West’s 'schizophrenic logic' and UN head’s letter What Lavrov told media at UN

©Russian foreign Ministry press service/TASS

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has branded as schizophrenic the West’s statements that talks between Russia and Ukraine will be possible only after Kiev’s counteroffensive at a news conference in New York.

The minister said that Moscow declared all its goals during the special military operation, but would like to learn what the West is up to in Ukraine. He also urged those who theorize about the possibility of a Third World War to show responsibility and constraint. Among other things, the minister also spoke about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s possible response to a letter by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Below are Lavrov’s main remarks, made at a news conference to sum up the results of his visit to the United States within the framework of Russia’s presidency in the UN Security Council.

Situation in Ukraine

"Now, this funny theory has emerged: let us we (Western nations - TASS) ensure Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive and then we will ask Ukraine, [President Vladimir] Zelensky to begin talks. But this is schizophrenic logic. We don’t want any threats to our security to come from Ukrainian territory and these threats have been accumulating there for years, especially after the coup in February 2014."

Speaking about whether achieving peace in Ukraine is possible this year, he said: "Hopes and expectations are not what I’m paid for."

Russia declared all its goals during the special military operation, but would like to learn what the West is up to in Ukraine, and "would also like to hear from our Western colleagues, as a reciprocal move, what goals they are pursuing there."

Third World War rhetoric In Lavrov’s opinion, the West’s talk about a possible Third World War "substitutes for a normal professional conversation between responsible politicians."

Claims that, if Ukraine is defeated, it would be impossible to avoid a Third World War, are irresponsible: "I hope in general that those who make them [the statements] keep a cool head and act responsibly."

Grain deal and Guterres’ letter The response to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the grain deal "will come once the addressee is made aware of it."

"If this paper is made public, it would not be very decent. It would indicate another attempt at exerting pressure on the situation that is not being resolved and that has been driven to a dead end by our Western colleagues," he said.

Guterres is paying efforts to unblock Russia’s agricultural exports, but those efforts have produced "practically no result... unless you regard the hope beginning to appear that instead of normal supplies of necessary products to global markets it will be necessary to beg US, European ports, banks and other structures, insurance companies each time to show good will, as a result."

Issues of extending or broadening the grain deal are not being discussed between Russia and China, since the two states have "a common border... with established channels for exports and imports."

Depleted uranium rounds

The UK needs to understand its responsibility for providing Ukrainian forces with depleted-uranium projectiles because there are people that fell prey to the consequences of strikes by such shells, Lavrov said.

"No matter what they say that it’s not radioactive and is not on the IAEA lists. There are facts and interviews with people that suffered [from the consequences of strikes with such shells] in the former Yugoslavia (during NATO bombings in 1999 - TASS). They were shown on television channels worldwide. So, (the UK) needs to understand its responsibility."

US visas for Russian journalists

Russia will take the situation with non-issuance of US visas to Russian journalists into account: "We will certainly keep in mind this disreputable behavior on the part of the US government... and will take it into account when the Americans request something from us."

Russian-US prisoner exchanges

At present, around 60 Russian citizens are incarcerated in US jails, and "in the majority of cases, the charges against them are very questionable."

Lavrov himself is not taking part in Russian-US negotiations on swapping detainees.

After a meeting in Geneva in 2021, the United States and Russia set up a special communication channel to discuss issues of "detained Russian citizens in the US and detained US citizens in the Russian Federation," he recalled. The channel, however, "did not envisage bringing this or that issue into the public spotlight with the purpose of putting pressure on serious, professional negotiations that are under way."

European Union’s ‘geopolitical game’

Ukraine’s urgent accession into the European Union would expose the organization’s true goals, the Russian foreign minister said. It "would prove that its membership is not about meeting some kind of criteria, that it is a purely geopolitical game of grabbing as many territories as possible that are unclaimed or about to become unclaimed."

Meanwhile, the European Union "is militarizing on the double and is turning into an aggressive entity dead set on containing Russia." This affects, among other things, the union’s admission policies: "This is what the European Union is like now: if you are conducting anti-Russian policies, your chances [of membership] are very good."

Anti-Russian sanctions

In Lavrov's words, "sanctions against Russia are indeed such that no one has ever seen and could hardly imagine, but for us this question has been resolved. We are well-placed for not depending on such behavior of Western colleagues that have proved the lack of deal-making skills."

