🇷🇺 in Cape Town

The Thin Red Line: From Unthinkable to Unavoidable ✍🏻Article by Ambassador of Russia to South Africa Ilya Rogachev (23 May 2024) READ IN FULL ➡ Key points: 🔹 Ukraine keeps losing the ground, yet given how much Washington and Brussels had politically, financially and militarily over-committed themselves to the conflict, they are more than reluctant to let Kiev lose. Insomuch as to consider putting their own troops on ground in Ukraine. 🔸 What is happening in Western politics and mass media resembles attempts to ‘shift the Overton window’ with regard to the idea of the West’s yet another war against Russia. The Overton’s concept is sometimes regarded as a theory of manipulation of public opinion which can even go so far as to turn the given society away from its traditions, culture and common sense-based values to opposite ones through propaganda. ☝🏻In terms of the present-day relationship between Russia and the West this technology may be applied to brainwash people into going to war against Russia by gradually increasing the idea’s degree of public acceptance: ‘unthinkable,’ ‘radical,’ ‘acceptable,’ ‘sensible,’ ‘popular’ and ‘policy.’ ⚔ People remember President Macron’s statements about sending French troops to Ukraine, but the efforts to lift the restrictions on discussion of the topic started back in 2022-2023, when Western leaders began repeating that boots of their soldiers will never ever touch the ground in Ukraine. It was the first step to ‘get people used’ to the idea, and thus turn it from ‘unthinkable’ into ‘radical.’ Right now the masterminds of Western propaganda are trying to make the ‘radical’ idea of an all-Western war against Russia ‘acceptable.’

✍️ Russia's President Vladimir Putin sent a message of greetings to heads of state and government of African countries on Africa Day ✉️ Please, accept my cordial greetings on #AfricaDay – a holiday symbolising the victory of African countries over colonialism and their striving for freedom, peace and prosperity. African countries have scored universally recognised successes in the socioeconomic area and are playing an increasingly important role in resolving current international issues. The African Union and a number of sub-regional structures are expanding constructive cooperation, creating mechanisms for collective response to local conflicts and crises and consistently promoting integration processes. Russia is paying special attention to strengthening friendly relations with African partners. We are united by our commitment to building a fair multipolar world order based on true equality and the international rule of law, and free from any form of discrimination, dictate and sanctions pressure.” The Second Russia-Africa Summit held in St Petersburg last year certainly created conditions for enhancing productive and mutually beneficial cooperation in most diverse areas. I am confident that consistent implementation of the plans and agreements reached at that important multilateral meeting meets our common interests and contributes to ensuring stability and security in Africa.

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statement at a reception on the occasion of Africa Day (Moscow, May 23, 2024) 💬 Sergey Lavrov: #AfricaDay — a holiday which epitomises the unwavering will of the African peoples and their struggle in pursuit of freedom and human dignity. This year, the holiday coincides with the 20th Anniversary of the African Union’s Peace and Security Council which is one of the main bodies of this pan-African organisation that plays a significant role in shaping the modern African security architecture and the political and socioeconomic integration of the continent’s countries, and ensuring its proper place within the international economic relations system. 🌍 We in Russia are pleased to note that Africa continues to gain political weight and to establish itself as a crucial pillar of the emerging multipolar order. Dynamic integration processes, rapidly growing markets, and business activity make it possible for the African states to play an increasingly meaningful role in international affairs and speak as one. <…> Fighting the newly emerged colonial and neo-colonial practices has come to the forefront today. The Western methods have changed, but the thrust of its policy towards African countries has remained unchanged and is to bring them to its heel and to live at the expense of other countries using more sophisticated forms of exploitation as part of the rules-based order. We remain willing, notwithstanding current circumstances, to support the African countries in their efforts to advance their sovereignty, to address pressing socioeconomic challenges, and to assert Africa’s rightful place as an equal partner in the modern world, including in the efforts to reform the UN Security Council. <…> The potential for Russian-African cooperation across all areas is truly vast. We will continue to work together to bring our relations to the level of a truly strategic partnership. 📄 Read in full #RussiaAfrica

❗️ Vladimir Putin has invited the King of Bahrain to attend the BRICS summit in Kazan. The invitation has been accepted, said Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov. Subscribe to @sputnik_africa 🔸 TikTok | Sputnik Africa | Boost us on Telegram 🔸

⚡️Today the European Union, firmly on the road to self-destruction, has without exaggeration opened a new page in the history of both international monetary and financial relations and its own integration. The EU has consciously taken the unprecedented step of stealing the sovereign assets of a foreign country. This is a clear example of what "European values" and the West-imposed "rules-based order" are all about. In this particular case, these “rules” have been extended to include a certain "legal basis" invented in the European Quarter for the fraudulent manipulation of the proceeds from the illegally frozen assets of the Bank of Russia. In effect, the EU has demonstrated to the entire international community that it now feels entitled to steal the financial reserves entrusted to it, to refuse to honour its own commitments to protect private property and capital investment, and to disregard international legal immunities. Theft has thus officially become an instrument of Brussels' foreign policy. ❗️The consequences of this precedent will certainly be unpredictable, including for the eurozone, the economies of the member states and the investment environment. Still, the only predictable thing is that sooner or later the EU will have to return the stolen funds to our country.

