forgets it. These efforts are part of a more general Western policy to rewrite and falsify history. But erasing these shameful stains would not be easy for the French.

As for repentance, let this remain on the conscience of the French leadership. We do believe, however, that it would be virtually impossible for them to set themselves on the path of absolution.

Question: The world will remember the Paris Olympics for its scandalous opening ceremony, including not only the way it mocked the Last Supper by having transgender people perform this scene, but also political provocations. Russia was accused of targeting critical infrastructure, while four TASS correspondents lost their accreditation. France 2 aired provocative and insulting statements regarding Azerbaijan. How would you comment on these developments?

Andrey Nastasyin: All I can do is repeat that instead of building bridges, the West persists in its efforts to erect impenetrable walls between people and world cultures. Neo-liberal ideas rule the minds of the political elites in many EU countries, preventing them from seeing things the way they really are. Christianity was a major element in the development of various civilisations, so all the attempts to desecrate or insult religious feelings anywhere in the world, and not only targeting the Christian faith, are extremely destructive.

Question: During her July 24, 2024, media briefing, Maria Zakharova commented on Armenia’s arms purchases. What does Russia think about the fact that Azerbaijan continued its massive drive to acquire more weapons after the 2020 war, including from countries like Türkiye, Israel, Italy, etc.? This has been happening while President Ilham Aliyev referred to the Republic of Armenia as “Western Azerbaijan,” which means that he is preparing a new aggression against Armenia.

Andrey Nastasyin: I would like to draw your attention to the gist of the ongoing developments in Armenia and the region. What matters the most for this region is that the West, i.e., the United States and the EU, have been proactive in their efforts to disrupt the existing ties in the South Caucasus. What the West wants is to destabilise the region and turn it into yet another hotbed of tensions or even open a second front near the Russian border. In order to achieve this objective, the West has been seeking to infiltrate our multi-faceted relations with our regional partners in all their aspects, with a special emphasis on security matters. We have discussed the European Union Mission in Armenia and its intelligence and reconnaissance agenda many times.

To answer your question, I will say that Russia stands for relying exclusively on political and diplomatic methods for resolving all outstanding issues between Azerbaijan and Armenia. We call on Baku and Yerevan to prevent escalation by exercising restraint and avoiding aggressive rhetoric, while focusing on finding mutually acceptable solutions and bringing about lasting peace and prosperity for the South Caucasus as quickly as possible. As I have already said, the trilateral agreements between the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia offer a one and only blueprint for delivering on this objective.

Question: How would you comment on Baku’s persistent use of the term ‘Western Azerbaijan’ to refer to the territory of the Republic of Armenia, and its calls for the return of Azerbaijanis to that territory? At the same time, the Azerbaijani authorities say nothing about the potential return of Armenian refugees from Baku, Kirovabad and other cities – not even from Nagorno-Karabakh. Moreover, in addition to the destruction and appropriation of Armenian historical and cultural heritage in Karabakh, they continue to destroy residential buildings there as well.

Andrey Nastasyin: The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict is a long-standing issue. There have been thousands of refugees and displaced persons on both sides during this prolonged confrontation.

Russia has consistently supported the establishment of a lasting and sustainable peace between Baku and Yerevan. This is the aim of the package of trilateral agreements (1,2,3,4) signed at the highest level in 2020-2022. They envision a step-by-step resolution of the most difficult problems, including social and humanitarian issues, and the initiation of a dialogue between representatives of civil society of the two countries. This is not only about refugees, but also about preventing further attacks on the cultural heritage. This issue was also touched upon during previous briefings.

Question: How would you comment on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement about Israel, where he openly admitted to the Turkish army’s involvement in the 44-day war in Artsakh in 2020?

Andrey Nastasyin: It would be more appropriate to address this question to our Turkish colleagues.

At the same time, we should not forget that Russia’s efforts, and President Vladimir Putin’s personal involvement, have played a crucial role in the cessation of hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone in 2020, preventing mass casualties among the civilian population.

In September 2023, an aggravation of the situation in Karabakh was resolved within twenty-four hours due to Russia’s robust mediation. Moreover, that result was achieved at the cost of six Russian peacekeepers’ lives.

Question: The Third Plenary Session of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee ended on July 18. Now that its main results have been summarised and a few adjustments to China’s economic policy announced, how would you comment on the plenary session’s role in strengthening the Russia-China strategic partnership? Can we say that the recent plenary session has opened up new opportunities for, or given additional momentum to economic cooperation between Moscow and Beijing?

Andrey Nastasyin: We commented on this in detail to your colleagues at the July 18 briefing. I would like to add that, during his meetings with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov congratulated our Chinese friends on the successful holding of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, noting that the decisions made were of great importance not only for China’s further growth, but also for the global economy.