"Preparations are underway for a new round of the war for global domination, or rather a war for attempting to maintain global hegemony. It may probably slow down the natural process of the formation of multipolar world order, but not for long."

"The shift to settlements in national currencies bypassing the dollar, the euro and the yuan, to digital currencies can no longer be stopped, and the future of the international financial system, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, remains to be seen," he said. ""The Americans themselves started the de-dollarization process."

"NATO wanted to tear Russia apart but wound up bringing it together instead."

Events in Sudan

"Geopolitical engineering will do no good. And I would recommend drawing the following conclusions from the current crisis in Sudan: let us allow African nations to sort it out among themselves."

Afghanistan

"We assume that the Taliban is a reality. Talks with them on the ground are necessary."

Moscow "will not recognize the Taliban government (outlawed in Russia) de-jure unless it fulfills its internationally recognized obligations," namely "inclusivity of governing bodies, not just in the ethnic sense, but also in the political one" and ensures "basic human rights... including the rights of girls and women."

Iranian nuclear deal

"It appears to me that it would be a huge mistake to skip the chance of resuming this deal... At this stage, the resumption of the deal does not depend on Iran, or Russia, or China. The ones who destroyed it must now bring it back to life."

Biden’s decision to seek re-election Lavrov declined to comment on US President Joe Biden’s decision to run for a second presidential term: "The Russian government does not interfere in the affairs of other states."

What's Behind Tucker Carlson's Ouster From Fox News?

Why did Fox News part ways with Tucker, whose name has never been tarnished with scandals of any kind? Speaking to Sputnik, journalist and pundit, Carmine Sabia weighs in on this issue.

The much-talked-about news of Tucker Carlson’s departure from Fox News has made a splash in the US and beyond. The decision to part ways with the 53-year-old was reportedly made on Friday evening by Fox Corporation chief executive Lachlan Murdoch. Tucker himself has yet to comment on his exit from the news network.

“What's the benefit for Fox here? The Dominion lawsuit is over. Tucker was not a big pusher of the election conspiracy theory. So what's the gain? If you're Fox News and the only [thing] that I could think of is there's a clip from last week where Tucker Carlson just tears the doors off of Big Pharma. And then a week later, he's fired,” Sabia said.

He added that he subscribes to the view that Tucker’s departure could be due to his purported support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.), who last week launched his 2024 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Separately, Sabia underscored that he had “never heard a negative thing” about the now-former Fox News host, who the journalist said played a role of a propagandist. “[I’ve] never heard of him being a jerk,” Sabia added.

Carlson's ouster comes less than a week after Fox agreed to pay $787 million in settlement money to Dominion Voting Systems as part of a defamation suit brought by the company in connection with former US President Donald Trump’s claims about the "rigged" 2020 election and the system's software.

As for RFK Jr., he tweeted on Monday that Carlson’s exit took place because of the 53-year-old’s intrepid monologue about pharmaceutical companies earlier this month.

The nephew of late President John F. Kennedy then went further, arguing that Carlson had been "fired" by Fox News, despite the network saying in a statement the two parties had "agreed to part ways." "Fox fires Carlson five days after he crosses the red line by acknowledging that the TV networks pushed a deadly and ineffective vaccine to please their Pharma advertisers. His breathtakingly courageous April 19 monologue broke TV's two biggest rules: Tucker told the truth about how greedy Pharma advertisers controlled TV news content and he lambasted obsequious newscasters for promoting [COVID vaccine] jabs they knew to be lethal and worthless," RFK added.

While RFK Jr.'s previous anti-vaccine remarks have stirred up some backlash, even among his relatives, Carlson embraced Kennedy's statements, even echoing them sometimes.

During an episode of his show earlier this year, the now former Fox News anchor compared the vaccination campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic to "what the imperial Japanese army and the Nazis did in their medical experiments."

LIVE UPDATES - Russian air defenses destroy 15 Ukrainian combat drones in past day

©Andrei Rubtsov/TASS

Russian air defense forces destroyed 15 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Tuesday.

