Посольство России в Норвегии - Russlands Ambassade i Norge

Today marks 8️⃣0️⃣ years since the end of the Red Army’s Baltic strategic offensive (September 14 – November 24, 1944) which brought defeat to the German forces in the Baltic states and liberated Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from the Nazis.

It did not take long for the Baltic states to stop harbouring any illusions regarding the Third Reich’s occupation regime established in 1941 – the Nazis had no plans of granting independence to these states. The Nazis, who treated the local population as inferior races, started instilling terror and committing genocide with active participation of collaborationists. During the occupation of the Baltic states, the Nazi invaders and their accomplices killed more than 500,000 local civilians and 600,000 POWs.

Hitler attributed high strategic importance to the Baltic states. Control over the region allowed the German Navy to operate in the eastern part of the Baltic Sea and maintain links with the Scandinavian countries that supplied strategic materials to Germany. The Germans also received substantial volumes of agricultural raw materials and food from the occupied republics.

The liberation of the Baltic states became one of the largest strategic operations of the autumn of 1944, as more than 12 armies, or almost three quarters of the forces of the four Soviet fronts, were engaged across a 500 km front. The success of the operation can be attributed to a well-coordinated cooperation between the different types and branches of the armed forces. Partisans also played an important role.

The German command planned to hold off the Soviet forces for more than six months; however, the Red Army soldiers managed to complete the offensive in 71 days. The success of the Red Army not only allowed to liberate a substantial part of Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian territories, but also to lay groundwork for further expulsion of the Nazi invaders from East Prussia.

🎖 During the Baltic offensive, 112 Soviet soldiers were awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union titles; three were awarded their second Gold Star medals. More than 332,000 were awarded other orders and medals.

▪️ The heroism of the Soviet forces, who fought side by side with Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian partisans to liberate the Baltic states from Nazism, is buried in oblivion these days, through the efforts of the Baltic states’ political elites. It is sad to watch how monuments to the Liberators are dismantled and demolished under the pretext of fighting against 'Communist propaganda'.

❗️Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania make sure to forget their true heroes, but #WeRemember.

#Victory80

🎙 Интервью Посла России в Норвегии Н.В.Корчунова журналу The National Interest (13 ноября 2024 года).

Краткие тезисы:

• К сожалению, после известного выступления бывшего Госсекретаря США М.Помпео в Рованиеми в 2019 году мы наблюдаем усиливающееся отклонение США от линии на поддержку всеарктического сотрудничества и арктического единства в сторону конфронтации и противоборства при селективном подходе к взаимодействию по арктической тематике. В результате стали возрастать напряжённость, конфликтный потенциал.

• Взаимодействие России и Китая в Арктическом регионе, в том числе по линии Арктического совета, развивается главным образом в экономической, научно-технической и образовательной областях и направлено на устойчивое развитие Арктического региона.

• Cотрудничество с Китаем способствует в том числе формированию эффективных логистических цепочек, а также выполнению целей и задач, вытекающих из Парижского соглашения по климату, поскольку некоторые проекты направлены на содействие энергопереходу к низкоэмиссионной экономике.

• Российско-китайское взаимодействие вовсе не является попыткой направления какого-либо политического сигнала и осуществляется прежде всего в интересах собственных стран и народов.

• Россия как ответственный участник Договора о Шпицбергене, естественно, заинтересована в его сохранении и добросовестном выполнении всех положений этого документа. Важно не допускать возникновение ситуаций, при которых архипелаг мог бы использоваться в военных целях, в том числе и в военном планировании.

• Энергетические проекты на Ямале также позволяют развивать экспортный потенциал транзитного коридора Северного морского пути (СМП) в южном направлении. СМП играет значительную роль в предоставлении решений, содействующих в том числе и выполнению договорённостей в рамках Парижского соглашения по климату.

• Более глубокая интеграция СМП в единую транспортную систему России и международные транспортные коридоры – важный вектор развития арктической логистики.

