Embassy of Russia in Ireland

▪️ Руководство Министерства и Департамент Северной Атлантики с глубоким прискорбием извещают, что 22 августа 2026 года на 77-м году жизни скончался Чрезвычайный и Полномочный Посол Российской Федерации в отставке Пешков Максим Александрович (1950-2026).

Ушел из жизни замечательный человек, талантливый и яркий дипломат, посвятивший свою жизнь беззаветному служению Родине. Его отличали высокий профессионализм и ответственность, глубокая порядочность, добросовестность и принципиальность, единение с коллективом в решении поставленных задач.

Будучи востоковедом и блестяще овладев фарси в МГИМО, Максим Александрович за свою дипломатическую карьеру внес весомый личный вклад в формирование и реализацию внешнеполитического курса на развитие и укрепление многогранных и традиционно дружественных отношений СССР/России с государствами Южной и Центральной Азии. На этом пути ему довелось работать в странах со сложной внутриполитической обстановкой, сопряженной с риском для жизни.

Максим Александрович занимал различные должности в Центральном аппарате Министерства и за рубежом. В течение длительного периода своей карьеры работал в посольствах СССР/России в Иране и Афганистане.

• В 2000-2005 гг. – Посол Российской Федерации в Республике Таджикистан.

• В 2005-2012 гг. возглавлял Третий департамент стран СНГ МИД России.

• В 2006-2012 гг. – член Коллегии МИД России.

• В 2012-2017 гг. – Посол Российской Федерации в Ирландии.

Максиму Александровичу были неизменно присущи широта профессиональных взглядов, вдумчивый нестандартный подход к делу, самоотверженность в служении Отечеству, глубоко взаимоуважительные отношения с коллегами и с иностранными партнерами.

Отмечен многочисленными государственными и ведомственными наградами, в том числе орденом Дружбы, медалью ордена «За заслуги перед Отечеством» II степени, а также званием «Почетный работник МИД России».

Скорбим и выражаем искренние соболезнования родным и близким безвременно ушедшего товарища, коллеги и наставника.

Светлая и добрая память о Максиме Александровиче, его профессионализме и ярком примере навсегда сохранится в наших сердцах.

🎙 Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s answer to a media question regarding Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s statement on a proposal for Russia and Ukraine to introduce a moratorium on military activities in the Black Sea (August 14, 2026)

❓ Question: Has the Russian Side received Turkiye’s proposal to introduce a moratorium on military activities in the Black Sea, and is it prepared to consider such an option?

💬 Maria Zakharova: We traditionally give careful consideration to all peace initiatives put forward by our foreign partners, especially by Turkiye, which is an important regional player and our neighbour on the Black Sea.

Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan recently said in a media interview that Ankara had conveyed proposals to the Russian and Ukrainian sides on introducing a moratorium on military activities in the Black Sea.

❌ The Russian Side has not received through official channels any formal Turkiye’s proposal setting out the specific terms of this initiative.

If this refers to a one-sided arrangement along the lines of the 2022-2023 scheme, better known as the Black Sea Initiative, under which Moscow suspended military activities in the Black Sea – more precisely, retaliatory measures to protect Russian port infrastructure and energy facilities – then returning to that format would be inadvisable.

☝️ The arrangement was conditional on reciprocal measures by the other side. Those measures never followed.

At the time, as you may recall, we agreed to the moratorium in exchange for access for Russian agricultural products to global markets.

However, the West demonstrated a bad-faith approach: the humanitarian corridor we provided came to be widely used for terrorist attacks against Russian civilian and military facilities, while Russian agricultural products remained under sanctions. This ultimately led to the termination of the Black Sea Initiative.

Today, we regularly face brazen acts of terrorism carried out by Ukrainian drones in the Black Sea against civilian vessels from coastal states, several times a month. We regard these attacks as a deliberate policy aimed at destabilising civilian shipping in the Black Sea region, further escalating tensions and prolonging the conflict, with the open acquiescence of neighbouring countries in the region.

At the same time, we see no prerequisites for the situation to improve and, consequently, no grounds for half-measures that merely give the Kiev regime a temporary respite.

We have recently seen a growing number of international calls for a ceasefire and for settling the situation around Ukraine through familiar short-term arrangements.