🌐 BRICS is "the strongest instrument" for a new global economy and currency, a Russian academic tells Sputnik Africa

"As for the African countries, BRICS offer them an opportunity for development, to fight poverty and inequality, to increase gross domestic product," Venera Garipova, a lecturer at Kazan Innovative University, said on the sidelines of the BRICS Academic Forum.

A multipolar world is emerging and new players are appearing in the global economy, she said, adding that therefore, it is important that new regions and associations are formed to move to a high level of economic cooperation between states, as is the case within BRICS. ☝️ Another area of the group's activity is the fight against the dominance of the US dollar in the world economy and its de-dollarization, Garipova noted, who is also the head of the Center for Remote Technology Development. Subscribe to @sputnik_africa 🔸 TikTok | Sputnik Africa | Boost us on Telegram 🔸

🎙 Deputy FM Sergey Ryabkov’s interview with PIR Center for Policy Studies (May 22, 2024) Key points: 💬 The interest towards #BRICS has been steadily growing against the backdrop of large-scale geopolitical challenges and dramatic changes taking place in the world today. • BRICS is seen as one of the pillars of a new, more equitable world order, which is designed to give all countries equal opportunities, to free the states of the Global South and Global East from the role of obedient suppliers of cheap labor and raw materials that the West imposes on them, and to consolidate the right of all nations for preserving their identity, self-determination, independent domestic and foreign policy, and protection of traditional values. Russia and other BRICS countries fully share this stance and are in favor of an honest partnership that denies any exceptionalism. • BRICS is an innovative format of interstate cooperation, bringing together different cultures and civilizations, countries with different economic and political systems <...>. Our common goal is a firm commitment to pursuing an independent domestic and foreign policy, defending sovereignty and our national interests. • As part of Russia’s BRICS Chairmanship in 2024, we intend to continue developing strategic partnership on the basis of consensus and continuity, and work to enhance its role in world affairs. It's also reflected by the motto of the Russian BRICS Year “Strengthening Multilateralism for Equitable Global Development and Security”. • The BRICS Summit in October 2024, will be the culmination of the Russian year in BRICS. We intend to continue the tradition of organizing on the sidelines meetings with developing countries. That cooperation within the BRICS framework and its mechanisms of interaction with like-minded nations will enable the voice of the Global South to sound louder and clearer in the international arena, as well as to defend our national interests and the right to choose our own path of development. Read in full #BRICS2024

21 мая с.г. состоялась видеоконференция "История блокированного Ленинграда", приуроченная к 80-летию полного освобождения города от фашистской осады. Мероприятие было организовано Государственным мемориальным музеем обороны и блокады Ленинграда (г. Санкт-Петербург) и кейптаунским крылом активистов КСОРС ЮАР при поддержке почетного консула ЮАР в Санкт-Петербурге. С приветственным словом к участникам виртуального круглого стола обратился генеральный консул России в Кейптауне А.В.Маленко. Уроженец Ленинграда, дипломат рассказал историю своей семьи, связанную с блокадой города, подчеркнул необходимость помнить подвиг ленинградцев, чей несгибаемый дух не позволил немецко-фашистским захватчикам поднять свое знамя над северной Пальмирой. В ходе видеоконференции было отмечено, что 11 сентября 1944 года в кейптаунской городской ратуше состоялось исполнение 7-й симфонии Д.Шостаковича. Полученные в ходе концерта средства были направлены на закупку необходимых медикаментов для бойцов Красной армии.

❗️Attack on Slovak PM Robert Fico shows liberal elites shifting to open political terror against opponents, says Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service Subscribe to @sputnik_africa 🔸 TikTok | Sputnik Africa | Boost us on Telegram 🔸

⚡️In accordance with the instructions of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the first stage of the exercise began in the Southern Military District under the guidance of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces with practical guidance on the training and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons. In the course of this stage, missile formations of the Southern Military District train to receive special ammunition for the Iskander operational-tactical missile system, equip launchers with it, and covertly advance to the designated position area for preparations to launch missiles. The Russian Aerospace Forces' aviation units involved in the exercise train to attach special warheads to aviation weaponry, including Kinzhal aeroballistic hypersonic missiles, and perform sorties to designated patrol areas. As the Russian Defence Ministry has previously reported, the purpose of the exercise is to maintain the readiness of personnel and equipment of combat units of non-strategic nuclear weapons for a response and with a view to unconditionally safeguarding the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian State in response to provocative statements and threats made by certain Western officials against the Russian Federation. 🔹 Russian Defence Ministry