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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov condemned the U.S. military operation in Venezuela, calling it a flagrant violation of international law. Lavrov emphasized that Moscow’s stance remains unchanged and is supported by countries across the Global South and East. This comes amid rising tensions over U.S. interventions in Latin America.
#Lavrov,#Russia,#Venezuela,#USIntervention,#InternationalLaw,#GlobalSouth,#Geopolitics,#WorldNews,#BreakingNews,#Diplomacy
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov condemned the U.S. military operation in Venezuela, calling it a flagrant violation of international law. Lavrov emphasized that Moscow’s stance remains unchanged and is supported by countries across the Global South and East. This comes amid rising tensions over U.S. interventions in Latin America.
#Lavrov,#Russia,#Venezuela,#USIntervention,#InternationalLaw,#GlobalSouth,#Geopolitics,#WorldNews,#BreakingNews,#Diplomacy
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NewsTranscript
00:00...relationship with Russia. We spoke in favor of increasing the dialect, especially at the high and highest levels, and we are interested in resuming the practice of holding regular consultations on foreign policy that we had, and after that we had a break due to the coronavirus outbreak, but today we have agreed with Madam Minister to resume this practice at the level of deputy.
00:30Foreign Ministers of Russia and Namibia, and at the level of the directors of departments, relevant departments of our foreign ministries. We also mentioned close contacts between legislative bodies of our countries, the Federation Council and the National Council of Namibia act in line with the relevant agreement and develop the cooperation in line with this document.
00:55Both chambers of our parliaments have friendship groups. They exchange visits on a regular basis. Russian and Namibian MPs participate in the observation of elections at different levels in our countries.
01:10I believe that's quite a useful practice. We commended the cooperation between our political parties in February 2024. The Southwest Africa People's Organization, SRAPO, supported the initiative of the All-Russian Political Party, United Russia, to establish the forum of supporters of the struggle against modern practices of neocolonialism.
01:37And a month ago, United Nations General Assembly proclaimed December 14th as the International Day against colonialism in all its forms and manifestations. We believe that it is an extremely important decision because after our African friends obtained political independence, they were still dependent on the West from the economy.
02:07We believe that it is an economic point of view, but we believe that this process is getting even worse. That's why it is important to talk about such issues in our international agenda and our party structures.
02:23Both SRAPO, United Russia and other political parties of the Russian Federation are working actively in this stage of fighting against all forms of colonialism and neocolonialism that are being revived actively by the West.
02:44We also agreed to make additional efforts to ramp up trade and economic cooperation.
02:52Madam Minister discussed these issues with Yuri Trutnev, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. Together they are leading the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic and Technical Cooperation and Scientific Cooperation.
03:08They also had productive talks in the State Corporation Rosatom. And these discussions in Moscow have shown that the promising areas of cooperation include geological exploration, extraction and processing of mineral resources, including uranium, power, energy, agro-industrial complex, fishing.
03:32And this Intergovernmental Commission that I mentioned earlier met in Moscow in 2024. And another meeting should take place in Windhoek.
03:45And Madam Minister and Yuri Trutnev will discuss the possible date of the next meeting. We believe that in preparations for this important meeting, we need to formulate both by Russia and Namibia need to formulate specific proposals in order to broaden the participation of Russian companies in economic and infrastructure projects in Namibia.
04:13Many Russian companies are interested in developing cooperation and in participating in various projects and we are going to support them. Another area where we have good prospects for cooperation and we have made some progress already.
04:33I'm talking about healthcare staff training, which is an important element of our cooperation.
04:43Thousands of Namibians studied in Russia, in the Soviet Union and we are continuing this practice. We discussed our contacts in culture, sports.
04:55Madam Minister had quite interesting initiatives in that field, as well as tourism. It's another sector which has good prospects for cooperation. We have reaffirmed our readiness to provide assistance to our Namibian friends at international venues, in particular in providing humanitarian aid through the UN World Food Programme.
05:22We agreed that we have achieved, we have made success in establishing the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum and we have commended the outcomes of the second ministerial conference.
05:46I recall that we have committed to the UN World Food Programme.
05:47I recall that we met in Cairo on December 19th and 20th and we emphasized the importance for providing the substantive content for the agenda of the third Russia-Africa Summit. It was organized for the first time in Sochi in 2019. The second summit took place in St. Petersburg in 2023 and now we are talking about organizing the third Russia-Africa Summit in 2026.
06:14Russia-Africa Summit.
06:16Russia and Namibia have similar or converging positions on most international and regional issues. At the United Nations, we are in favor of the democratization of international relations.
06:34We advocate for the, we advocate for the, we advocate for the strict observance of the Charter of the United Nations. First and foremost, the equality of all states with no distinction and maintaining mutually respectful dialogue on all topics.
