Russia to uphold national interests at all costs
Ambassador of Russia, Mr Albert P Khorev on Thursday dismissed any external pressure on the Russian government regarding Ukraine conflict and made it clear that Russia would uphold its national sovereignty and interests at all costs.
While addressing a media briefing at the Russian embassy, the ambassador said unfortunately the Russian proposal for a political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict was met with an invasion of the Kursk region by the Ukrainian armed forces that proved to be a huge setback to the peace efforts.
It seems Kiev and the allied forces continue to think in terms of war, said the Russian ambassador reiterating his country’s resolve to continue to look for a peaceful, political and diplomatic solution to the crisis in Ukraine.
The regional and the global dynamics have been the major hurdle in the success of a political solution to the crisis, he said. Russia has never given up on a political and diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian crisis, as it has repeatedly stated, he said.
The Russian Ambassador recalled President Vladimir Putin’s speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry this year on June 14 when he presented concrete proposals for a final settlement of the conflict.
Russian envoy said that the key points offered by the Russian president include: withdrawal of Ukrainian armed formations from the new Russian regions and the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Luhansk People’s Republic, Zaporozhye and Kherson; the recognition of the new territorial realities; Kiev’s refusal to join NATO; the lifting of all Western sanctions against Russia; and the guarantee of full rights for Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine.
Unfortunately, the NATO-backed Ukraine forces are aggressively shooting civilians, looting the Russian villages, attacking journalists and threatening nuclear facilities, he said.
Ambassador said that the Kiev regime was being equipped with increasingly destructive and lethal systems, including inhumane weapons (cluster munitions, depleted uranium shells) and various types of missiles.
He said the Kiev regime continues to test the “limits of what is allowed” by its allies and does not encounter a hint of condemnation of its openly terrorist methods either from the capitals of “advanced democracies” or from the countless human rights structures and mechanisms controlled by its allies. He said the emerging multipolar world could not rely on a one-sided, Western-centered media landscape.
Today, Kiev is conducting its military operations against Russia almost entirely at the expense of the western financial and military support.
Since the beginning of the Special Military Operation, the total Western aid to Ukraine has amounted to more than US$350 billion, he said adding the supplies of weapons and military equipment to Ukraine were growing. Their nomenclature is constantly expanding and the Kiev regime is being equipped with increasingly destructive and lethal systems, including inhumane weapons (cluster munitions, depleted uranium shells) and various types of missiles, said the ambassador. Moreover, Washington has announced the supply of banned anti-personnel mines for the needs of the Ukrainian armed forces which is again a departure from the peace overtures and claims of HR.
Despite the fact that sensible elites in unfriendly countries are increasingly realizing the futility of financial injections into Ukraine and its inability to win on the battlefield, the U.S. and its satellites continue to contribute in every possible way to the further escalation of the conflict, said the ambassador. “They actively invest in the training of the Ukrainian military, assist in the recruitment of foreign mercenaries who flock to Ukraine from various ‘hot spots’ around the world, and regularly exchange intelligence, including information from satellites and reconnaissance aircraft of NATO countries,” he said.
Institutions such as UNESCO, the OSCE and the Council of Europe have a statutory duty to protect human rights in general and the safety of journalists in particular, he said. In recent years, they have demonstrated their complete lack of scruples and incompetence. Their silence and inaction and, in fact, their condoning of the criminal regime in Kyiv is resulting in new human casualties.
The ambassador mentioned the Kazan Summit Declaration of the BRICS leaders that expressed serious concerns about the growing spread of misinformation and disinformation. The document emphasized the importance of ensuring “the integrity of information and its free flow, as well as open access to reliable and factual information, including freedom of opinion and expression.”
In short, he said the Ukrainian example clearly showed what could happen to almost any country that happens to be on the next front line of geopolitical pressure. In fact, what is being tested now is the strength of the global information space itself and its ability to resist attempts to manipulate the truth. The briefing was followed by Q&A session.
