🤦 The British authorities have backed up the release of their Strategic Defence Review with a fresh salvo of anti-Russian rhetoric.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, somewhat incongruously, sought to attribute the ongoing economic failures under the Labour government to what he termed Moscow’s "growing aggression". It turns out that the peaceful passage of Russian vessels through the English Channel is somehow "hitting working people" of Britain. Meanwhile, Defence Secretary John Healey has gone so far as to allege unspecified "daily attacks" on the UK by Russia.

The Embassy categorically rejects these false and bizarre accusations.

It is regrettable that, having replaced the Conservatives, Labour continues to invent the same Russophobic fabrications in an attempt to mask its own economic ineptitude and to justify the hike in military spending that the UK can scarcely afford. <...>

❗️ Russia poses no threat to the United Kingdom and its people. We harbour no aggressive intentions and have no plans to attack Britain. We are not interested in doing so, nor do we need to. <...>

If Britain's government were truly committed to strengthening both national and international security, it could, instead of fuelling jingoistic hysteria, immediately end the proxy war unleashed against Russia by the Kiev regime and embark on a path towards a comprehensive and peaceful settlement.

The UK could also lift its illegitimate unilateral trade and financial sanctions imposed on Russia. It is these measures, rather than mythical Russian "attacks", that are generating "economic pain" for the British people, to use Mr Starmer's own words.

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"Российско-британские отношения пережили за [более чем] 450 лет их существования очень много взлётов и падений"

📺 Смотрите интервью Посла России в Великобритании Андрея Келина образовательному проекту НЬЮМ, реализуемого редакцией ТАСС ДЕТИ

Основные темы:
• Украинский кризис
• Российско-британские отношения
• Русская культура в Британии
• Искусственный интеллект и дипломатия
• Сохранение исторической памяти

📹 НЬЮМ ТАСС

📺 Watch Ambassador Andrei Kelin's interview with Sky News presenter Yalda Hakim (5 June 2025)

Key talking points:

• [Ukraine's attack on Russia's strategic aviation] is a very serious escalation and a blow to the strategic stability which we have established in our relations with the United States.

• Our resources allow us to continue military actions [in Ukraine] for a long time. But the choice now lies with Kiev — whether they choose [to find] a solution to the conflict, I mean a normal agreement that will eliminate the root causes [of the conflict], or [face] defeat and total surrender under much worse conditions.

• The Ukrainians are saying, "Let’s hold a summit". A summit for what? If Zelensky just wants to make a show <…> then it makes no sense for us. We need a summit for serious matters, not to establish a short ceasefire, but [to achieve] a solid and lasting resolution of this conflict.

• London, Brussels, Paris and Berlin are strongly resisting that we get to the end of this conflict, because they have invested a lot — politically, militarily and financially — in Ukraine and in this conflict.

• It is up to the UK and other NATO countries to decide where to spend their own money — whether on these military toys or on social welfare <...> But to my mind, all of this [the idea to lift defence spending to 3 or 5% of GDP] is an excessive effort <...> We do not represent any threat to Britain at all — neither at sea, nor in the air, nor on land. It is all an invention to distract attention from domestic issues.

Watch the interview on our YouTube channel

🎙 Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s answer to a media question regarding the designation of the British Council as an undesirable organisation in the Russian Federation (June 5, 2025)

❓ Question: The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation has designated the activities of the international organisation British Council as undesirable in our country. How would you comment on this development? What, in your view, led to this decision?

💬 Maria Zakharova: As is known, the British Council has operated in Russia since the early 1990s, establishing its central representative office in Moscow in 1992. In the years that followed, the Council aggressively expanded its presence by setting up numerous regional branches, all without proper legal formalisation. Despite this expansion, the legal status of the organisation remained undefined within our nation. The requisite regulatory framework for the British Council’s operations in Russia – which should have encompassed its status, the procedure for opening branches and the conditions governing their work – was intended to be established through a separate bilateral agreement on cultural and information centres. However, the efforts to draft such a document were thwarted by London.

In response to the unfriendly anti-Russian measures taken by the British side in July 2007 concerning the so-called Alexander Litvinenko case, and in light of growing evidence of the Council’s destabilising influence on Russian soil, a decision was made to close all regional branches of the British Council in our country as of January 2008.

The sole remaining British Council office continued to operate in Moscow until March 2018. However, as part of retaliatory measures against London’s hostile actions in the so-called Skripal case, its operations were also terminated that month.

❗️ Following the start of the special military operation, the British Council aligned itself with the unprecedentedly hostile anti-Russian measures of the UK government, joining broader Western efforts to discredit the policies of our country’s leadership and undermine Russian influence globally, particularly within the CIS region. The Council employed elements of “soft power” extensively, alongside various grant programmes, systematically gathering information on the situation in Russia’s new territories, conditions along the line of contact, and other potentially sensitive data.

Although, as previously noted, the Russian branch of the British Council was forcibly shut down, the parent organisation persisted in its subversive activities from other states’ positions, drawing our compatriots into its projects. Moreover, Russian competent authorities have obtained evidence confirming that the British Council has been utilised by British intelligence services in covert operations aimed at undermining the sovereignty of independent states and in clandestine destabilising activities.

Thus, designating the British Council as an undesirable organisation in its entirety was, in essence, a matter of common sense and timing.

