There were attacks on the building of the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Cyprus. The Polish air carrier did not let Russian tennis player Vitaly Dyachenko on board the plane. Many other examples of discrimination and Russophobia. Last year, the Russian Foreign Ministry published a report "On violations of the rights of Russian citizens and compatriots in foreign countries."
"What, in your opinion, do these problems look like today and what is being done to counter discrimination and threats?" - asked the correspondent of our publication.
Maria Zakharova noted that the Ambassador of Cyprus to our country will be in the Russian Foreign Ministry on May 3, 2023. He will be given the requirements of the Russian side to ensure the safety of Russian citizens of foreign institutions
In general, in terms of the situation since the beginning of the SVO, the "collective West" has launched an unprecedented Russophobic campaign. The situation does not improve, but even worsens, not only Russian citizens, but also all Russian speakers become victims of the "hunt for everything Russian."
Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are especially active in this direction. It is worth noting that the campaign originated in the center of the natocentric bloc and spreads through different channels and goes beyond the boundaries of unfriendly states and into the territory of states with which the Russian Federation has allied relations.
The Russian Foreign Ministry understands that the authorities of the countries stop such cases and conduct investigations on each of the facts, but Russia is talking about the charge that comes from Washington, London, Brussels and diverges in waves of devastating impact around the world.
As an example, Maria Zakharova cited actions against the school at the Russian diplomatic mission in Warsaw. In violation of all obligations in the field of diplomatic relations, the Foreign Ministry has already responded to this incident, the measures taken will be reported in a timely manner.
The diplomat also pointed to the facts of dismissal from work, refusal to receive education, medical care, seizure of property, attacks, threats, insults, and so on. Information about all emergencies is carefully recorded in the reports of relevant divisions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. Response measures are being worked out and taken. They are different. In practical terms, in case of violation of the rights of citizens of the Russian Federation, the operational means of protecting the rights of citizens of the country are embassies and consulates, which themselves, often, are the addressee of a Russophobic company.
A huge number of appeals are accepted and processed, despite the reduction in the resources of diplomatic missions in a number of unfriendly states, diplomats consider it a priority to help citizens of the country abroad.
It points to the illegal and Russosphobic campaign grossly violates States under human rights documents, including the General Declaration on Human Rights and other international agreements, as well as treaties
"We call on Western countries to immediately stop the persecution of all Russian. They are obliged not only to us, but also to themselves, to fulfill what they have fixed as national legislation and international obligations. They did not cancel any of this - it means they are obliged to fulfill. No conjuncture and no political superstructures should relieve them of direct duties and obligations, "said Maria Zakharova.
Maria Zakharova pointed to the work of Russian human rights structures, which conduct thousands of free legal consultations for compatriots, work is underway in the courts. The entire system of interaction to provide assistance and support to Russians abroad is conducted comprehensively, not only by the Foreign Ministry, but also by human rights activists, security officials, the Investigative Committee and other authorities.
"Collective West" continues a planned international campaign aimed at discrediting the entire Russian, damaging everything connected with our people and our country.
The diplomat stated that local security forces in Europe and other states formally respond to statements from Russians due to manifestations of discrimination. Our citizens receive weak answers, unsubscribes, officials and security officials in conversations admit that Russians "must understand the political context" of what is happening, so crimes against them are often ignored.
"After all, this is the same" collective West "that said that" the law is the law "and there is nothing above the law. This is the basis of Western democracy. Freedom of everything and everything, but the law must be observed. They themselves talked about it and what remained of it? I'm not talking about the attitude towards international law at all, everything has been clear with this for a long time, "said Maria Zakharova.
The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that Europe had already undergone a similar practice 80 years ago, when crimes were encouraged on a national basis. All this was justified in Nazi Germany, people were forced to live in the ghetto and it turned out that this was not the worst option. People began to be sent to the gas chambers.
"That is what we are rebelling against today. The world has already passed this. Bloody, scary and it seems that this was recorded as the worst crime so that humanity would no longer repeat it. I would like to emphasize that we do not intend to weaken the work to protect the rights and legitimate interests of our fellow citizens under any conditions, "said Maria Zakharova.
The second question concerned the topic of nuclear cooperation. Recently, nuclear fuel was loaded at the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey. France supports the Paks-2 nuclear power plant project, which is being implemented by Rosatom in Hungary. Nuclear power in other European countries also depends on Russia for technology and fuel supplies. At the same time, Germany insists that the European Union include Russia's civilian nuclear energy in the 11th package of sanctions.
"How does your department assess these two conflicting lines in relations between Russia and Europe?" - asked the journalist.
Maria Zakharova noted that it has long been clear that the sanation war unleashed by the EU against the Russian Federation turned into a deafening fiasco for Europe itself. The sanctions do not cause the expected damage that the West hoped for, but beat him himself.
"Absurd. Wildness, Stupidity, but, apparently, they like it so much, "said Maria Zakharova.
