PRESS RELEASES AND NEWS
21.02.2019
Embassy Press Officer’s reply to a media question concerning placing Sergey and Yulia Skripal on a missing person listQuestion: How would you comment on the media reports suggesting that Sergey Skripal’s mother has officially requested Russian law enforcement agencies to record her son and granddaughter as missing and initiate a missing person investigation? According to the British side, the UK agencies have not received any official notice from the Russian authorities with regard to placing the Skripals on a missing person list.
Answer: We fully understand the natural concern of Elena Skripal with what has happened to her relatives. The situation is exacerbated by a lack of access to the Russian citizens in violation of international law and the bilateral 1965 Consular Convention. In this case we are unable to officially state that Sergey and Yulia are still alive. We are disturbed by the recent media leaks concerning the worsening health of Sergey Skripal, whose track has been lost since the incident on 4 March 2018. As for Yulia, she was seen only once in May 2018 in a video address which was obviously pre-written by the British secret services. All this indicates that both our nationals are being isolated.
We would like to remind that since the very beginning the competent Russian authorities have turned to the British side via official channels, requesting legal assistance and proposing to establish joint investigation on the Salisbury incident. However, ignoring the norms of international law, the British authorities have denied both the request and the proposal. The Embassy has sent dozens of Notes Verbales and letters to the FCO, the Home Office and the police which were also left unanswered.
Taking into account all the facts, concern of Sergei and Yulia's family as well as their appeal to the Russian law enforcement agencies seems to be fully justified.
LATEST EVENTS
Following the events on January 5-6, the situation in the country is gradually improving. Economic activities in the republic are returning to normal. Passenger train services have been restored in full, and additional trains were rolled out to serve the most popular destinations. The operation of some of the national payment systems has stabilised. It has been announced that state support will be provided for small and medium-sized businesses that suffered from looting. Public transport has resumed operation in the Mangystau Region as well as at Aktau International Airport.
On January 6, 2022, the CSTO Collective Security Council, which comprises heads of state and government of CSTO member states, in response to the request by President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, made a decision to send CSTO Collective Peacekeeping Forces to the Republic of Kazakhstan for a limited period of time, with the aim of stabilising and normalising the situation in the country.
Friends, colleagues,
I am delighted to welcome all of you to the commission’s first meeting. Established under President Vladimir Putin’s instructions, the commission’s main purpose is to support the Russian Federation in carrying out its foreign policy, primarily on foreign policy matters set forth in United Russia’s People’s Programme.
Question: Mr Grushko, discussions of the action plan regarding NATO’s expansion, which Russia has proposed to Washington, are ongoing. You have mentioned a “military-technical alternative,” if NATO rejects Moscow’s proposals. What do you have in mind?
Alexander Grushko: If our concerns are disregarded and NATO countries are not ready to show military restraint, we will have to use the response instruments at our disposal. There is no other option. If the other side decides to project, let alone use force, that is, if it applies its defence capability as a means of economic or political pressure, this will be unacceptable to Russia, and we will find methods to neutralise these threats.
The security situation in Europe, the Euro-Atlantic region and Eurasia has indeed greatly deteriorated recently. This has happened because of a series of concerted actions by the United States and its NATO allies, which, generally speaking, can be described as an attempt to undermine Russia’s security and to create a hostile environment around us. We cannot accept this.
On December 17, a meeting of the Joint Commission of the JCPOA closed the seventh round of Vienna talks on restoring the full implementation of the Iranian nuclear deal. The participants noted that significant progress had been made, which paved the way for the next stage. The delegations will hold further consultations in their capitals.
As of December 18, 2021, the Russian Federation is no longer a party to the Treaty on Open Skies (Treaty) and has consequently ceased to be a member of the group of States Parties stipulated in its provisions.
We consider London’s latest unfounded anti-Russian attack to be practical confirmation of the British government’s intention to continue its destructive course in bilateral affairs. We are forced to state that the British authorities’ consistent efforts to ratchet up sanctions completely undermine Russia’s attempts at various levels to put interstate relations back on a constructive track.
During the December 15, 2021 meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry, the US party received a draft treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States of America on security guarantees and an agreement on measures to ensure the security of the Russian Federation and member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
The Russian side strongly believes that the guilty verdict brought in by the German court against the citizen of the Russian Federation Vadim Sokolov on December 15 in the case of the murder of Georgian citizen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, former terrorist gang leader in the North Caucasus, in Berlin on August 23, 2019, is extremely biased and is clearly a case of an explicit political put-up job. We insist that the Russian citizen is innocent. He has the right to appeal to the Supreme Court of the Federal Republic of Germany against the unjust verdict.
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