Until last year, this step was hindered by a legal restriction in Russian legislation, which barred foreign state-founded entities (the British Council being established by the UK government) from being declared undesirable. This loophole has now been rectified.

☝️ In light of the aforementioned circumstances, we would like to caution our partners in Russia-friendly states against fostering ties or flirting with the British. Providing favourable conditions for organisations such as the British Council – permitting them access to youth and the implementation of ostensibly harmless cultural and educational projects – poses the risk of losing control over critical social and political processes. The positions of influence gained through such activities are subsequently exploited by London to interfere in the internal affairs of other states, directly threatening their sovereignty and territorial integrity.

❗️ Speaking at Chatham House yesterday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte candidly admitted that sustaining the conflict in Ukraine serves the Alliance's collective military-industrial interest.

Using his own words, this is a statement of fact. The proxy-war against Russia, meticulously designed in Western capitals, is centered around fully expending Ukraine's human and industrial potential in a fratricidal confrontation against its larger neighbour.

The fate of Ukraine and its inhabitants, on the other hand, is of little concern to NATO military planners.

Hence Europe's cynical obstinance in thwarting a durable negotiated settlement.

⚡️ Statement by Foundation for the Support and Protection of the Rights of Compatriots Living Abroad

📃 Recently, the Foundation for the Support and Protection of the Rights of Compatriots Living Abroad has once again become the target of a massive provocative campaign launched by a group of European media under the guise of a “journalistic investigation.”

For the third year in a row, it has been flooded by slander and misinformation that distort the actual goal and practices of its activities which are to assist Russian compatriots in protecting their legitimate interests in their respective countries of residence.

The choice of time for launching another dirty attack on the Russian human rights organisation was not accidental: obsessed with the idea of rescuing the criminal Kiev regime, the leaders of a number of European countries are trying to actively cobble up an anti-Russia front in all areas, and to wipe out everything that is Russian or “pro-Moscow.” This caveman-like goal is extrapolated to human rights, including the ethnic minority issues.

Millions of Russian compatriots living abroad, who, in their overwhelming majority, support Russia’s policy, the goals of the special military operation of the Russian Federation to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine, and to protect the civilians of Donbass have been targeted. Attempts are being made to have them change their minds, to intimidate them, to make ridiculous political accusations against them, to deport, or even to imprison them.

Each time, these propaganda campaigns are becoming increasingly aggressive and deceitful, as they repeat old tired clichés about the Foundation allegedly “funding spies, criminals, and propagandists.” Most of the accusations come down to the long-winded assertion of its “cooperation with Russian special services in conducting influence operations in the EU countries.”

❗️ It is quite obvious that these publications are based on a mixture of outright lies, covered up by speculation that has already been worn out from repeated use, which once again confirms the open participation of foreign special services in plotting this provocation, which fact, incidentally, is reported by some of the journalists involved in it. The “investigators” use not only publicly available information about the activities of our NGO, but also publish materials obtained illegally from electronic correspondence used by the Foundation for communication with its partners. The results of such a brazen hack of the Foundation’s email by special services are presented as a leak.

Through their publications, these media outlets, the list of which has almost doubled compared with last year, reveal the true goals of this campaign which are to compromise the Foundation, to push it out of Europe, to intimidate its foreign partners, and to force our compatriots to refuse to interact with it. <...>

Reacting to yet another “revelation,” we reaffirm that the Foundation has never cooperated with any special services, nor has it ever employed any members of the special services engaged in influence operations in Western countries, including the EU.

All the media’s assertions to this effect represent a gross lie and a blatant provocation.

☝️ We emphasise that the main purpose of the Foundation’s activities, as enshrined in its Charter and the regulatory legal documents of the Russian Federation governing its functions, is to provide assistance to our compatriots living abroad in order to ensure their human rights and freedoms and to protect their legal interests. <...>

We reserve the right to hold liable organisers and perpetrators of this provocative campaign targeting our NGO and publicly making false accusations against the Foundation, its employees and our partners in a number of EU member countries.

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🇷🇺 12 June marks #RussiaDay – a celebration of history, unity and national pride.

Covering over 17 million square kilometres and stretching across 11 time zones, Russia is the largest country on Earth — a land of staggering scale and endless wonder. From the windswept shores of Vladivostok to the imperial elegance of St Petersburg, from Kazan's blend of East and West to the raw beauty of Kamchatka's volcanoes, and from the icy Arctic to the sun-drenched coast of Sochi — it is a place where vastness meets variety. Whether you are riding the Trans-Siberian Railway, hiking in the Altai Mountains or sipping tea in a cosy dacha, there is always more to discover.

Russia is also a treasure trove of cultural riches — a living mosaic shaped by centuries of tradition, creativity and reinvention. This is the homeland of literary giants like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, cinematic visionaries like Tarkovsky and groundbreaking artists such as Kandinsky and Malevich. From classical ballet and Orthodox iconography to contemporary design and street art, our country's artistic legacy continues to inspire and captivate.

With a heroic past, a resilient spirit and a future shaped by scientific innovation, cultural depth and economic ambition, Russia remains a country both steeped in tradition and moving boldly forward.

Happy Russia Day!

🇷🇺 Happy Russia Day!

Russia is so much more than a country! A civilization, spanning 11 time zones. Russia is ❤️

#RussiaDay #Russia1Love #RussiaDay2025