06:51The principles of the Charter of the Charter of the United Nations should be implemented in the entirety, totality and interconnectedness. These ideas become particularly important in the situations when we witness attempts and even specific actions aimed at the disruption of the entire system of international relations that were established after the Second World War and that were enshrined and reflected in the Charter of the United Nations.
07:23This topic requires specific discussions and there are no doubts that at the third Russia-Africa Summit, we will talk about it in great detail. We also highlighted the need to improve reforms, to improve the work of the United Nations, including the reform of its Security Council.
07:50The reform of the UN Security Council is long overdue and we support the request of African countries to increase their representation and this support, we support this position.
08:07We thank our Namibian friends for supporting all initiatives that the Russian Federation puts forward and promotes in the United Nations. Such important initiatives and documents on combating the glorification of Nazism, countering neocolonial practices, cooperation in the field of information security,
08:36security, use of outer space for peaceful purposes and initiatives that are related to the issues of disarmament. We thank Namibia for supporting Russian candidacies during elections in various bodies of the United Nations and other multilateral structures.
09:00We also support the initiatives of Namibia and its candidates at various elections. We also would like to note the fruitful cooperation in the Kimberley process, the countries that extract and process diamonds.
09:20We also talked about the situation in Africa in particular in the Eastern DRC, the situation in the Sahel. The situation is rather complicated there and it is connected to the attempts of the extra regional forces to promote their own interests that have nothing to do with the legitimate aspirations of the peoples and countries.
11:42Thank you really nice getting started on the issues that are related to the situation
11:46in Ukraine and around it in particular attempts of our western colleagues to ukrainize
11:46the agenda of all international organizations.
11:49We know that Namibia understands the harmfulness of this approach.
11:54Again, I express my appreciation for that the Ukrainian crisis in here.
12:03We have similar vision with our Namibian friends.
12:06The crisis in Ukraine could be settled only by addressing the root causes that has resulted
12:13in this conflict.
12:16We are satisfied with the outcomes of these negotiations.
12:20I received an invitation to visit Namibia, and I gladly received it.
12:26Thank you, thank you very much, Minister Lavrov.
12:35Let me first start by expressing my thanks and appreciation to the government and people
12:43of the Russian Federation for the warm welcome and the generous hospitality extended to me
12:51and my delegation, and also to thank Minister Lavrov for the very warm reception.
12:58You have laid out the issues that we have discussed very eloquently.
13:04The relationship between Namibia and the Russian Federation is historic and strategic.
13:11Through the Soviet Union, this is the country that supported Namibia through SWAPO during
13:20the liberation struggle.
13:22And as I have mentioned earlier, the narrative of Namibia's liberation struggle cannot be complete
13:30without invoking the all-around material support we have received from this country.
13:36And it is that historic friendship that determines the bilateral relations that we continue to
13:44enjoy today with the Russian Federation.
13:48We have discussed about our political engagement.
13:52We have discussed about our trade relations.
13:57We are very much optimistic and excited about the forthcoming Intergovernmental Commission meeting.
14:06that Namibia is going to host next month in Venduk, where I shall be engaging my colleague,
14:15Mr. Trufnef, whom I have met yesterday.
14:19The potential of cooperation between our two countries is great, in the areas of agriculture,
14:28areas of sports, creative industries, quality health and quality education, land, housing and sanitation.
14:39These are all priorities of the Namibian governments, which create opportunities for both the private sector
14:48in Namibia in Namibia and in the Russian Federation.
14:52So we want to put economic content to our relationship.
14:56At the multilateral level, as Minister Lavrov has mentioned, Namibia and the Russian Federation
15:02continues to work very, very closely.
15:05Our positions on issues are aligned.
15:09Our members of parliament are cooperating.
15:12Our two political parties are cooperating.
15:15And we look forward to further enhancing the relationship between our two countries for membership.
15:22Once again, thank you very much, Minister Lavrov, for hosting me.
15:26And as I said, I look forward to receiving you in Namibia.
15:35Let us get down to the questions.
15:37We are in Novosti.
15:38Hello.
15:39We are in Novosti.
15:40The first question to Minister Lavrov.
15:43Minister Lavrov, the foreign ministry of Russia has already commented repeatedly
15:49the tense situation in Venezuela since the beginning of this year.
15:53In your view, what is the current state of affairs in this country?
15:59Our position remains unchanged.
16:02It is principled.
16:04It is building upon the principles for the respectful territorial integrity and sovereignty
16:10of all states whose governments actually represent the interests of the whole population.
16:18Venezuela has been just the case.
16:23And our principled assessments of the illegal operation carried out by the United States remain in force,
16:32and they are shared by the overwhelming majority of states of the global majority,
16:40the countries of the global south and the global east.