"During the last 24-hour period, air defense capabilities shot down 15 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in areas near the settlements of Nezhdanovka in the Kharkov Region, Kuzemovka, Topoli and Lisichansk in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Vasilyevka, Kirillovka and Torskoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Novoukrainskoye, Basan and Lyubimovka in the Zaporozhye Region and Knyaze-Grigoryevka in the Kherson Region," the spokesman said.

Russian paratroopers thwart Kiev’s attempt to deploy reserves to Artyomovsk

Russian assault teams continue active operations for destroying Ukrainian troops in the western part of Artyomovsk while paratroopers and combat aircraft thwarted Kiev’s attempt to deploy reserves to the city, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Donetsk direction, the assault teams continued their active operations for destroying the enemy in the western part of the city of Artyomovsk. Airborne forces, operational/tactical and army aviation rendered direct support to the assault teams in capturing the city and thwarting the enemy’s attempts to deploy reserves there," the spokesman said.

Artillery of the southern battlegroup struck the Ukrainian army units near the settlements of Bogdanovka, Krasnoye and Stupochki in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the general said.

"In the past 24 hours, aircraft flew nine sorties and the battlegroup’s artillery accomplished 62 firing objectives to support the assault teams in the Artyomovsk area," Konashenkov reported.

Russian forces destroy 65 Ukrainian troops in Kupyansk area

Russian combat aircraft and artillery destroyed a Ukrainian ammunition depot in the Kharkov Region and eliminated roughly 65 enemy troops in the Kupyansk area over the past day, he said.

In the Kupyansk direction, operational/tactical and army aviation and artillery from the western battlegroup struck the enemy units in areas near the settlements of Dvurechnaya and Sinkovka in the Kharkov Region, the spokesman specified.

"The enemy’s losses in that area in the past 24 hours amounted to 65 Ukrainian personnel, two armored combat vehicles and a pickup truck. In addition, in the area of the settlement of Ternovaya in the Kharkov Region, an ammunition depot of the Ukrainian army’s 67th mechanized brigade was obliterated," the general reported.

Russian forces eliminate 80 Ukrainian troops in Krasny Liman area

Russian forces struck Ukrainian army units in the Krasny Liman area, eliminating roughly 80 enemy troops in the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Krasny Liman area, aircraft, artillery and heavy flamethrower systems from the battlegroup Center struck the enemy units in areas near the settlements of Nevskoye and Chervonaya Dibrova in the Lugansk People’s Republic and Grigorovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.

The enemy’s losses in that area in the past 24 hours amounted to "80 Ukrainian personnel, two infantry fighting vehicles and a D-20 howitzer," the general specified.

Russian forces destroy 360 Ukrainian troops, mercenaries in Donetsk advance

Russian forces destroyed roughly 360 Ukrainian troops and mercenaries in their Donetsk advance over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"The enemy’s losses in that area in the past 24 hours amounted to 360 Ukrainian personnel and mercenaries, seven infantry fighting vehicles, eight armored combat vehicles, seven motor vehicles, a D-20 howitzer and two Gvozdika motorized artillery systems," the spokesman said.

Russian forces destroy over 120 Ukrainian troops in southern Donetsk, Zaporozhye areas

Russian forces destroyed over 120 Ukrainian troops and two howitzers in the southern Donetsk and Zaporozhye areas in the past day, Konashenkov reported.

In the southern Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, aircraft, artillery and heavy flamethrower systems from the battlegroup East inflicted damage on the enemy units in areas near the settlements of Ugledar and Pavlovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Novodanilovka and Kamenskoye in the Zaporozhye Region, the spokesman specified.

"Over 120 Ukrainian personnel, an armored combat vehicle, nine motor vehicles, D-20 and Msta-B howitzers and an Akatsiya self-propelled artillery gun were destroyed in those areas in the past 24 hours," the general said.

Russian forces eliminate 20 Ukrainian troops, US-made M777 howitzer in Kherson area

Russian forces destroyed 20 Ukrainian troops and a US-made M777 howitzer in the Kherson area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Kherson direction, as many as 20 Ukrainian personnel and a US-manufactured artillery system were destroyed in the past 24 hours as a result of damage inflicted on the enemy by fire," the spokesman said.