Our position on these proposals and on the issue as a whole remains unchanged 👉 A sustainable and long-term settlement of the Ukrainian crisis is possible only if its root causes are eliminated.

❗️ First and foremost, this means removing the security threats created by #NATO’s eastward expansion and attempts to draw Kiev into the alliance.

It is equally important to secure guarantees for the restoration and observance of the legitimate rights of the Russian and Russian-speaking population in the territories that remain under the control of the Kiev regime.

🎙 Statement and answers to media questions by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a joint press conference with Foreign Minister of Ghana Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa following talks (Moscow, August 17, 2026)

Key points:

• My colleague and I had a substantive and candid discussion covering a broad range of issues on our bilateral agenda, as well as regional and international matters. We noted that the traditionally friendly #RussiaGhana relations rest on a solid foundation of solidarity and mutual support.

• Today, we discussed preparations for the fifth meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, which is due to take place in Moscow before the end of this year. The dates will be agreed in the near future.

• We noted the positive momentum in military and military-technical cooperation. Our Ghanaian friends are expected to complete the ratification of the Intergovernmental Agreement on Military-Technical Cooperation in the near future, which will, of course, give additional impetus to our work in this area.

• Among regional issues, we naturally focused above all on security and counterterrorism in Africa, particularly the situation across the vast Sahara-Sahel region. We are ready to provide African nations with the necessary support.

• An important milestone in the development of our strategic partnership with the African Union will be the Third Russia–Africa Summit, to be held in Moscow in late October. I am grateful to my colleague and friend for informing us that Ghanaian President John Mahama has confirmed his participation in the Summit.

• The Russian Defence Ministry’s Africa Corps operates on an entirely lawful basis, in response to official requests from the legitimate governments of African countries, and carries out the tasks assigned to its units by those governments. These primarily involve repelling terrorist attacks, some of which are planned with the involvement of countries unwilling to accept the loss of their colonial influence in Africa.

• It is no secret that France works directly with illegal armed groups in Africa, supplying them with weapons, financing them and providing guidance. Above all, this guidance is aimed at creating problems for countries, in this case in the Sahara-Sahel region, that have decided once and for all to break with their former colonial powers and are consistently pursuing that course.

• Our Japanese colleagues have clearly crossed the bounds of propriety with their completely unacceptable claims that the President of the Russian Federation cannot visit any part of the territory of the Russian Federation.

• Japan is also a UN member, although it was originally designated in the UN Charter as an “enemy state”. It joined the UN after going through a process of atoning for its militarist policy of genocide committed against many peoples. By joining the UN, signing and ratifying its Charter, Japan accepted the principles of the Charter in their entirety and interrelationship.

• I hope that our Japanese neighbours read the UN Charter in full before ratifying it, and that they also read Article 107:

Nothing in the present Charter shall invalidate or preclude action, in relation to any state which during the Second World War has been an enemy of any signatory to the present Charter, taken or authorized as a result of that war by the Governments having responsibility for such action.

• If our Japanese colleagues are now trying to reshape international law to suit themselves and the US, with which they maintain a close alliance, and if they are trying to evade historical responsibility, that is, of course, a matter of serious concern.

• If Japan is seeking to divert attention from its openly aggressive and militaristic course by launching such attacks against Russia and accusing us of violating international law, I would advise our Japanese colleagues to focus instead on their own affairs. 👉 They have more than enough issues to deal with at home.

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🎙 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's interview with VGTRK broadcasting company (Moscow, August 14, 2026)

Key points:

• President of Russia Vladimir Putin made it very clear that we will respond in kind to Western maritime piracy. We will choose the targets ourselves. They will include vessels operating in the interests of countries that have made piracy and plunder part of their official policy.

• We will not stoop to the level of the Ukrainian leadership, which celebrates on social media its terrorist strikes on beaches, dormitories housing young students and other civilian sites. ☝️ We will make our own methods far tougher, targeting everything that enables the West to fuel Kiev’s war machine. And we are already doing so.

• Hostilities should stop only when there is a long-term, reliable and sustainable settlement. If we were suddenly to halt now along the line of contact, we would, in effect, allow the feat of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers who defeated Nazism to be erased. That is simply not an option.

