Embassy of Russia in Australia

17/06/2026

⚡️ Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova's statement on the attack by Ukrainian militants on a bus carrying Belarusian children in Russia’s Bryansk Region

On June 17, the N**i regime in Kiev committed yet another monstrous crime.

On the A-240 highway in the Pochep District of Russia’s Bryansk Region, Ukrainian drones equipped with shrapnel attacked a civilian bus carrying children from sports schools in the Belarusian cities of Gomel and Rechitsa to Gelendzhik for vacation.

There were 44 people on board, including 28 children. The woman accompanying the minors was killed. Eight people, including six young athletes, were injured.

All those injured were promptly taken to the Bryansk Regional Hospital, where they are receiving medical assistance. One man and two children are in serious condition. The remaining passengers will be returned home shortly.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has classified this crime as a terrorist act and opened a criminal case. Work is ongoing to establish all the circumstances of this crime and identify those involved. We are confident that all perpetrators will be brought to justice.

We express our deep condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased and wish a speedy recovery to all those injured.

We are in direct contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus and the Embassy of the of Belarus in Moscow.

We stand in solidarity with our Belarusian friends and are ready to provide them with the necessary assistance.

❗️ We strongly condemn this vile crime by the Zelensky regime, which, despite its hypocritical claims of allegedly being committed to protecting children, deliberately puts them in danger and, without hesitation – as was the case in Starobelsk – makes them the target of planned AFU strikes.

We call on international structures, national governments and the global public to give an honest assessment of the Zelensky regime’s criminal acts and strongly condemn this terrorist attack.

Silence will mean approval of this crime and encouragement for Kiev terrorists to commit new bloody atrocities.

17/06/2026

17/06/2026

✉️ President of Russia Vladimir Putin sent a message of greetings to the participants and guests of the Russia – ASEAN Business Forum (June 17, 2026)

✍️ I welcome you on the occasion of the opening of the Russia-ASEAN Business Forum.

The current forum, which has brought together leading representatives of the business communities of our country and member states in Kazan, the hospitable capital of Tatarstan, is of special importance.

2026 marks the 35th anniversary of Russia-ASEAN relations. Over these years, we have accumulated solid experience in multifaceted cooperation, established sustainable ties – including between the ASEAN Business Advisory Council and the Russia-ASEAN Business Council – and laid a good foundation for the future.

Today, new tasks stand before us. Among them are the active introduction of digital products based on artificial intelligence and the development of sustainable digital platforms.

Significant opportunities are opening up in energy and food security, the exchange of advanced technologies, cooperation in peaceful nuclear energy, transport and logistics. Importantly, our partners in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Eurasian Economic Union and other associations, whose representatives are present at the forum, are working in the same areas.

I am confident that the decisions of the Russia-ASEAN Summit will provide opportunities to further promote mutually beneficial trade, investment and industrial cooperation, expand direct dialogue between business communities and thereby contribute to the socioeconomic development of our states.

🤝 I wish you success in implementing your plans and all the best.

VLADIMIR PUTIN

17/06/2026

16/06/2026

The latest accusations against Russia represent yet another disinformation campaign orchestrated by the West and the Kiev regime.

According to confirmed data from the Russian Ministry of Defence, the damage sustained by buildings of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra was caused by a missile from an American Patriot air defence system, reportedly due to a technical malfunction.

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation do not plan or conduct strikes against civilian infrastructure facilities. This reality continues to be ignored by those seeking to advance a predetermined narrative.

At the same time, the Australian public is not informed about the facts of the Zelensky regime’s ongoing persecution of the canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine, including attempts to seize control of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra through physical and psychological violence and to rob its treasures.

16/06/2026

⚡️ Министерство иностранных дел Российской Федерации и Министерство иностранных дел Республики Беларусь публикуют третий совместный доклад о ситуации с правами человека в отдельных странах.

👉 Полная версия доклада: shorturl.at/cCjDc

Из обращения к читателям заместителя Министра иностранных дел Российской Федерации Д.Е.Любинского и заместителя Министра иностранных дел Республики Беларусь И.В.Секреты:
Универсальный характер прав человека означает, что люди любой национальности, расы, пола, возраста и любых возможностей здоровья имеют право на достойную жизнь независимо от того, во что они верят, кого они любят или каких-либо других характеристик. Универсальность прав человека означает также то, что они должны соблюдаться на всем земном шаре, в любой стране мира, без манипуляций по типу «двойных стандартов».

Нельзя делать вид, что проблем не существует, или замалчивать их, и одновременно вмешиваться во внутренние дела суверенных государств, пытаясь навести там пресловутый «порядок, основанный на правилах», которые идут вразрез с нормами и принципами международного права, закреплёнными в общепризнанных международных документах. К этому призываем коллег из стран, которым посвящён данный доклад.

