Collated and posted by Amarynth for the Saker Blog

These are short-form comments as the Russian governmental sites are still under attack. It is a collection of the latest comments from the Russian Foreign Affairs office.

🎙 FM Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the high-level segment of the Conference on Disarmament, March 1, 2022

💬 Today, the dangers that the Zelensky regime poses to neighbouring countries and international security in general have increased significantly after the Kiev authorities started dangerous games involving plans to obtain their own nuclear weapons.

Rest assured that as a responsible member of the international community Russia is committed to its non-proliferation pledge, and is taking every necessary measure to prevent the emergence of nuclear weapons and related technology in Ukraine.

Foreign Ministry statement on the EU’s role in the developments in Ukraine

☝️ For many years, the European Union, posing as a peacemaker, lavishly financed the Kiev regime, which came to power in an anti-constitutional coup. The EU stood in silence while the population of Donbass was being exterminated and the Russian language was being strangled in Ukraine. It disregarded our endless calls to take notice of the predominance of Nazis in the Ukrainian authorities, and the socioeconomic blockade and murder of innocent civilians in the southeast of Ukraine. The EU conditioned its future relations with Russia on the implementation of the Minsk Package of Measures but has done nothing to encourage Kiev to start implementing its main provisions. At the same time, the EU gave Kiev money and visa-free travel and extended anti-Russia sanctions under far-fetched pretexts. The EU took part in Kiev’s performances, which put in question the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation.

Masks have now come off. The February 27 decision to send lethal weapons to the Ukrainian militarists is self-exposing. It has marked the end of Euro-integration as a “pacifist” project allegedly launched to reconcile European nations after WWII. The EU has irrevocably taken the side of the Kiev regime, which waged a policy of genocide against part of its own population.

Unbeknownst to themselves, the Brussels officials started using Orwell’s newspeak. They have announced the intention to “invest” in the war launched in Ukraine in 2014 through a mechanism with a self-explanatory name, the Europe Peace Foundation. The EU leadership unashamedly describes missiles, small arms, munitions and even combat aircraft as “defensive” systems.

The EU citizens and agencies involved in the delivery of lethal weapons, fuel and lubricants to the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be held responsible for any consequences of these actions during the ongoing special military operation. They should be aware of the severity of these consequences.

Another myth that has been exposed is the EU’s claim that its unilateral restrictions, which are incompatible with international law, are not directed against the Russian people. The Brussels officials, who only recently posed as a “strategic partner” of Russia, are saying openly that they intend to inflict the maximum possible damage on Russia, hit its weak spots, batter the Russian economy and “suppress Russia’s economic growth.”

❗️ We are sure that this is not going to work. We will provide a tough response to the EU’s actions. Russia will continue to ensure the implementation of its vital national interests, notwithstanding the sanctions or threats of sanctions. The Western countries should wake up to the fact that the days of their undivided rule in the global economy are long gone.

Maria #Zakharova:

The #EuropeanUnion has not gone as far as barring the Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov from travelling as a diplomat; there can be exemptions from EU sanctions. This is what the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said on Monday in response to a question from a journalist on whether the EU sanctions prevent the Russian Minister from travelling to Geneva.

❗️ But they did go too far. They are lying and scrambling to get away with it.

Russia prepared two routes which Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his delegation could take to attend meetings of the Conference on Disarmament and the UN Human Rights Council at the United Nations Office at Geneva.

👉 #Poland and #Estonia denied them passage, and the UN Secretariat knew this. Both countries cited EU sanctions.

Mr Borrell, what betrays the doublespeak in your position is that when Sergey Lavrov asked countries in their national capacity to express their positions on security matters, which are critical to us, you answered for all EU member states, although no one asked you or the EU as an organisation to do so. You even provided a lengthy explanation to demonstrate that the EU has a “collective position” based on the majority opinion.

But when the same countries denied the delegation passage for attending UN events in Geneva on the basis of the EU restrictions that you have announced, you said that it is their sovereign right 🤷‍♂️

Doublespeak from a doublespeaker.

⚡️ Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s comment on the expulsion of diplomats from Russia’s Permanent Mission to the UN

💬 We regard the expulsion of 12 diplomats from the Russian Permanent Mission in New York as a deliberate and cynical escalation in Russia-US relations provoked by Washington in violation of US obligations under the corresponding agreement with the host country.

The Biden administration is continuing a policy that seeks not only to completely destroy the foundations of interstate relations, but also to undermine the central role of the #UN in an attempt to impose the notorious “rules-based order” dictated by the United States and its satellites. The purpose of the unfolding developments and the timing of this utterly hostile action are clear to us and are supposed to increase pressure, blackmail and intimidation in order to weaken our position and deprive us of the opportunity to be fully functional on the UN platform.

👉 Dirty tricks by the Americans do not come as news to anyone. Losing again and again on the diplomatic field, #Washington seeks revenge by abusing its position as the country on whose territory the UN headquarters happens to be located.

In view of what has occurred, there can be no more place for excuses and delays in immediately launching an official arbitration procedure between the United Nations and the United States in connection with their flagrant violations of the United Nations Headquarters Agreement. We remind the UN Secretary General of this again.

❗️ With regard to the expulsion of Russian diplomats, it will not remain without a proper response which will not be necessarily symmetrical. Our advice to decision-makers in Washington is to think about the consequences of their destructive policy.