• As for the episode at the press conference of Aleksandar Vucic and Zelensky, where a question was asked about “how Europeans could help kill more Russians”, I saw that President Vucic was simply taken aback. Given Serbia’s enormous contribution to the Victory over Nazism, we would of course like to hear some reaction from our Serbian friends.

• The metastases of Nazism continue to resurface in German society under Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who openly speaks of the need to make Germany Europe’s leading military power again. Does he understand what the word “again” means in this context? 👉 I am not sure.

• We do not refuse to talk with US presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. If they come, they know that President Vladimir Putin is ready to receive them once again. The question is what they will bring with them.

• We do not issue ultimatums. We have submitted a number of questions to the US State Department and asked for clarification, including regarding intelligence data and the fact that the US is much more deeply involved in organising and carrying out strikes deep inside Russia against civilian targets. We will await a response.

• Our Turkish colleagues are once again saying that some arrangement should be reached to ensure that shipping is not targeted. ❗️ But we did not start this. When a Ukrainian drone strikes a Turkish bulk carrier, tanker or other civilian vessel, or hits ships linked to US companies Chevron and ExxonMobil, neither Turkiye nor the US publicly states that such actions by Ukrainian terrorists are unacceptable.

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🎙 Comment by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova regarding the exhumation of the remains of the ringleader of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists Yevgeny Konovalets for subsequent reburial at the National Military Memorial Cemetery near Kiev (August 12, 2026)

💬 On August 11, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, witnessed the exhumation of the remains of the ringleader of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), Yevgeny Konovalets, for subsequent reburial at the National Military Memorial Cemetery situated near Kiev.

The bloody “merits” for which he has been deemed worthy of such distinction are well documented:

Yevgeny Konovalets received his baptism of fire in Kiev, actively participating in the brutal suppression of the 1918 pro-Soviet January Uprising. The nationalists’ victims at that time included several hundred workers from the Arsenal Factory.

Furthermore, as early as 1922, Yevgeny Konovalets, a former colonel in the Petliura army, operating under the alias Consul-1, together with his associates, initiated collaboration with German intelligence, supplying Berlin with information concerning the military and political situation in Poland and the USSR.

In a 1923 report, he acknowledged: “The Ukrainian Military Organization (UMO) is falling completely under the influence of German intelligence and is placing at its disposal its intelligence apparatus, propaganda resources, cadres of terrorists, and combat forces located in Poland, Soviet Ukraine and other countries.”

In 1929, Yevgeny Konovalets assumed the role of the first OUN leader, with the UMO forming its combat wing.

Equally well known is the following statement by Yevgeny Konovalets, which unequivocally demonstrates his alignment with Nazi Germany and his commitment to terrorist methods:

“Our German friends are convincing us that as long as the UMO remains merely a conspiratorial terrorist organisation, there is no point in contemplating broad political action for the Ukrainian cause. Terror must be, the Germans assert, not a goal but a means – a means which, when successful assassinations occur, helps to subjugate the masses…

The UMO must be transformed into an organisation capable of employing all means in the struggle for the masses and for its own policy, not just terrorism alone. The Ukrainian problem should be viewed as a whole. No state is as interested in solving this problem as Germany is. Moreover, no state other than Germany is capable of solving this problem.

Yevgeny Konovalets held personal meetings with Adolf Hitler and took evident pride in his direct acquaintance with the Führer. Hitler proposed dispatching a group of Ukrainian nationalists for training at the Nazi Party school in Leipzig.

In 1933, the OUN orchestrated the assassination of a Soviet diplomat in Lvov, which was then part of Poland. During that terrorist act, an employee of the Soviet consulate, Andrey Maylov, was killed. In response, the Chairman of the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU under the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR), Vyacheslav Menzhinsky, ordered the development of a plan to suppress the terrorist activities of the OUN, which, with the backing of Nazi Germany, was steadily enhancing its combat capabilities against the USSR.

In 1938, the Soviet leadership resolved to eliminate the OUN ringleader. The operation was successfully executed on May 23, 1938, in Rotterdam, by an officer of the Soviet foreign intelligence service, Pavel Sudoplatov.