Russian forces neutralize four Ukrainian subversive groups in Kharkov area, LPR

Russian forces neutralized four Ukrainian subversive groups in the Kharkov Region and the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In areas near the settlements of Orlyanskoye and Krakhmalnoye in the Kharkov Region, Novosyolovskoye and Stelmakhovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic, the activity of four Ukrainian subversive/reconnaissance groups was thwarted," the spokesman said.

Russian forces destroy Ukrainian S-300 targeting radar in DPR

Russian forces destroyed a targeting radar of a Ukrainian S-300 anti-aircraft missile system in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the area of the settlement of Selidovo in the Donetsk People’s Republic, a targeting radar of a Ukrainian S-300 anti-aircraft missile system was destroyed," the spokesman said.

Operational/tactical and army aviation aircraft, missile troops and artillery of the Russian group of forces struck 98 Ukrainian artillery units at firing positions, manpower and equipment in 124 areas, the general reported.

In all, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 411 Ukrainian warplanes, 228 helicopters, 3,849 unmanned aerial vehicles, 415 surface-to-air missile systems, 8,849 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,094 multiple rocket launchers, 4,655 field artillery guns and mortars and 9,762 special military motor vehicles since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, Konashenkov reported.

Special operation, 24 April. Main:

▪️Russian air defense shot down 38 Ukrainian drones in a day, the Ministry of Defense reported;

▪️In the Kupyansky and Krasnolymansky directions, Kyiv lost about 130 military personnel; the losses of the Ukrainian army in the Donetsk direction amounted to more than 280 servicemen and mercenaries;

Zakharova said that some countries staged a farce from the UN Security Council meeting

▪️The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that the Iskander attacked the mercenaries' deployment point in Konstantinovka, killing up to 60 militants of the so-called "Georgian Legion";

▪️Putin agreed to equalize the position of all participants in the special military operation, including in terms of monetary allowance;

▪️Lavrov, speaking at the UN Security Council, said that the Nazi regime in Kyiv cannot be considered representative of the inhabitants of the territories who refused to accept the 2014 coup, and it is impossible to consider the Ukrainian issue in isolation from the geopolitical context;

▪️The Black Sea Fleet repulsed the attack of surface drones on the outer roadstead in Sevastopol, the governor said, one surface drone was destroyed, the second exploded itself, no objects were damaged;

▪️Ukrainian troops left a couple of brigades in Artemivsk, the rest of the forces were withdrawn, the Spanish Mundo writes, citing a source;

▪️Kyiv will never have enough military and equipment, said the commander of the Ukrainian troops in the Kharkiv region;

▪️Washington warned Kyiv against being ambitious in the issue of the offensive, a similar warning was received by the Afghan authorities in 2021 shortly before the fall of Kabul, writes Politico;

▪️Ukraine planned to launch strikes on Russian territory on February 24 this year, but at the request of Washington, they postponed them, writes the Washington Post;

▪️A fire at an oil depot occurred in the city of Rovenki in the LPR as a result of an attack by a Ukrainian drone.

Sudan's streets deserted as foreigners flee

A Sudanese woman tells of her ordeal fleeing Sudan.

Fighting in Sudan eased on Tuesday and more foreigners and locals fled the capital Khartoum. With civilians leaving Khartoum in cars and buses, the streets of one of Africa's biggest metropolitan areas were largely emptied of ordinary daily life, with those still in the city huddling at home.

Since the warfare erupted on April 15, tens of thousands have already left for neighbouring Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan, despite the uncertainty of conditions there.

One Khartoum resident, who declined to give his name, said he feared that with fewer international observers, fighting forces would show less respect for civilians.

The fighting has turned residential areas into battlefields. Air strikes and artillery shells have killed at least 459 people, wounded over 4,000, destroyed hospitals and limited food distribution in a nation already reliant on aid for a third of its 46 million people.

Foreign countries have airlifted embassy staff out after several attacks on diplomats, including the killing of an Egyptian attaché shot on his way to work. Some countries are also extracting their private citizens.

Britain launched a large-scale evacuation of its nationals on military flights from an airfield north of Khartoum. France and Germany said they had each evacuated more than 500 people of various nationalities, and that a French commando had been hit by crossfire during the operation.