• Видим, что снижение эффективности существующих механизмов принятия арктическими государствами решений по актуальным для всего региона вопросам невоенного характера формирует пространство неопределенности и вакуума, которое стремятся заполнить другие игроки, прежде всего внерегиональные.

Читайте полностью

❗️ At 8 pm Moscow time on November 18, the Russian Federation submitted comprehensive materials to the United Nations International Court of Justice concerning genocide committed by Ukraine in Donbass.

This action forms part of the interstate proceedings initiated by Ukraine in February 2022, wherein Ukraine sought to accuse Russia of "misusing" the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, with the aim to halt the special military operation.

Ukraine's strategy faltered when, in February this year, the International Court of Justice dismissed all allegations concerning Russia's purported breach of the Genocide Convention at the oral phase of the proceedings. Consequently, the sole outstanding issue is whether evidence exists substantiating Ukraine's commission of genocide.

Russia submitted such evidence within the timeframe prescribed by the Court. Furthermore, additional claims were lodged against the Kiev regime pertaining to other breaches of the Convention, including complicity in, and incitement to, genocide, as well as failure to implement measures to prevent and punish genocide.

The document presented to the International Court of Justice, termed the Counter-Memorial of the Russian Federation, comprises 522 pages of core text and over ten thousand pages of annexes. The specific contents remain confidential at this juncture, with all materials set to be disclosed only after the completion of the proceedings. It is asserted that evidence exists of more than 140 instances of targeted extermination of Donbass civilians, corroborated by the procedural testimony of approximately 300 witnesses and victims, results of expert examinations, and other materials from pertinent criminal cases.

The actions of the Ukrainian armed forces and national battalions, under the direction of the Kiev regime, have displayed signs of genocidal intent. This intent, under the guise of combating "terrorism" and "separatism," seeks to eliminate the Russian and Russian-speaking populace of Donbass, citizens of the DPR and LPR, parishioners of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and, broadly, the inhabitants of the region as a national group.

The neo-Nazi essence of the Kiev regime, along with its alignment with the criminal ideology rooted in violent Ukrainian nationalist movements and the Third Reich, has been brought to light.

Evidence has been submitted demonstrating widespread discrimination based on ethnic and linguistic grounds against Russians and Russian speakers, alongside the regime's intention to obliterate the Russian culture entirely.

A substantial portion of the Counter-Memorial is dedicated to special expert reports prepared by approximately two dozen specialists in history, ethnology, linguistics, law, and military affairs. The history of Donbass, the evolution of its populace, its profound connections with the Russian language and culture, and the distinctiveness of ethnic identity, particularly during historical crises, have been scrutinised in depth.

The narrative of the intra-Ukrainian conflict has been delineated, beginning with the unconstitutional armed coup in Kiev in February 2014, the ascension of a Russophobic neo-Nazi regime, the subsequent refusal of the Donbass population to recognise this regime, and the ensuing aggressive action against Donbass under the guise of the so-called "anti-terrorist operation." The falsity of this pretext and the fabrication of "Donbass terrorism" allegations were previously unveiled by the United Nations International Court of Justice in a judgement regarding another Russian-Ukrainian case under the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.

Ukraine must now address Russia's Counter-Memorial. Further stages of written proceedings are anticipated. A final judgement will be delivered once all necessary procedures are concluded in The Hague.

Russia remains steadfast in its efforts to ensure the international accountability of the criminal Kiev regime for the atrocities perpetrated against the people of Donbass.

⚡️ On Kiev regime’s attempts to accuse the Russian Federation of violating the Chemical Weapons Convention

The provocations staged by the British and German intelligence services that involved Skripal poisoning and the alleged poisoning of Alexey Navalny were followed by, as Russia has repeatedly indicated, new fabrications regarding the alleged use of riot control agents (RCAs) by the Russian troops in the Special Military Operation zone. Specifically, these accusations concern the CS tear gas grenades.

