Today there was another briefing by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova. Traditionally, the correspondent of The Moscow Post asked...
The first question of the journalist of our publication touched upon the return to Russia of a citizen of the Russian Federation Voislav Torden, also known as Jan Petrovsky. He was detained in Finland, Ukraine is demanding his extradition.
"Are there any progress in the case of Askar Kubanychbek?," The journalist asked.
Maria Zakharova noted that this situation was commented on by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on August 2, 2023. Currently, there is no additional information, the Foreign Ministry will provide it as soon as it appears.
The Moscow Post correspondent also recalled that earlier Minister Sergei Lavrov, on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, ruled out Germany and Japan joining the UN Security Council on an ongoing basis. In the arguments made by the head of Russian diplomacy, he did not mention that both of these countries are again embarking on the path of militarization.
Tokyo is especially trying, sharply increasing defense spending, offering the United States its technologies for military use, hosting representative offices of well-known defense contractors (Lockheed Martin, L3Harris Technologies, etc.). Japan also sent its F-35 fighter jets to Australia.
"How, in your opinion, should Moscow respond to these actions?" - the question was asked.
Maria Zakharova noted that the claims of Germany and Japan to expand the UN Security Council do not carry "added value." It is not clear what the meaning is in this step. Both states fully associate themselves with the politics of Washington and there are no areas where countries defended their own national interests.
"The world will receive two more hands that will vote for everything that the United States initiates," the diplomat said.
Russia has previously indicated that today there are three permanent members of the UN Security Council - the United States, France and Great Britain - who are almost identical in their views, since the countries are in the American fairway.
They plan to add to this troika the votes of those Western European non-permanent members who, as members of the EU and NATO, vote identically, or an associate vote is held.
The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry believes that it is necessary to analyze the participation of countries in bloc unions for the presence of a clause on voting obligations and embedding their foreign policy in the bloc's policy and investigate this data for participation in the UN Security Council.
"If a country has obligations within the organization to build its international activities in line with the organization and does not contradict it, then what is the point of this country's participation in the development of political issues as an independent member of the Security Council? This is absurd, "Maria Zakharova said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also constantly points to the remilitarization of Japan, in particular, points out the inadmissibility of any military activity that poses security threats to Russia, as well as has a destabilizing effect on security in the Asia-Pacific region.
Russia's concerns are shared by other countries in the region. The Russian Foreign Ministry made a demarche against Tokyo through diplomatic channels, including due to the increased frequency of the country's military exercises, with the participation of US representatives, in close proximity to Russian borders.
Russian diplomats recently warned Tokyo that provocative actions lead to an escalation of tensions and will not be left without adequate retaliatory measures to protect the Russian Far Eastern borders.
The final question of the journalist of our publication touched upon the topic of the investigation of the terrorist act on the Nord Stream gas pipeline. The German government said investigations into the bombings were ongoing.
"What can you say about how this issue is moving forward in the UN Security Council?" the correspondent asked.
Maria Zakharova noted that earlier Germany's investigations were "more rapid." Measures and investigations of an anti-Russian nature have always been carried out very quickly. And now the investigation process has "stalled" and a year later - it is still stomping on the spot.
The diplomat pointed to a large number of speculation in the media and stuffing on this topic. Germany has taken a months-long pause in its investigation into the pipeline destruction incident. After the silence, a resonant investigation of Seymour Hersh and his view of the events in the Baltic Sea that led to the undermining of Russian gas pipelines appeared.
This was followed by comments from the UN, which said that the organization did not have a mandate for investigations. After that, many absurd versions began to appear in the Western press. The Russian Federation introduced a resolution and proposed to empower the world organization to conduct an international, open and legal investigation.
On March 27, during a vote on the document, the United States, France and the United Kingdom refused to support the establishment of an investigative mechanism.
Statements by Germany, Denmark, Sweden that they allegedly inform Russia about the progress of national investigations do not correspond to reality. Requests for a joint investigation or restart of the process were rejected. They were also ignored for cooperation by the head of the Government of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin. Subsequently, the Russian Foreign Ministry distributed official correspondence with these states as an official document of the UN Security Council.
The Russian Federation does not want to involve sabotage in the investigation. On August 25, 2023, Russia again circulated a letter detailing the chronology of events and assessments of the current situation.
The picture is as follows: in the absence of serious grounds for accusing Russia, the West is working to create the appearance of its own non-involvement in the destruction of critical energy infrastructure. And "throws" different versions in the form of stuffing in order to create the appearance that someone is doing something as part of the investigation. It is clear that the national investigations of Germany, Denmark and Sweden are closed and cause less and less confidence.
The Russian Federation will continue to draw the attention of the world community to this act of terrorism and insist on the need for an honest and impartial investigation of its circumstances.
The Northern Flows project, which involved different countries, was peaceful and created to ensure energy security. Its destruction was carried out according to the canons of the terrorist attack, the environment was damaged, many countries and companies suffered colossal financial losses.
"Just pretend that there was nothing, and if there was - then," well, okay "- it will not work," the diplomat summed up.
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