***

Представляемый вниманию экспертов и общественности уже третий совместный доклад министерств иностранных дел Республики Беларусь и Российской Федерации о ситуации с правами человека в отдельных странах служит ярким примером тесного межгосударственного взаимодействия в правозащитной области и демонстрирует близость позиций наших стран по этому важному вопросу.

Документ нацелен на привлечение внимания к вызовам и угрозам, с которыми сталкивается современное международное сообщество в сфере прав человека.

Прежде всего, при описании собранного в докладе перечня проблем в сфере поощрения и защиты прав человека обращает на себя внимание неизменная суть этих самых проблем, а именно – до сих пор существующие и даже усугубляющиеся так называемые двойные стандарты при оценке тех или иных правозащитных ситуаций и явлений. Подобный подход регулярно используется странами «коллективного Запада» в целях нагнетания конфронтации и оказания давления на суверенные государства и вмешательства в их внутренние дела, что и показано в соответствующих страновых разделах доклада.

Своими всё более бесцеремонными подходами в вопросах трактовки прав человека западные страны полностью перечёркивают свои же рассуждения об универсальности этих прав.

В числе ещё одной особенности современного состояния в данной сфере следует назвать отход от выполнения социальных обязательств и переход к милитаризации всех областей экономики – и всё это со ссылками на пресловутую внешнюю угрозу. .

Подобные, как сейчас принято говорить, «нарративы» широко распространены в государствах Прибалтики, Польше, на Украине и в Молдавии, экономики которых стремительно деградируют. По этому же пути идут Германия, Франция, Великобритания и ряд других стран «Старого и Нового Света» .

❗️Ещё одной проблемой, вызывающей самую серьёзную обеспокоенность, являются поднимающие голову расизм и расовая дискриминация. Нами неоднократно отмечалось на международных правозащитных форумах, а также в тематических докладах по правам человека, что в ряде стран открыто ведётся пропаганда расистских идей и «ценностей», вовсю чествуются национал-радикалы.

Такие подходы окончательно разрушают действующие в международной политике принципы и проявления гуманизма, уничтожают сложившиеся понятия нормальности, допустимости и фактически готовят почву для новой общественной морали, которая предполагает неравенство, дискриминацию, да и просто возможность уничтожения неугодных.

Все собранные в докладе многочисленные примеры из настоящего и прошлого убедительно подтверждают важность и даже императивность сопряжения усилий всего конструктивно настроенного международного сообщества в целях успешного противостояния сохраняющимся и вновь возникающим вызовам и купирования их негативных последствий.

👉 Читайте полностью: shorturl.at/nKEu3

#ПраваЧеловека

16/06/2026

⚡️ Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus have published their third Joint Report on the human rights situation in selected countries.

👉 Read the Report in full: shorturl.at/R4NpR

The document follows up on the annual reports by MFAs of Russia and Belarus on the human rights situation around the world and is designed to support our joint efforts to draw the attention of the international community to the challenges and threats facing modern society in the field of human rights protection.

👉 First Joint Report: shorturl.at/isTht
👉 Second Joint Report: shorturl.at/907MW

The report will be presented on June 30, July 7 and July 9 during conferences at the Executive Committee in Minsk, at the headquarters in Vienna, and on the sidelines of the 62nd Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The information collected in the report clearly exposes a very serious problem of our time – the spread of ideologies that seek to justify inequality.

In practice, this manifests itself in the growing prevalence of racism, racial discrimination and related intolerance. The danger lies in the fact that these ideologies and practices are used to serve the ambitions of Western countries and eliminate “threats” to their dominance, which they have preserved by fair means or foul for the past 500 years, enabling them to extract disproportionate benefits at the expense of other societies and to the detriment of all humanity.

At first, this dominance was maintained directly – through the exploitation of colonies, the siphoning off of resources, the organisation of slavery, and so on. Today, neocolonial methods are widely used.

⚠️ And the West sees the “threat” in the alternative offered by Russia, Belarus and other countries pursuing independent domestic and foreign policies.

The West has designated them as its competitors and even adversaries. In this way, it justifies its aggressive policy, stopping at nothing and using any measures – often illegal ones – against those it finds undesirable.

***

Confrontation is being deliberately fuelled, and pressure on sovereign states is mounting. Direct interference in their internal affairs, including through the use of force, is also being employed. Across the globe, the West is creating zones of conflict and seeking to impose its own rules, following the old colonial maxim of “divide and conquer”.