The elimination of Yevgeny Konovalets subsequently precipitated a split within the OUN between the supporters of Andrey Melnik and Stepan Bandera, both of whom continued their collaboration with the Third Reich. Yevgeny Konovalets shares equal responsibility with them for the crimes perpetrated by the OUN he founded.

❗️ The ideology and methods of the founders of this criminal organisation have been inherited by the current Kiev regime. Once again, Germany is among the principal sponsors of Ukrainian terrorism.

🎙 Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova's statement on the Kiev regime’s attacks in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea undermining global food security (August 12, 2026)

💬 Throughout the summer, the Kiev regime has been stepping up attacks on coastal transport, logistics infrastructure and civilian vessels in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, using unmanned systems and intelligence supplied by NATO and EU countries.

Key agricultural cargoes have come under attack, including grain and sunflower oil transported under foreign trade contracts.

👉 We would like to highlight several incidents involving casualties that illustrate Kiev’s criminal activity:

– On June 5, Ukrainian drones struck the dry cargo vessels Natra and Zircon in the Sea of Azov. Sailing under the flags of Belize and Palau, they were en route from Turkiye to the port of Rostov-on-Don to arrange the transportation of grain. Five people were killed and three were injured.

– In July, at least 100 Ukrainian drone attacks were recorded against commercial vessels in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea carrying Russian agricultural products to global markets.

• On July 18, the Marshall Islands-flagged commercial bulk carrier MV OMORFI, which was transporting grain, was attacked in Russian territorial waters. One crew member, an Indian national, was killed.

• On July 25-27, Ukrainian attacks damaged an export grain terminal in Rostov-on-Don.

• On July 30, the seaport of Taman was also damaged.

– On August 3, Ukrainian drones targeted the Cameroon-flagged vessel Nadezhda, owned by a Turkish operator, some 30 miles off the Russian coast. The vessel was carrying fruit and vegetables from Samsun, Tгrkiye, to Novorossiysk. Four sailors were injured, the engine room was damaged and a fire broke out on board.

• On August 3, Ukrainian drones also attacked another Turkish dry cargo vessel, Yaȿar.

***

Apart from civilian casualties and material damage to international merchant vessels and port infrastructure, these AFU strikes, which serve no military purpose and violate international law guaranteeing the safety of civilian shipping, have disrupted the dispatch of prepared cargoes along established export routes. They have caused delays in deliveries of grain, oilseeds and feed crops to international importers, the needs of which are met to a significant extent by Russian companies.

Against this backdrop, Russia's Armed Forces are taking steps to ensure the safety of navigation. They are carrying out precision strikes against facilities used by the AFU in the Black Sea to destabilise the maritime security environment, as well as infrastructure and vessels involved in delivering Western weapons and military equipment to the Kiev regime. This work will continue until the threats to security in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea are fully eliminated.

☝️ It is clear that the Kiev regime’s cynical military campaign aimed at sowing chaos on the global food market – despite Ukraine’s relatively modest share of global food production, however much the Kiev regime may try to claim otherwise – serves the interests of a number of Western countries.

It goes hand in hand with illegitimate unilateral restrictions in the financial, economic and energy sectors imposed by the Kiev regime’s Western sponsors, who are acting according to the logic of imposing a neocolonial “rules-based order”. Taken together, these actions exacerbate shortages of grain and fertilisers, drive up global food prices and increase the burden on countries of the Global South and East, which are being held hostage to the irresponsible policies of these “players”.

❗️ We call on the international community and relevant multilateral institutions to provide an objective assessment of the Kiev regime’s crimes, use every available means to put an end to its unlawful activities and ensure the unhindered export of agricultural products.

🎙 Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s statement on the death of foreign nationals in the terrorist attack by Ukrainian militants on Nizhnekamsk (August 10, 2026)

💬 The terrorist attack by the Kiev regime against civilian sites in Nizhnekamsk, Tatarstan, on August 10 resulted in at least 13 fatalities, most of them foreign nationals.

According to preliminary reports, the victims included eight citizens of Uzbekistan and one citizen of Tajikistan. Approximately 20 foreign nationals were wounded.