Question: How does YouTube impact Russia’s information security? Is it possible to nationalise it or replace it with RuTube, and how can the Foreign Ministry facilitate this process?

Andrey Nastasyin: First, I would like to state an obvious fact while replying to your question. The ongoing hybrid aggression against Russia by the collective West also extends to the digital infrastructure. We must not forget that all the major IT monopolies, including Google, are located in the United States and operate under US jurisdiction. In turn, Google owns the YouTube video hosting service. Naturally, Washington has considerable leverage to influence these multinational corporations.

The United States has initiated processes aiming to establish a global digital dictatorship. Under this dictatorship, specific viewpoints that run counter to Western narratives are suppressed on US-controlled platforms. These platforms promote the cancel culture and remove undesirable media outlets and public opinion influencers/leaders from digital space.

Our main criticism of Western online platforms, including YouTube, boils down to their arbitrary censorship practices. They block accounts whose rhetoric is seen as undesirable by US authorities for certain reasons because it runs counter to their propaganda. This highlights obvious violations of the freedom of speech principle, which Anglo-Saxon nations and the Europeans are hypocritically claim to defend on the international stage.

This problem is rooted in the fact that Western corporations do not implement an independent information policy. We have repeatedly noted that most of Silicon Valley’s IT companies, including Microsoft, Google, Meta, Apple and others, act on orders from US intelligence services and promote the ideological agenda of the current White House administration. Consequently, it is important to remember, in the context of the YouTube affair, that we are not dealing with neutral transnational companies that cater to their own audiences, but with the US economic operator that promotes Washington’s political directives.

Speaking of YouTube, the administration of this video hosting service has blocked over 200 Russian media channels belonging to government agencies, public activists, bloggers and other authors since 2020, and has deleted thousands of materials. This is an obvious fact of crude and undisguised political censorship. The platform that independently decides (in line with some unknown “rules”) which opinion is right or wrong, cannot be considered neutral and unbiased. At the same time, the YouTube administration continues to ignore legitimate demands of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) on deleting over 60,000 prohibited and extremist materials, including those advocating illegal actions against Russian citizens.

Certainly, we draw the attention of the international community to this issue at various negotiating platforms. We regularly talk about this at our briefings. How can this issue be resolved? The answer is very simple. For this purpose, it is necessary to eradicate the policy of double standards regarding the interpretation of freedom of speech, on the one hand, and to formalise the principle of honouring national legislations by major IT corporations, on the other.

Digital sovereignty is an inalienable part of Russia’s security. It is necessary to accelerate efforts to ensure the self-sufficiency of the Russian segment of the internet and the entire ecosystem of web services.

RuTube is a leading national video hosting service. Certainly, the Foreign Ministry is contributing to its development. It is worth noting that the Foreign Ministry became the first federal agency to launch its official channel on RuTube on April 7, 2021. We also posted the Foreign Ministry’s video archives (over 5,500 videos) there, and we add new publications daily.

Our RuTube channel livestreams remarks by the Foreign Ministry’s leadership, various bilateral meetings and events at multilateral platforms and weekly briefings with the Foreign Ministry’s Spokeswoman.

We encourage everyone to familiarise themselves with this video hosting service, to upload their materials there and, of course, to subscribe to the official channel of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Question: Is it possible to put nationally oriented forces in charge of managing YouTube and RuTube hosting services?

Andrey Nastasyin: As I have just said, the situation regarding YouTube is perfectly clear: its ownership, management, its goals and operational guidelines. This has been said today and on earlier occasions, and not only by me.

As for RuTube, we fully support this video hosting platform and see great potential in it. We actively collaborate with it and participate in its development. I believe that everything is progressing as it should.

Question: The day before yesterday, on July 29, the Foreign Ministry reported about a failed attempt to smuggle drugs by an employee of the Czech Embassy in Russia. Can you provide more detailed information on what is known about this incident? According to the Czech media, the drug involved was Leponex, which is classified in Russia as a strong and poisonous substance. Also, Czech President Milos Zeman has previously acknowledged the presence of the Novichok nerve agent in Brno. Given the Czech Republic’s current anti-Russian stance, we can anticipate any hostile actions from this state. Can you provide further details on the smuggling incident involving the Czech Republic?

Andrey Nastasyin: Indeed, there have been official reports about this incident, including on the Foreign Ministry’s website.

Additionally, I can confirm that the case involves an attempt by a member of the administrative and technical staff of the Czech Embassy in Moscow to import a medical product into Russia. This was done in violation of established regulations and is considered smuggling of controlled substances under Russian law.

Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores de la Federación de Rusia

Date: 31/07/2024, 13:33