Russia is ready to continue its dialogue with Western lawmakers both in North America and Europe, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday when speaking at the Council of Legislators, adding that if they ‘don’t want to – that’s their business’.
‘We do not refuse to engage with Western parliamentarians either in North America or Europe.
‘If they don’t want to – that’s their business, but we are always ready for it. We always discuss these issues with the heads of both parliaments,’ Putin said.
The president emphasised the importance of diplomacy.
‘To clarify and firmly defend our position, to protect the truth – to strengthen contacts through the Eurasian Economic Union, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, the Commonwealth of Independent States, BRICS, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation with all our friends and supporters, whose number is growing worldwide,’ the Russian head of state pointed out.
‘Russia is open to mutually beneficial cooperation and supports integration efforts based on the principles of respect for each other’s sovereignty and common history,’ Putin concluded.
The Russian Armed Forces will cease hostilities on humanitarian grounds for three days from 8th May, the Kremlin press service reported, citing Putin’s decision.
About the truce on 80th anniversary of Victory in Great Patriotic War
- The Russian Armed Forces will cease hostilities for humanitarian reasons from 12am on May 8th (9pm GMT on May 7th) to 12am on May 11th (9pm GMT on May 10th).
- Russia believes that the Ukrainian side should follow suit, the Kremlin said.
- Moscow reiterates that it is ready for peace talks with Kiev without preconditions. At the same time, the root causes of the crisis should be eliminated, the statement emphasised.
- The Kremlin also noted that the Russian Armed Forces will give an adequate and effective response in case Ukraine violates the truce.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov insisted that the international recognition of Crimea, the DPR, the LPR, the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions as part of Russia are an imperative in the settlement.
‘The international recognition of Crimea, Sevastopol, the DPR, the LPR, the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions as part of Russia is another imperative,’ Lavrov said.
‘All the commitments Kiev assumes must be legally binding, contain enforcement mechanisms and be permanent,’ Lavrov added.
Moscow has made no secret regarding its position on the settlement, the minister noted.
‘Russia proceeds from the premise that Kiev’s non-accession to NATO, as well as reaffirming its neutral and non-aligned status as per the 1990 Declaration on Ukraine’s State Sovereignty – these factors form one of the two pillars for a final settlement to the Ukraine crisis that would meet Russia’s security interests,’ he said.
‘The second pillar consists of overcoming the legacy of the neo-Nazi regime which took power in Kiev after the February 2014 putsch, including the initiative by its perpetrators to eradicate and cancel, in both physical and legislative terms, everything Russian, be it the Russian language, media, culture, traditions, or the canonical Orthodox faith,’ Lavrov explained.
‘Demilitarising and de-Nazifying Ukraine is also on the agenda, along with lifting sanctions, withdrawing lawsuits and cancelling arrest warrants, as well as returning Russian assets subjected to the so-called freeze in the West,’ he emphasised.
Russia will also insist on obtaining solid security guarantees for itself in order to shield it from any threats ‘emanating from hostile activities by NATO, the European Union and some of their member states along our western border,’ the minister concluded.
The Russian foreign minister also stressed that de-dollarisation has been one of the defining global economic trends, ‘which is attributable to the lack of trust towards the Western-led international financial institutions’.
It is possible to return to discussing the issue of creation of a single currency for BRICS once the necessary conditions are in place, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
‘It would be premature to discuss a transition to a single currency for BRICS,’ he said.
‘We can come back to the question about a common currency or a single payment unit for BRICS once the necessary financial and economic conditions are in place,’ Lavrov added.
BRICS member states are working together ‘to create a payment and settlement infrastructure for carrying out cross-border settlements among BRICS countries,’ which includes increasing the share of national currencies in transactions, the minister noted.
Since its inception in 2006, BRICS has experienced two phases of expansion.
In 2011, South Africa joined the original group, which included Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
On January 1st, 2024, five new members officially entered BRICS, namely Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia.
On January 6th, 2025, Indonesia joined the group as a full member.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in January that BRICS was not discussing a unified currency for the alliance, focusing instead on establishing common investment platforms in third countries, as he commented on US President Donald Trump’s threats to impose 100% tariffs on goods from BRICS countries in the event that they create a new currency or reject the dollar.
- A small group of Western European countries have been behind every large-scale armed conflict in the past 300 years, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director and President of the Russian Historical Society Sergey Naryshkin said on Monday.
‘The upcoming celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory is an opportunity to reflect back on history and draw some conclusions,’ he said at the international symposium titled: ‘On the significance of the victory over Nazism. Lessons of the UN.’
‘One of these conclusions is that all of the biggest armed conflicts of the past three centuries have originated from a small circle of Western European powers,’ he pointed out, adding that this applies to numerous conflicts, from the Seven Years’ War of 1756-1763 to World War II.
‘We see that aggressive motives of these wars are fraught with destruction and colossal casualties not only in Europe but also thousands of miles away from it,’ he noted.
- Volodymyr Zelensky’s diplomacy is based on deceit, murders and terror, and his promises to US President Donald Trump are nothing but lies, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
She pointed to Zelensky’s remarks that Ukraine could bring Crimea back through diplomatic efforts and sanctions.
‘Zelensky’s diplomacy is about murders, terrorism, lies, hatred and dirty tricks.
‘Zelensky’s diplomacy for Crimea is about killing Crimeans, trying to destroy the Crimean Bridge, carry out terrorist attacks on anything and everything on the peninsula and demanding more weapons to resolve the issue by force,’ she wrote on Telegram.
Zakharova also stressed that Zelensky ‘is now also eliminating his own fellow citizens who live in the rest of Ukraine’.
‘He is even trying to deceive Trump: He lied when he promised to comply with the 30-day moratorium on attacks against energy sites; he lied when he promised to respect the Easter ceasefire, and he lied when he talked about “strikes on peaceful Ukrainian cities”,’ Zakharova specified.