16:44Only Western Europeans and other allies of Washington try to shamefully avoid the principled assessments,
16:54although everybody understands that we are talking about flagrant violation of the international law.
16:59And overall, other actions that we see in the international arena testify to an attempt,
17:10or rather the policy of our American colleagues to destroy the whole system that has been established for many years.
17:19For many years, with their direct involvement, I'm not just talking about the UN agencies and entities,
17:26but also the principles of model of globalization that was introduced by the United States itself.
17:34They made reference to such models as a free market, fair play, the inviolability of property, and many other things.
17:47And actually, it has now started to be dismantled.
17:52We are seeing the fragmentation of the global economy.
17:56We are committed to Venezuela.
17:58We are committed to the arrangements that we have reached,
18:09and naturally, it is with great interest, concern, and affinity that we see and witness how the Venezuelan leadership champion their rights and independence.
18:22At the same time, they are flexible, and they express their readiness for a dialogue with the United States.
18:26Delce Rodriguez, acting president, has repeatedly made statements on that,
18:33bearing in mind that such a dialogue should have the form and the content that is based on the principles of equality, mutual respect,
18:46and abandoning the unilateral means of diktat in politics or let alone coercive measures, illegal measures.
18:59I cannot make any forecast, but as of now, we see that the Venezuelan leadership has been championing its national priorities and has been championing its national sovereignty,
19:15and the need to participate in international relations as an equal, sovereign, independent state.
19:24I do hope that all those who are interested in having relations with Venezuela, including the United States, would reciprocate and would respect these principles as well.
19:37I believe that these principles should be universal.
19:40Next question.
19:44Next question.
19:45I have a question for you, please.
19:49By supporting Venezuela following the United States actions, Namibia emphasized its shared anti-colonial struggle with Caracas.
19:57So how do you assess contemporary manifestations of neo-colonialism by Western countries, which in the view of many are expressed not only through economic pressure,
20:08but also through unilateral military operations, sanctions, and attempts to overthrow legitimate governments in sovereign states?
20:16And in this regard, can the solidarity stance of the global south demonstrated in the case of Venezuela be considered a key element in building a new, more just world order free of such practices?
20:31Thank you very much.
20:33No, you are right.
20:35When the unfortunate events happened in Venezuela, Namibia issued a statement where we expressed our dismay at those events.
20:51We referred to them as a blatant violation of international law in the violation of the UN Charter.
21:01Venezuela is a country of the global south.
21:06It's a country that is a product of resistance.
21:11And that's why in our statement we made the reference to the declaration of granting independence to colonial territories.
21:21We are past that stage.
21:23We do not want to go back there.
21:26You are also right in the sense that the solidarity from the global south was evident because in our statement, we called, we supported the convening of an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
21:44We are happy that it met, but not many countries had the chance to earn their views.
21:51Yes, the voice that we have as countries of the global south, also the global east, is our voice.
21:58That's our weapon for us to come out strongly in defense of the defense of international law in the United Nations Charter.
22:08And we hope that the global south will stand together with the people of Venezuela.
22:14According to our constitution, our foreign policy stands on peaceful solution of disputes.
22:21And that is what we are going to continue to emphasize.
22:26Next question, task agency.
22:31Hello, Pavel, to kind of task agency, Minister Lavrov.
22:36I have the following question.
22:38Donald Trump announced the 25 percent tariffs against all countries cooperating with Iran.
22:44What's your take on this statement?
22:47And in your view, can the statement make an impact on bilateral relations between Moscow and Tehran?
22:54I do not think that any third country could change in principle the relations between Moscow and Tehran.
23:04They are building upon arrangements that were reached between presidents of Russia and president of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
23:13And they meet the interests of the two states, two peoples, and it is reflected in a host of practical material projects, such as the construction of Boucher nuclear power plant, the implementation of plans in transport infrastructure, such as international north-south corridor, and many other issues on the
23:43agenda of the agenda of Russia-Iran relations, and that are of special importance, including for the development of the whole region, the Eurasian continent.
23:56And naturally, when the United States starts acting solely and exceptionally ignoring all the norms that the Americans have been advocating and promoting the model that they called globalization, and as I've already mentioned, after that, they abandoned all their principles.
24:25And this gives food for thought.
24:30This makes us believe that our American colleagues might not be reliable when they act in such a way.
24:36And betting on the following, wherever there is oil or some other important strategic natural resources, and thinking about advancing only its own interests, using threats and direct pressure, namely tariffs, for instance,
25:05partners of Iran.
25:06Partners of Iran see the 25 percent tariffs.
25:10When it comes to Russia, there is the Senator Lindsey Graham.
25:14He is listed in the relevant Russian lists.
25:17And recently, he has been quite active.
25:20He has been promoting the 500 percent tariff initiative with all countries that trade with Russia.
25:32Naturally, you can smile about it.
