85 weeks have passed since the Salisbury incident - no credible information or response from the British authoritie
On 4 March 2018 the Russian citizens Sergei and Yulia Skripal were reportedly poisoned with a nerve agent in Salisbury and were taken to Salisbury District Hospital under obscure circumstances. The UK government accused the Russian state of being responsible for the poisoning. No proofs have been provided.
For more than half a year our nationals have been kept in isolation and under full control of the British authorities. They remain out of the public eye in an unknown location, are deprived of the right to communicate with their relatives, friends, journalists and Russian officials, may not move freely. For its part, Russia has been open and willing to cooperate within the numerous available frameworks.
The following requests and proposals have been sent to the British authorities:
- A proposal to launch a joint investigation into the incident;
- Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office request for legal assistance in the matter of Sergei and Yulia Skripal made within the framework of the investigation of the criminal case opened in Russia (has been denied under the pretext of “national security interests”);
- Embassy’s numerous requests for consular access to the Russian citizens Sergei and Yulia Skripal in conformity with the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and the bilateral 1965 Consular Convention (have been continuously denied under false pretext);
- Russia’s proposal to establish cooperation under paragraph 2, Article IX of the Chemical Weapons Convention (instead of direct collaboration, the British authorities continue to manipulate CWC provisions by resorting exclusively to the obscure procedure of the so-called technical assistance provided by OPCW Secretariat in a non-transparent manner);
- More than 70 Notes Verbales and letters sent to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Home Office and police with dozens of questions concerning the whereabouts of the Russian citizens, symptoms of their poisoning, methods of medical treatment applied to them, course of the police investigation, samples of the biomaterials and chemical agent allegedly used in Salisbury, and evidence, which could help establish the truth.
All these make us believe that the incident in Salisbury is a provocation of the British secret services, and the UK authorities are interested using it in whipping up an anti-Russian hysteria for the sake of their internal political interests, rather than in establishing the truth through an impartial and credible investigation.
British authorities are thus in a gross violation of international law and UK’s obligations under the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and the bilateral 1965 Consular Convention, the 1959 European Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1950 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
We are disappointed by the February 22 decision of the EU Foreign Affairs Council to impose new illegal, unilateral and unsubstantiated restrictive measures on Russian citizens. The European Union has missed an opportunity to rethink its policy of artificial linkages, sanctions and pressure in its relations with Russia, a policy that has proved to be completely ineffective over the past few years. Instead, guided by its bloc discipline and anti-Russia stereotypes, Brussels has instinctively pressed the ineffective sanctions button. Moreover, contrary to all logic, the EU first adopted a political decision, and plans to choose the candidates for the sanctions later on.
This year marks the centenary of the first Russian-British trade agreement. We are delighted to invite you to participate in the online-conference organized by the Embassy and Trade delegation of Russia in the UK on March 16, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. (UK time).
Vladimir Putin sent a message of greetings to the current and former staff of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation on the occasion of their professional day, Diplomatic Workers’ Day.
On February 3, 2021 the MFA of Russia and the U.S. Embassy in Moscow exchanged diplomatic notes regarding the completion of internal procedures required for the entry into force of the Agreement to extend the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms of April 8, 2010 (New START). Accordingly, this Agreement entered into force on the same day. Thus the Treaty will remain in effect exactly as it had been signed, without any amendments or additions, until February 5, 2026. The telephone conversation between the President of Russia Vladimir Putin and the U.S. President Joseph Biden on January 26, 2021 became key for this development to proceed.
We support the Statement by the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in connection with the violation of the principle of freedom of speech by global American Internet companies.
The restrictive actions taken by the administration of American social media giants with regard to the content posted on their platforms have delivered a blow to the democratic system of values and the international information architecture.
Mr Minister, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to our Tunisian friends for convening today's meeting in a timely fashion. Clearly, a candid exchange of views on the Middle East settlement (MES) in the Security Council is long overdue. It is necessary to review the previous stage, to identify the reasons for the continuing deadlock in the MES, and to outline the key areas of joint work for the future.
When it comes to arms control, the previous US administration worked consistently and systematically to destroy the agreements which prevented Washington from arbitrarily building up, projecting and using military force and which it saw as an obstacle on its way to “victory” in the “great power rivalry” it itself declared.
This is our traditional news conference on the foreign policy outcomes of 2020. It is traditional, but remote. We opted for a format that was widely used over the past year due to the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions imposed in almost all countries, including Russia.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We had substantive and meaningful talks. We discussed the further development of the friendly and trustworthy relations between our countries in accordance with the agreements reached during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Riyadh in the autumn of 2019, and subsequent telephone conversations at top level.
Citizens of Russia, friends, The year 2020 will be over in just a few minutes. As we were welcoming it a year ago today, just like people around the world, we thought and dreamed of changes for the better. No one could have imagined back then what kind of trials would come our way. Now, it appears that the outgoing year has taken in the burden of many years. It was a difficult year for all of us, with worries and serious financial difficulties, bitter experiences and, for some, loss of the loved ones.
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