Recruitment of militants and inciting Russophobia - Zakharova on relations between Russia and Ukraine

Today there was another briefing by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, during which she commented on a number of acute topics of the international story. The first question from The Moscow Post concerned the work of the Arctic Council:

"The head of the SVR, Sergei Naryshkin, said that the implementation of Arctic projects is becoming increasingly important for ensuring the security and protection of Russia's national interests. In the new conditions, what, in your opinion, is the fate of the Arctic Council, where Russia is currently presiding? "

According to Zakharova, Russia's presidency of the Council includes the period from 2021 to 2023. The Arctic Council has been an effective mechanism for international cooperation in the Arctic for a quarter of a century. The activities of the Arctic Council in early March were suspended due to the actions of the United States, Canada Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Finland suspended their participation in the council with reference to Russia's special operation to protect Donbass. At the same time, council members say that we are talking about a temporary freeze in activities.

Obviously, ensuring the sustainable development of the Arctic without Russia, which accounts for about 60% of the Arctic coast, where 2.5 million people live, is an extremely difficult task. According to the estimates of the Arctic states, the council has proven itself to be an effective international institution for developing solutions to ensure the sustainable development of this region.

"In our opinion, artificially pulling the Ukrainian plot into the council's orbit does not meet the goals of the organization. In the current conditions, Russia, as a country-chairman of the Arctic Council, continues to implement the chairmanship program, orienting the organization's structured mechanisms to the needs of the northern regions in accordance with the country's tasks in the Arctic until 2035, "said Maria Zakharova.

Work is being established to compensate for the replacement of external presence, including through mechanisms to strengthen internal interaction and increase its efficiency. This will be facilitated by the two scientific and educational centers created in the Arctic zone of our country - in the Arkhangelsk region and in Yakutia. The Floating University, a program for the study of marine waters, has great potential. All steps will help the development of the scientific component of the national Arctic program to a greater extent, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

Russia further intends to apply a constructive approach to interaction in the Arctic, strengthening its sovereignty in high latitudes. The Russian Federation remains open to cooperation with all parties that share an understanding of the need for active development of the region.

The second question of The Moscow Post concerned the results of the visit of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to Russia:

"In connection with the visit of the UN Secretary General, were the issues of prisoners of war, the conditions of exchange and the conditions of their detention in Ukraine discussed? How many prisoners in Russia from the Armed Forces of Ukraine today? "

This issue, according to Maria Zakharova, was not substantively discussed. The UN Secretary General put forward a number of ideas that are now under consideration. In particular, he proposed to form a trilateral contact group "Russia-Ukraine-UN" to exchange information for the effective functioning of humanitarian information and the transfer of humanitarian aid.

At the same time, Guterres came up with the idea of ​ ​ establishing interaction in the UN formats and the Committee of the International Red Cross with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and Ukraine, aimed at working out plans to evacuate civilians from Mariupol and deliver humanitarian aid there. As for prisoners of war from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, this issue is under the jurisdiction of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

The Moscow Post's third question concerned diplomatic relations with Ukraine.

"What happens in diplomatic relations with Ukraine? There is information that the Ukrainian diplomatic mission abroad is almost openly involved in provocations against Russian citizens. Can I comment on this?, "- asked the correspondent of The Moscow Post.

Maria Zakharova recalled that since February 24, at the initiative of Kyiv, Russia and Ukraine have no diplomatic relations, they have been severed. Embassies and consulates of states have now ceased their work. Indeed, there are facts of the participation of Ukrainian diplomats in provocations against Russian citizens. This is the recruitment of militants, for sending to a combat zone, the recruitment of extremists and cyber warfare, and much more. There are facts and participation of the Ukrainian Embassy in a number of countries, for example, in Germany, in exhaustion from Russophobia.

The country's ambassador to Germany told local media earlier that he "does not divide all Russians into good and bad, but simply considers all Russians to be enemies." Maria Zakharova recalled that such a version of the relationship is purely nationalist, characteristic of the entire Kyiv regime. This reflects the truth of the approach of the Ukrainian authorities to resolving the conflict.

According to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany, more than 380 crimes against immigrants from Russia have been recorded in Germany over the past two months. Ukrainian diplomats in Germany are engaged in inciting national hatred, and Ukrainian nationalists regularly attack Russian stores, Russian artists are deprived of performing at competitions, Russian children are harassed in schools and kindergartens, and so on.

At the same time, European citizens become involved in criminal cases because of the rash Russophobia that the Kyiv authorities project to Europe.

By inciting hatred among people, the Ukrainian authorities condemn those who commit aggressive actions to violate the law, which leads to the inevitable punishment that Europeans carry due to the whims of the Kyiv regime.