As army and paramilitary forces again clashed in Khartoum and across the country, terrified Sudanese have endured acute shortages of water, food, medicines and fuel as well as power and internet blackouts, the UN said

As people attempted to flee the chaos, countries began landing planes and organising convoys in Khartoum to pull out their nationals. Some foreign citizens were injured. Gunfire rang out across the city and dark smoke hung overhead, a Reuters reporter said

Sudan’s warring rivals agree to 72-hour ceasefire

A 72-hour ceasefire between Sudan’s warring generals officially came into effect Tuesday after 10 days of urban combat killed hundreds, wounded thousands and sparked a mass exodus of foreigners.

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) agreed to the ceasefire “following intense negotiations,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement shortly before the truce took effect from midnight (2200 GMT Monday).

Previous bids to pause the conflict failed to take hold, but both sides confirmed they had agreed to the three-day halt.

“This ceasefire aims to establish humanitarian corridors, allowing citizens and residents to access essential resources, health care, and safe zones, while also evacuating diplomatic missions,” the RSF paramilitary tweeted.

In a statement on Facebook, the SAF said it would also abide by the ceasefire on condition its rivals did so.

Intense clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army have forced residents to flee Khartoum for safety. (Reuters)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned earlier that Sudan was on “the edge of the abyss” and that the violence “could engulf the whole region and beyond.”

The fighting has pitted forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan against those of his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the RSF.

The RSF emerged from the Janjaweed militia that then-president Omar Al-Bashir unleashed in Darfur, leading to war crimes charges against Bashir and others.

The Forces of Freedom and Change, the main civilian bloc which the two generals ousted from power in a 2021 coup, said the truce would allow for “dialogue on the modalities of a permanent ceasefire.”

At least 427 people have been killed and more than 3,700 wounded, according to UN agencies.

Among the latest to die was the assistant administrative attache at Cairo’s embassy in Khartoum, Egypt’s foreign ministry said.

The official was killed while heading from home to the embassy to follow up on evacuation procedures, it said.

The United States and European, Middle Eastern, African and Asian nations launched emergency missions to bring to safety their embassy staff and Sudan-based citizens by road, air and sea.

But millions of Sudanese are unable to flee what is one of the world’s poorest countries, with a history of military coups.

People gathered at bus stations around Khartoum on Monday in a bid to escape the capital

They are trying to survive acute shortages of water, food, medicine and fuel as well as power and Internet blackouts.

UN agencies reported some Sudanese civilians were able to escape “to Chad, Egypt and South Sudan.”

“We must all do everything within our power to pull Sudan back from the edge of the abyss,” Guterres said.

He had also, again, called for a ceasefire.

Britain requested an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Sudan, which was expected to take place Tuesday, according to a diplomat.

A UN convoy carrying 700 people completed an arduous 850-kilometer road trip to Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast from the capital, where they left behind gunfire and explosions.

The United Nations head of mission Volker Perthes said the convoy arrived safely.

“Thirty-five hours in a not-so-comfortable convoy are certainly better than three hours’ bombing and sitting under the shells,” he said.

A UN statement separately said he and other key staff will “remain in Sudan and will continue to work toward a resolution to the current crisis.”

With Khartoum airport disabled after battles that left charred aircraft on the tarmac, many foreigners were airlifted from smaller airstrips to countries including Djibouti and Jordan.

US special forces swooped in with Chinook helicopters Sunday to rescue diplomats and their dependents, while Britain launched a similar rescue mission.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said more than 1,000 EU citizens had been taken out during a “long and intense weekend” involving airlift missions by France, Germany and others.

China said it had “safely evacuated” a first group of citizens and would “try every means to protect the lives, properties and safety of 1,500 plus Chinese compatriots in Sudan.”

Japan said it had evacuated 45 of its nationals and their spouses and temporarily closed its embassy in Khartoum.

The capital, a city of five million, has endured “more than a week of unspeakable destruction,” Norway’s ambassador Endre Stiansen wrote on Twitter after his evacuation.

One evacuee, a Lebanese man, said after being bussed to Port Sudan that he left only “with this T-shirt and these pyjamas, all that I have with me after 17 years.”

Those Sudanese who can afford to are also fleeing Khartoum on crowded buses for the more than 900-kilometer desert drive north to Egypt.

Among the 800,000 South Sudanese refugees who previously fled civil war in their own country, some are choosing to return, with women and children crossing the border, said the UN refugee agency.