The Kiev neo-Nazis deliberately targeted facilities where people from our friendly countries live and work, aiming to drive a wedge between our nations and undermine our brotherly relations.

The terrorist attacks perpetrated by Ukrainian militant have claimed the lives of not only Russian civilians, but also foreign nationals.

▪️ We express our sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims and wish speedy recovery to the wounded.

The Russian Foreign Ministry calls on all members of the international community to condemn the barbaric crimes of the Ukrainian Nazis.

🎙 Answers by Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev to questions from RIA Novosti on the consequences of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict (August 8, 2026)

❓ Question: In August 2008, Russia’s decision to defend Abkhazia and South Ossetia triggered a sharp negative reaction from Western countries. How important is the opinion of the international community for Russia today?

💬 Dmitry Medvedev: 18 years have passed since the tragic events of August 2008. They remain proof that defending our citizens and our national interests – regardless of the opinion of the so-called international community – is the only right choice.

The decision to defend Abkhazia and South Ossetia caused hysteria in the West. We were branded, threatened with isolation and warned of consequences. Today, we understand that this was a probing move – the first attempt to test Russia’s resilience through a conflict with a neighbouring state.

We passed that test with dignity, giving the peoples of Abkhazia and South Ossetia the opportunity to live and develop in peace. Those who condemned our country most loudly are now unsuccessfully waging war against it by proxy in Ukraine.

When we speak of the opinion of the international community, we need to understand what exactly is meant. If it is the so-called collective West – the US, Europe and a handful of insignificant satellites seeking to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia – then we truly do not care about their opinion.

But there is another international community – the #GlobalMajority: China, India, the countries of the Global South, #BRICS and our partners in the #SCO. Their position matters to us, and we maintain a constructive dialogue with them.

☝️ Ultimately, however, Russia’s national interests come first.

❓ Question: In 2008, France played an effective role in resolving the Georgian–Ossetian crisis. You held direct talks with Sarkozy at the time. Is Western diplomacy still capable of resolving conflicts today, or has it completely lost that function and become capable only of adding fuel to the fire?

💬 Dmitry Medvedev: In 2008, we held direct talks with President Sarkozy, who flew to Moscow – tough, but productive talks – and agreed to end the conflict on Russia’s terms and in the interests of the affected Republics. At the time, France played a constructive role in resolving the Georgian–Ossetian conflict.

❗️ Today, Western diplomacy has completely discredited itself as an instrument for resolving political crises.

The Minsk Agreements are a telling example. For seven years, we tried to implement them. Then the leaders of neo-Nazi Ukraine and their Western patrons openly admitted that the agreements had been a ruse to buy time to arm Kiev. And who were the guarantors of those agreements? Germany and France.

Their hypocritical policy continues today, taking increasingly grotesque forms:

Instead of mediation – arms supplies.

Instead of seeking compromise – ultimatums.

Instead of direct dialogue – endless peace conferences without one of the parties to the conflict.

👉 European powers failed to defeat Russia in Ukraine, but inflicted enormous economic and political damage on themselves. Their so-called diplomacy has been reduced to the ritual repetition of anti-Russian mantras.

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▪️ Today marks the 18th anniversary of the tragic events in the South Caucasus.

On the night of August 7-8, 2008, in violation of all international agreements on peaceful settlement of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict, the Saakashvili-led regime treacherously attacked South Ossetia which led to multiple casualties among civilians and Russian peacekeepers.

The unprovoked nature of the Georgian attack was later officially confirmed in a report compiled by the International Independent Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia established under the EU auspices and headed by Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini.

❗️ The international community took no action, and Russia was forced to stand in the way of the aggressor and carry out an operation to compel Georgia to peace.

In order to stave off any further attempts by Tbilisi to regain the “lost” territories by force, the leadership of our country decided to recognise Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states.

Subsequently, Moscow consistently provided extensive assistance to these Republics in strengthening their sovereignty and security and creating favourable conditions for socioeconomic development. The signing of the Treaty on Deepening Allied Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Republic of South Ossetia came as an important milestone in the development of bilateral ties.

In October 2008, in order to achieve post-conflict settlement between Georgia and Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the Geneva International Discussions on Security and Stability in the South Caucasus were launched. Thanks in large part to this format and the mechanisms for interaction established under its auspices, relative peace has been maintained along the borders of the three states throughout these years.