Regrettably, this time again, the Technical Secretariat of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was implicated in these underhand dealings involving highly questionable evidence collection practices that violate fundamental principles of evidence preservation (the chain of custody).

The experts from this technical body have previously been engaged, notably in Syria, in staging chemical provocations aimed at accusing the country's legitimate government and armed forces of using warfare agents. This was done using a fairly straightforward scheme, which was previously used in Syria with the participation of the notorious White Helmets, which involved the transfer of obscure evidence gathered under unclear circumstances to OPCW experts, coupled with vague testimonies provided by “eyewitnesses.”

The Russian Federation has repeatedly presented technically and scientifically substantiated evidence of the Kiev regime using toxic chemicals and RCAs during hostilities in the special military operation zone, and warned of planned provocations at chemical industry sites in the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics of the Russian Federation and reported terrorist attacks using toxic substances targeting senior civilian administration officials in the Zaporozhye Region and Russian military personnel. Unfortunately, some of these provocations could not be prevented, and the OPCW Technical Secretariat was duly notified of it. Relevant materials about these incidents are publicly available on the UN, OPCW, and the Russian Foreign Ministry websites.

The Russian Federation has deliberately refrained from invoking Article VIII, Paragraph 38(e) of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) to request technical assistance from the OPCW Technical Secretariat in confirming the use of toxic chemicals and RCAs by the Kiev regime. This decision was made to avoid endangering the lives and health of international experts amid heavy use of various weapons systems, ranging from UAVs to artillery, in the SMO zone. Meanwhile, the Kiev regime makes no exceptions for civilians when it comes to launching all kinds of attacks.

☝️ Russian radiation, chemical, and biological protection experts are carefully reviewing a highly ambiguous report released by the OPCW Technical Secretariat. This report conspicuously lacks standard information about where, when, and under what circumstances the OPCW experts obtained the dubious “evidence” that was prepared in advance by the Ukrainian side for provocative purposes. The report also fails to clarify alleged incidents of RCA use by Russian forces as claimed by the Kiev regime.

🇷🇺 The Russian Federation, as a founding state of the CWC, responsibly fulfills its obligations under this international treaty. Russia will continue to closely monitor all instances of the Kiev regime forces’ use of toxic chemicals and RCAs, and to duly inform thereof the OPCW Technical Secretariat and the states parties to the Convention.

✍️ Russia's President Vladimir Putin approved the new Basic Principles of State Policy of the Russian Federation on Nuclear Deterrence, signing the attendant Executive Order on November 19, 2024.

Key items:

• State policy on Nuclear Deterrence is defensive by nature, it is aimed at maintaining the nuclear forces potential at the level sufficient for nuclear deterrence, and guarantees protection of national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the State, and deterrence of a potential adversary from aggression against the Russian Federation and/or its allies.

• The Russian Federation considers nuclear weapons as a means of deterrence, their use being an extreme and compelled measure, and takes all necessary efforts to reduce nuclear threat and prevent aggravation of interstate relations, that could trigger military conflicts, including nuclear ones.

• The Russian Federation ensures nuclear deterrence toward a potential adversary, which is understood to mean any individual states or military coalitions (blocs, alliances) which see the Russian Federation as a potential adversary and possess nuclear arms and/or other weapons of mass destruction or conventional forces with a significant combat capability.

• Nuclear deterrence is also ensured toward any states which provide the territory, airspace, and/or maritime space under their control as well as resources for preparing and conducting an aggression against the Russian Federation.

• An aggression of any single state from a military coalition (bloc, alliance) against the Russian Federation and/or its allies will be regarded as an aggression of the coalition (bloc, alliance) as a whole.

• An aggression against the Russian Federation and/or its allies of any non-nuclear state with the participation or support of a nuclear state will be regarded as their joint attack.

• The decision to use nuclear weapons is taken by the President of the Russian Federation.