In the capital, street battles have left the sky often blackened by smoke from shelled buildings and torched shops.

“There was a rocket strike in our neighborhood... it is like nowhere is safe,” said resident Tagreed Abdin, an architect.

Experts have long drawn links between the RSF and Russian mercenary group Wagner. Blinken earlier on Monday voiced “deep concern” that Wagner risked aggravating the war in Sudan.

The military toppled Bashir in April 2019 following mass citizen protests that raised hopes for a transition to democracy.

The two generals seized power in the 2021 coup, but later fell out, most recently over the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army.

Price of conflict in Ukraine and West’s bad behavior — Lavrov’s statements

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ©AP Photo/John Minchillo

The world has approached perhaps an even more dangerous line than the one it was close to during the Cold War, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the UN Security Council at a meeting on effective multilateralism through defending the principles of the organization's Charter.

According to Lavrov, the future of international relations depends on the outcome of the conflict in Ukraine.

He called on the United States and Europe to respect other members of the international community and stressed that no one ever granted the "Western minority" the right to speak on behalf of the entire humankind.

Here are Lavrov’s key pronouncements.

About West’s conduct

"No one authorized the Western minority to speak on behalf of all of humanity. They should behave decently and respect all members of the international community," he stressed.

"The West has long been uncomfortable negotiating in universal formats such as the United Nations," he said, adding that to substantiate its course toward undermining multilateralism it introduced the "idea of democracies against autocracy." Along with summits for democracy, whose participants are selected by the "self-proclaimed hegemon, it is establishing other clubs for the chosen, which act as a workaround to the United Nations." They are "devised to undermine talks on relevant topics under the United Nations’ auspices, to impose non-consensus concepts and solutions that serve the West." "First, they negotiate something... with a few participants and then present these agreements as the position of the international community."

About Ukraine

The Ukrainian issue cannot be considered in isolation from the geopolitical context. "This is not about Ukraine at all but about how international relations will be built in the future: via a solid consensus based on a balance of interests or via the aggressive and explosive promotion of [the West’s] hegemony. "It is obvious to any impartial person that the Nazi regime in Kiev cannot be seen as representing the residents of the territories that refused to recognize the outcome of the bloody state coup in February 2014 and against whom the coup plotters unleashed a war against."

About the situation in the world

"Once again, as during the Cold War, we have come to a dangerous and perhaps even more dangerous line," Lavrov said. "The situation is exacerbated by the loss of faith in multilateralism, as Western financial and economic aggression destroys the benefits of globalization. The US and its allies abandon diplomacy and demand that relations be clarified on the battlefield."

"While propagating its ‘rules’ on the international stage, it (the West - TASS) has a stranglehold on multilateralism and democracy at home by utilizing ever more repressive tools to suppress any dissent - just as the criminal Kiev regime, with the backing of its teachers: the US and its allies, is doing," the minister said.

About the Asia-Pacific Region

According to Lavrov, a "successful open system of economic and security cooperation has evolved for decades around ASEAN." "This system has produced consensus approaches that satisfy both the ASEAN Ten and its dialogue partners."

But now, "the US and its allies have employed significant resources in an effort to undermine multilateralism in the Asia-Pacific Region." "Bloc-based approaches that undermine ASEAN-centric multilateralism are evident in the creation of the AUKUS military alliance, into which both Tokyo and Seoul and even a number of ASEAN countries are pushed. Under the aegis of the United States, mechanisms are being created to interfere in maritime security issues with the aim of ensuring the unilateral interests of the West in the waters of the South China Sea."

About UN

"There has always been a quantitative and personnel imbalance in favor of the West at the UN, but until recently, the secretariat has tried to remain neutral. Today, however, this imbalance has become chronic and secretariat employees ever more frequently allow themselves politically motivated behavior inappropriate for international officials," he said. ""I am calling on the esteemed Secretary General to see to it that all of his employees observe the requirements of objectivity in accordance with Article 100 of the UN Charter."

About visas for Russian journalists

"The US embassy in Moscow sadistically said that it was ready to issue them [journalists] passports with visas when our plane had already taken off," he said.

Earlier, the delegation accompanying Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on his trip to UN headquarters in New York to attend Security Council events on April 24 and 25 had problems getting US visas. No visas were issued to Russian reporters. The American side provided no explanations for this decision.