Reaffirming its unwavering commitment to continuing work within this negotiation format, the Russian Side urges all participants to pay particular attention to addressing the priority task of the Geneva International Discussions which is ensuring lasting security for Abkhazia and South Ossetia and looks forward to seeing practical efforts begin as soon as possible to draft and sign a non-use-of-force agreement between Tbilisi, on the one hand, Sukhum and Tskhinval, on the other hand.

☝️ The adoption of such legally binding commitments represents a robust guarantee against a recurrence of the tragic events of August 2008. The launch of the process of delimiting the Georgian-South Ossetian and Georgian-Abkhaz state borders, followed by their demarcation, should be a genuine contribution to stabilising the situation in the border areas.

These goals are becoming particularly important amid attempts by Western countries, the Nazi regime in Kiev, and radical Georgian political forces to drag Tbilisi into new bloody ventures in the South Caucasus.

Moscow notes Georgian society’s ongoing attempts to reassess the August 2008 events. It is a justified move to recognise the full responsibility of the Saakashvili regime for unleashing the armed conflict. Note has been taken of the statements by the Georgian leadership regarding the importance of reconciliation with Abkhazians and South Ossetians which give rise to hope that this transformation in approaches will not remain at the level of declarations but will rather be supported by specific practical steps aimed at settling relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

🤝 The Russian Side remains willing and ready to continue providing comprehensive assistance to the parties in advancing the negotiation process, building confidence, and developing interstate relations in the interests of stability and security in the South Caucasus.

🎙 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's interview with TASS Director General Andrey Kondrashov (Moscow, July 29, 2026)

Key points:

• As for our “Western partners’” constant attempts to deceive Russia, our patience eventually runs out. It was no coincidence that, shortly after the start of the special military operation, President of Russia Vladimir Putin summed up our relations with the West and Europe by saying: “There is no going back to the way things were before February 2022”.

• The slogans of inflicting a “strategic defeat on our country”, of “decolonising Russia” have resurfaced in the West – once again, an explicit euphemism for breaking up our country. We see clearly what the West is plotting, and everyone needs to see this in order to understand that the situation is serious. President of Russia Vladimir Putin makes no secret of it. The entire self-proclaimed “civilised” world has risen against us.

• Now that Zelensky, while steadily retreating in Donbass and on other fronts, has turned in desperation to outright terrorist acts, and the West sees that many of his long-range weapons are reaching their targets, they have begun promoting this phase of the conflict as a “turning point” – as proof that “Ukrainian resolve can ultimately defeat Russia”.

• Russia is making daily progress on the front line – not as quickly as we might wish, but while preserving the lives of our servicemen. Ukraine (and its Western handlers) is trying to compensate for its failures on the battlefield by carrying out terrorist attacks aimed at disrupting the way of life people have grown accustomed to.

• I am very proud that our people understand the current situation correctly – as our history and those who defeated Nazism taught us. All the more so because today we are fighting the direct followers and descendants of those Nazis, with essentially the same forces aligned against us. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz openly says that Germany intends to become Europe’s leading power once again. If you are prepared to speak so openly, then be prepared for the consequences.

• Russia's national interests in foreign affairs are to remain a sovereign power and an independent civilisation, to ensure the reliable security of our borders and to make sure that no one even considers telling us how to organise life within Russia.

• Russia's principal national quality is something the West lacks. Our civilisation respects its ancestors – those who created it, built its cities and defeated its enemies.

• The West is now telling us that it will still decide when the time is right to resume negotiations. They envisage talks at one table involving Europe, the US, Zelensky and President of Russia Vladimir Putin. Before that, they insist on a truce and a ceasefire. The Western countries would then deploy multinational forces led by France and Britain and only afterwards sit down for talks. What does that mean? It is an ultimatum. The front line would be frozen, while the Nazi regime would remain in place.

• We must rely solely on ourselves, as our President has repeatedly stressed. The events unfolding now have grave consequences. But I want to reiterate: we are completing the work of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, who defeated Nazism – while our former allies allowed it to survive and take root once again.

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