25:36You can be angry about that.
25:38You can reject that.
25:39But I believe that we simply need to keep on working and implementing the arrangements that we have with Iran, that Russia has with all its trade and economic partners.
25:51When such a strong country as the United States is acting with such malevolent means and using unfair play, it only says that the competitive position of the United States has been gradually becoming worse.
26:13Probably there are some more fair ways to champion its own position rather than a direct discriminatory use of sanction leverage.
26:31This cannot last for long.
26:32This would lead to even a more severe crisis in international economic, international political relations, and in the dialogue that we have with Washington that we want to continue.
26:49We talk about that frankly, and we frankly discuss the need to sort out the mass when it comes to the means that are applied in the international arena.
27:03And a recapping question, Vizda.
27:06Andrey Vakova, Vizda TV channel, a question to Minister Lavrov.
27:11Reportedly, U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff together with Kushner are going to come to Moscow shortly to meet Vladimir Putin.
27:23How would you comment on that?
27:25And what does Moscow expect from the new round of consultations on Ukraine?
27:30Is there any progress on Ukraine?
27:32President Putin over the past weeks during various events has repeatedly reaffirmed our position.
27:43We're open for negotiations on Ukraine, provided that these negotiations are serious and provided that people that are interested in such negotiations
27:59are indeed ready for them and they have something to say.
28:04Just I would like to highlight why I believe that all initiatives should be serious.
28:13Recently, President Macron has once again claimed that he would definitely call Putin in the upcoming weeks.
28:22It's not the first time he says that.
28:24Well, for starters, we are all adults and when adults take official positions and especially when they want to discuss war and peace,
28:37probably you should suggest having the relevant contacts.
28:45When, for instance, when, for instance, in case of Mr. Macron, somebody says, I will talk, we will definitely need to talk with Putin and in a couple of weeks' time I will come up with something.
28:57That is not serious.
28:58That is just a PR campaign.
29:00That's a megaphone, microphone diplomacy that never led to anything good.
29:10Putin is always open to serious conversation.
29:14In all previous meetings with the special envoy of the U.S. President, Mr. Witkoff, and recently Mr. Kushner joined the conversation.
29:28This was serious conversations, substantive conversations that were aimed at addressing the root causes of the crisis in Ukraine and to elaborate ways to address these root causes,
29:41because without doing that we cannot achieve lasting peace.
29:46And everyone, especially Europeans, in particular Germany, Great Britain, are talking about ceasefire for 60 days, 60 days ceasefire or permanent ceasefire.
30:04They are talking about it as a priority, but this is not, it's not serious.
30:08But we are ready to have a conversation with these representatives.
30:13But when they are talking about ceasefire and everything else is secondary, why are they doing that?
30:23They want just to buy time in order to support the Kyiv regime, to keep the Kyiv regime in power.
30:32And all the initiatives that are being discussed by Europe in particular, the initiatives that were discussed in Paris in presence of Witkoff and Kushner,
30:44all these initiatives are aimed at keeping in the part of Ukraine that they hope will remain after the crisis is settled.
30:57They want to keep the Nazi regime that obediently carries out the will of Brussels, of the European Union, of the will of NATO.
31:12Brussels is interested in preparing to war with Russia.
31:18And that's what our European colleagues want.
31:23But judging from our previous contacts with the United States, starting from the U.S.-Russia summit in Anchorage and following the subsequent contacts with Witkoff and Kushner,
31:36we see that the United States understand that such scenario is unrealistic.
31:43They want to curb any attempts to drag Ukraine into NATO.
31:52They understand that without addressing the issue that is related to the fate of people that live in Crimea, Novorossia and in Donbass,
32:04who categorically reject the Kyiv regime.
32:08And that's why they expressed their position to accede to Russia.
32:15Without addressing this issue, we won't achieve anything good.
32:19And Americans perfectly understand that.
32:22We are open to contacts with Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner.
32:31Mr. Kushner, President Putin met with Steve Witkoff several times.
32:37And I'm sure, I'm confident that if they're interested in having another meeting, we will understand their interests.
32:51As for the progress being made in our negotiations, we don't know.
32:57Right now, because if we're talking about negotiations that took place in Paris, the so-called coalition of the willing that was attended by Zelensky and where Witkoff and Kushner were invited,
33:13they have issued their documents, the declaration of intent to which the United States didn't join.
33:26So we have no information what really happened there and what stands behind this declaration.
33:35If our American colleagues are interested in letting us know what happened there, then we are interested in this meeting taking into account the fact that our contacts,
33:49our Russian-American contacts on Ukraine are based on the strong foundation that were laid by the summit-level meeting in Alaska,
34:00where an understanding was reached both by Russian and American-sized colleagues.
34:06This is the end of the press conference. Thank you for your participation.
34:13Thank you very much.
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