PRESS RELEASES AND NEWS
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The Western initiative to convene the UN Security Council meeting on Syria is deeply disappointing. There are many speculations based on unverified and biased information about the situation in Syria aimed at escalating tensions and distorting the true events in order to undermine any political settlement in this country.
Question: Russia is promoting an initiative on “No first placement weapons in Outer Space”. Could you explain the reasons for adhering to this political commitment?
Press Secretary: While the Outer Space Treaty (1967) prohibits the deployment of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in Outer Space, the Treaty does not explicitly cover either conventional arms or new weapon technologies. As a result, there is a legal gap with regard to a possible placement of weapons other than WMDs in Outer Space.
In 2008 Russia and China introduced at the Conference on Disarmament a draft Treaty on Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space and of the Threat or Use of Force against Outer Space Objects (PPWT). Subsequently, in 2014 Russia and China submitted an updated version of the PPWT draft reflecting considerations of interested states, thus giving an additional impulse to further work on the draft. However, no progress has been made due to CD failure to agree on its program of work.
Once again, UK side called upon the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly to reconsider the decision to restore Russia’s rights. We would like to remind official London that Russia’s participation at the Parliamentary Assembly is an irrevocable right of any national delegation that effectively represents the rights and interests of its nation. It is also the necessary requirement for establishing international cooperation and balance in interstate relations in order to support political dialogue in Europe and develop the parliamentary traditions.
Question: How would you comment on the publications in the British media about the excessive use of force by the Russian police during the rallies in Moscow held on August 3, 2019?
Answer: We have seen taken note of recent reports in the British media condemning the actions of the Russian police during the rallies in the Moscow city center in support of unregistered candidates to the Moscow Duma elections. First of all we would like to note that the numerous illegal protests which took place on August 3 in Moscow had nothing to do with democracy or freedom of expression. It becomes clear that the goals of protesters were anything but ensuring their voters rights. Many of the protesters do not even have an idea who the so-called opposition candidates actually were. It also looks absurd that people not living in Moscow are fighting for the political rights of Muscovites. Furthermore the persons wanted in connection with the extremism propaganda as well as 150 young people who had long been evading military service were found among the participants of the illegal rallies. It also proven that foreign citizens participated in the Saturday rallies, for provocation purposes only.
Question: How would you comment on the intention of the United States to impose the second set of sanctions on Russia in relation to so-called poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury?
Answer: First of all we would like to emphasize that the UK deny to present the results of the official investigation in Salisbury. The Russian side is fully committed to seeking and establishing the truth about the incident and could barely rest satisfied with the widely distributed leaks in the media coming from so-called official sources.
The United States continues to use last year's staged poisoning of the former British agent and his daughter in the UK to aggravate relations with Russia. This blatant provocation, whose participants have been protected from exposure, again serves as the pretext to impose sanctions on Russia under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 and a special executive order recently signed by the White House.
It should be noted that, in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, Russia eliminated its stockpiles a long time ago (international inspectors had the chance to verify this on more than one occasion), while the United States has such an arsenal today and is in no hurry to part with it.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey as guarantors of the Astana format:
1. Reaffirmed their strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic and to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter;
2. Reaffirmed in this regard the respect for universally recognized international legal decisions, including those provisions of the relevant UN resolutions rejecting the occupation of Syrian Golan, first and foremost UN Security Council resolution 497;
Almost a year and a half has passed since the mysterious incident in Salisbury. Unfortunately, despite our numerous appeals to the British side for transparency of the investigation, access to affected Russian nationals Sergei and Yulia Skripal, substantive cooperation to clarify the circumstances surrounding the incident, no clear answer has been received yet. More than 80 Notes Verbales sent to the Foreign Office and the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation for legal assistance have been ignored so far.
Once again, we call upon the British authorities to move back to the field of the international law in order to answer the following fundamental questions: what is the health condition of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, who was behind their poisoning and disappearance, how were they treated, and finally, are the British investigators interested in search for the truth and what are the official results of the investigation?
Question: Does the Embassy have any new information regarding the circumstances of the mysterious murder of the Russian national Nikolay Glushkov in London that happened on 12 March 2018?
Answer: The Embassy regrets to state that, as almost a year and a half has passed since this crime, the British authorities continue to disregard our numerous diplomatic enquiries concerning course and results of the investigation into the murder of former Deputy Director General of “Aeroflot” Mr Nikolay Glushkov in the UK. We consider an approach, chosen by the British side, not only as contempt for their international obligations but also as a violation of diplomatic decency rules.
Question: The US has formally withdrawn from a key nuclear treaty. How does Russia assess the situation around the INF?
Press Secretary: The US decided to pull out of the INF Treaty under a false pretext of Russia’s non-compliance with the agreement. Our country has done everything possible to save the Treaty, including by making unprecedented proposals of transparency. However, Washington continued its reckless and dangerous way to demolish the pact.
It is worth stressing that Moscow, nevertheless, has a credible list of US violation of the Treaty, which has been repeatedly presented to our partners. It consists of the following:
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