🌐 G20 Rio de Janeiro Leaders’ Declaration

1. We, the Leaders of the G20, met in Rio de Janeiro on 18-19 November 2024 to address major global challenges and crises and promote strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth. We gather in the birthplace of the Sustainable Development Agenda to reaffirm our commitment to building a just world and a sustainable planet, while leaving no one behind

4. We recognize that inequality within and among countries is at the root of most global challenges that we face and is aggravated by them.

8. While expressing our deep concern about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and the escalation in Lebanon, we emphasize the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance and to reinforce the protection of civilians and demand the lifting of all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale.

9. We welcome all relevant and constructive initiatives that support a comprehensive, just, and durable peace [regarding Ukraine], upholding all the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter for the promotion of peaceful, friendly, and good neighborly relations among nations.

11. We condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

15. The world produces more than enough food to eradicate hunger. Collectively, we do not lack knowledge nor resources to fight poverty and defeat hunger. What we need is political will to create the conditions to expand access to food. In light of this, we have launched the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty and welcome its innovative approach to mobilizing finance and knowledge sharing to support the implementation of country-led, country-owned, large-scale and evidence-based programs aiming at reducing hunger and poverty worldwide.

35. We emphasize the role of sustainable development in its three dimensions – economic, social, and environmental – as a guiding principle for cooperation for people, planet and prosperity, with the ultimate goal of overcoming our collective challenges. We reaffirm our respective commitments to scale up urgent action to address the crises and challenges posed by climate change, biodiversity loss, desertification, ocean and land degradation, drought and pollution.

62. The challenges the global community faces today can only be addressed through multilateral solutions for a better tomorrow and the strengthening of global governance for both present and future generations.

64. We pledge to reform the Security Council through a transformative reform that aligns it with the realities and demands of the 21st century, makes it more representative, inclusive, efficient, effective, democratic and accountable, and more transparent to the whole of the UN membership, allowing for better responsibility sharing among all its members, while improving the effectiveness and transparency of its working methods. We call for an enlarged Security Council composition that improves the representation of the underrepresented and unrepresented regions and groups, such as Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean.

85. We remain resolute in our commitment to fighting hunger, poverty, and inequality, promoting sustainable development in its economic, social, and environmental dimensions, and reforming global governance. We welcome Saudi Arabia’s ambition to advance its turn for hosting the G20 Presidency in the next cycle. We thank Brazil for its leadership this year and look forward to working together in 2025 under South Africa’s Presidency and meeting again in the United States in 2026.

📄 Full text of the Declaration

🎙 Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s response to a media question about alleged permission to Kiev to launch missile strikes deep into Russia

❓ Question: Western media are spreading reports that Joe Biden has allegedly given Kiev permission to launch strikes deep into Russian territory with American ATACMS missiles, and France and Great Britain to launch their SCALP and STORM SHADOW missiles. How could you comment on this?

💬 Maria Zakharova: It is yet unclear if these reports are based on official sources. One thing is clear: considering the Kiev regime’s defeats, its Western curators are betting on the maximum escalation of the hybrid war unleashed against Russia, trying to achieve an illusory goal: to inflict a strategic defeat on Moscow.

However, no wonder weapon that Zelensky and his henchmen pray to get is capable to affect the course of the special military operation.

President Vladimir Putin clearly stated on October 25 what “permitting” to use of NATO high-precision long-range weapons actually means. He stressed that Ukraine cannot execute such strikes on its own without using space satellites and flight assignments provided by NATO military personnel.

Kiev’s use of long-range missiles to attack our territory would mean a direct involvement of the United States and its satellites in military operations against Russia, as well as a radical change in the essence and nature of the conflict.

❗️ Russia’s response would then be adequate and significant.

⚡️Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s upcoming participation in the G20 Summit

On November 18-19, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will host the #G20 Leaders’ Summit. The Russian delegation will be led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the instruction of the head of state. A majority of the G20 member states’ leaders are expected to take part.