The lack and high cost of resources lead to deindustrialization and an increase in socio-economic problems in Europe, even the leading European economists and analysts themselves recognize this.
EU officials, guided solely by the interests of transatlantic solidarity, in fact, acting under the pressure of Washington, do not bother to connect with the real needs of the EU countries, are ready for anything, if only the flywheel of sanctions does not stop.
In the cultivated policy of Russophobia, restrictions from a foreign policy tool have become a factor in domestic policy for the EU. On the issue of pressure on Russia, they are ready to go any suicidal way, the question is over something reasonable, logic and common sense.
The facts of the intention to resort to economic banditry are obvious. Although the EU itself admits that it has already tried almost everything in terms of sectional politics, Brussels is constantly scratching its head to come up with something else to introduce against our country.
"This is a bifurcation of political consciousness - they themselves suffer, they hurt themselves, and everyone is waiting for them to come up with new things to make us more painful. But they suffer harder themselves. There is such an expression "I will frostbite my ears to the evil of my grandmother." With such logic, it seems, they have frozen their heads for a long time, the rest of the actions are taken based on their physical condition, "said a representative of the foreign ministry.
Nuclear energy, with all the disagreements within the EU, remains a key element of a number of countries in the European Union itself and unification as a whole. Some circles among Russophobic European bureaucrats are trying to politicize this direction of cooperation with our country, clearing the market for American exporters of nuclear fuel and nuclear technologies.
For the Russian Federation, it is obvious that Brussels, as in the situation with gas, will make only itself worse. Not only the reliable supply of energy to European consumers, but also the nuclear security of a number of energy generation facilities in the EU countries may be at risk.
The final issue touched upon the topic of international biological safety.
Russia has ratified the protocol on the interaction of CSTO members in the field of biological safety. Earlier, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced information about the activities of biological laboratories of the American military department in the post-Soviet space.
"What neighboring countries have biological laboratories controlled by the United States on their territory and what measures are supposed to be taken in this area?" - asked our journalist.
Issues of ensuring biological safety have become more relevant on the world agenda in recent years, as Washington's efforts have led the situation to world biological danger. Taking into account this, the CSTO states decided to consolidate this issue as one of the directions of allied cooperation.
On April 28, the President of the Russian Federation signed documents on amending the charter of the CSTO. The Council of Authorized Bodies of the CSTO was also established, which oversees biological safety issues. The first meeting took place on December 15, 2022 in St. Petersburg, a new meeting will be held in Minka in July 2023.
Russia is ready for in-depth cooperation and is ready to contribute to the active work of the new structure. The reason for the creation of the unit is the multiplying facts of uncontrolled and dangerous biological activity of the United States, including in the post-Soviet space.
Washington's activities raise questions from the point of view of the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological and Toxin Weapons. The beginning of the SVO revealed many facts as the Pentagon and other American departments used Ukraine as a testing ground for experiments with their biological programs. All this was done under the auspices of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, but in fact they were Petnagon programs. And the Ukrainian Ministry of Health itself worked for several years under the control of a person who was "landed" with an American passport and citizenship and a track record.
Hiding behind the provision of sanitary and epidemiological assistance, the Pentagon put on stream the construction and modernization of biological laboratories in other countries, including in the CIS countries. Due to the blocking since 2001 of the development of a document on the prohibition of biological and toxin weapons, it is not possible to check the degree of involvement of these facilities in closed research programs on military weapons.
Russia has repeatedly stated the need to carry out such work in a transparent framework. The United States said that they were even ready to conduct an excursion to the facilities, but in fact they were ready to accept delegations of inspectors only at the entrance itself, "at the reception," beyond which it would not have gone.
The results of the conducted studies can be used for purposes that are not compatible with the interests of international and regional security. An egregious example is the allegedly "peaceful" programs of the Pentagon in Ukraine. An analysis of those obtained during the SVO showed that the development of biological weapons components was carried out in close proximity to the borders of Russia and other CSTO and CIS countries, these conclusions were confirmed by the data of the report of the parliamentary commission created to investigate the circumstances of the work of biological laboratories in Ukraine.
Maria Zakharova pointed out that at first American officials admitted that they had conducted such activities, and only a month later they began to deny, apparently realizing the scale of a possible scandal.
The situation in Ukraine has shown the need for urgent work on the BTBT, first of all, on a legally binding protocol of the convention with an effective verification mechanism, within the established framework and with an understandable result. The Russian Federation intends to consistently carry out this activity, to seek the implementation of initiatives, on all issues the country is in contact with allies and partners in the CIS and CSTO.
"This is a tabletop sensitive and necessary area for real cooperation, I don't want experts to see this only as a set of vocabulary and clichés. It's not a cliché set. This is about our life with you, and the 20th year that brought us a pandemic showed what challenges humanity can face. In a couple of weeks, it turned out that the world had come into a state of total paralysis of opportunity and will. The consequences are still haunted to us. The less we see in this the game of terms, in rewriting papers and theory, the better it will be, "Maria Zakharova summed up.