Brasilia regards the G20 as a core element of the polycentric system of international economic relations, distinguished by an effective decision-making mechanism due to its optimal number of members as well as the principle of consensus. The theme of Brazil’s first ever presidency of the forum is “Building a Just World and a Sustainable Planet.”

At the summit, the partners expect to reach consensus agreements, with the process viewed through the prism of the country’s international prestige. A leadership declaration (a non-signature document approved in the absence of objections from the parties) is expected to be the summit’s major practical outcome.

Russia has been actively engaged in developing and coordinating the organisational and substantive aspects of the Brazilian project, having already added advanced domestic solutions on food security and poverty eradication into the database.

The summit in Rio de Janeiro will open with the launch ceremony of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty. Russia’s planned official connection to this platform will give it another opportunity to raise issues relevant to the global majority at the international level, in particular, counteracting illegal unilateral sanctions and promoting domestic experience.

Russia plays a prominent role in the G20, efficiently influencing the course and direction of negotiations, as well as the content of agreements. Moscow views the platform as an essential forum for global economic governance.

The G20 is extensively used to promote Russia’s ideas on the importance of building an open and non-discriminatory global economy, and abandoning unilateral restrictive measures, trade wars and protectionism. Efforts are taken to draw attention to the long-overdue reform of the global governance architecture to benefit emerging markets, with the focus on ending the dominance of Western powers in international financial, economic and trade institutions, de-dollarisation, and increasing the share of settlements in national currencies.



Russia has consistently advocated the essential need to depoliticise the G20, which should focus on its direct responsibilities to encourage economic growth and sustainable development. The opponents’ attempts to bring peace and security issues beyond the group’s authority to the G20 agenda are counterproductive; this destructive policy hinders progress in core areas and causes increased division between the members.

❗️Russia views its priority in the G20 as achieving constructive agreements in the forum that consider all member nations’ interests based on consensus.

Moscow seeks a proper and balanced understanding of sustainable development goals with due account of the states’ national interests, takes efforts to effectively use the G20 to promote the democratisation of international financial and economic structures, particularly, the #IMF, #WorldBank and #WTO, and makes steps to diversify mutual settlement mechanisms and build independent trans-border supply chains.

Read in full

🏛 Today marks 79 years since the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was founded on November 16, 1945.

The history of our country’s cooperation with the Organisation began in 1954, when the USSR signed its Charter.

Today, the UNESCO List of World Cultural and Natural Heritage includes 33 Sites located in Russia. Among them is the astronomical observatories complex of the Kazan Federal University, which was included in the List last year. One of the practical results of fruitful cooperation with UNESCO is also the joint organisation of the UNESCO-Russia Mendeleev International Prize for Achievements in the Basic Sciences.

In recent years, the Organisation has been undergoing through an acute and fundamental crisis. The substitution of the principles of international law by the notorious ‘rule-based order,’ insistently pushed by the West, is having a devastating effect on UNESCO.

📰 An example of the blatant ‘double standard’ at UNESCO is the complete lack of response of the organisation’s management, and specifically Director-General Audrey Azoulay, to the murders, assassinations and persecution of Russian journalists by the Kiev regime, and the harassment and censorship of Russian media in the countries of the ‘collective West,’ despite the Executive Board instruction to ‘condemn the killings and physical violence against journalists without distinction’ is available to the Director General.

💬 Russian Foreign Ministry's Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova: “The UNESCO Secretariat and Director-General Audrey Azoulay continue to openly disregard the Kiev regime’s crimes committed against Russian journalists, including premeditated murders, terrorist attacks and assassination attempts. The UNESCO Secretariat has openly disregarded the reliable data about the murder of Russian journalists. A glaring example of this assumption is the statistics cited in the report, according to which not a single Russian journalist was killed in 2022-2023.” (from the briefing of November 13, 2024)

Russia has consistently defended UNESCO's real values and priorities as a truly universal multilateral platform, something the Organisation’s Secretariat has long forgotten.

#UNESCO79 #RussiaUNRESCO