This is happening at a time when the European – and, more broadly, Western – model of social development, along with the Euro-Atlantic security model, has discredited itself. Through its actions, the West is making it increasingly clear that it is unable to defend its own development models in fair competition, and is therefore sinking ever deeper into the unseemly politicisation of all areas of interaction, while only creating more and more problems for those it has declared to be its “competitors”.

Since 2022, the West has been actively using the illegitimate neo-N**i regime in Kiev as a geopolitical and military foothold against Russia. More recently, it has begun floating the idea of using the Kiev junta against the Republic of Belarus as well.

Only truly equal cooperation among all states gives humanity a chance to completely eradicate colonialism and its modern forms. And only such interaction will prevent individual countries from bending the system of international law to their will and using its universal human rights mechanisms for selfish purposes.

Unlike similar Western studies, the report prepared jointly by the Foreign Ministries of Russia and Belarus is not intended to lecture or moralise.

☝️ This Joint Report summarises factual information on human rights violations in the countries mentioned. 👉 The right to pass moral judgment on them remains with the readers.

16/06/2026

💬 Russia's High Commissioner for Human Rights Yana Lantratova:

Supplying weapons to the Kiev regime leads to new civilian casualties. We have already seen strikes on the college and dormitory in Starobelsk; the attack on a passenger bus in Yenakiyevo; the destruction of the “Defence of Sevastopol” panorama museum.

✉️ I have sent appeals to:

▪️ UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.
▪️ President of the UN Human Rights Council Sidharto Reza Suryodipuro.
▪️ Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Sophie Kiladze.
▪️ Chair of the UN Human Rights Committee Soh Changrok.
▪️ Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Vanessa Frazier.
▪️ OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu.
▪️ OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ignazio Cassis.

The messages read, in part:
I am compelled to address you in view of the continued supply of weapons to Ukraine by Western governments.

The supply of weapons to the Ukrainian side is leading to an increase in civilian casualties and the destruction of homes, schools and hospitals, as evidenced by recent events — the tragedy in Starobelsk, the attack on a passenger bus in Yenakiyevo, and the strike on the “Defence of Sevastopol” panorama museum.

By supplying weapons to the Kiev regime and controlling the use of these weapons, especially long-range systems, Western governments are becoming accomplices in crimes that violate the norms of international humanitarian law.

I ask you not to ignore the facts of complicity in ongoing war crimes, to publicly condemn them, and to call on the international community to make a fair and objective assessment of what has happened.

❗️ I urge international bodies to protect human rights: not to remain silent, not to treat some victims as more deserving of compassion than others, and not to turn a blind eye to the suffering of children, the elderly, women and ordinary families.

The international community must call things by their proper names. Supplying weapons that are used against civilians is not assistance. It is complicity in crimes.

16/06/2026

⚡️ On Russia winning international arbitration on the rights of a coastal state in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, and the Kerch Strait

***

⚖️ On June 15, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ( ) in The Hague issued its final ruling in the 10-year arbitral proceedings between Russia and Ukraine concerning the rights of a coastal state in the Kerch Strait, the Sea of Azov, and the waters of the Black Sea surrounding Crimea.

The dispute was heard by an international arbitral tribunal in accordance with the procedure set out in Annex VII to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Composed of five independent arbitrators from Algeria, the UK, Mexico, Russia, and the Republic of Korea, the arbitral tribunal passed down a unanimous ruling.

🇷🇺 The case, which carries major geopolitical, legal, and historical significance, ended in a decisive victory for the Russian Federation.

❌ Numerous claims by Ukraine which accused Russia of violating dozens of provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea have been rejected.

Kiev’s efforts to challenge Russia's sovereignty over the Crimean Peninsula and the adjacent maritime areas have failed. The tribunal dismissed Ukraine’s claims for the return of control over hydrocarbon, fishery, and other resources in the waters of Crimea and the Azov region, as well as any “compensation” or “reparations” from Russia for their use and alleged “damage”.

Ukraine’s attempt, supported by Western countries, to designate the Kerch Strait as “international” with the right of passage for vessels of all countries, including warships, has failed as well. For the first time in history, the legally binding award formally recognised the status of the Kerch Strait and the Sea of Azov as internal waters forming part of sovereign state territory.

The tribunal rejected Kiev’s request to declare Russia’s assertion of sovereignty over the entire Sea of Azov unlawful (as “aggravation of the dispute”) following the Donbass, Zaporozhye, and Kherson regions’ accession to Russia. Nothing in the award prevents Russia from exercising its sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction in the maritime areas contiguous to the Crimean Peninsula, the Sea of Azov, and the Azov-Kerch waters.

The tribunal dismissed as absurd and cynical Ukraine’s demand for dismantling the Crimean Bridge. The very fact of submission of such a non-starter demand demonstrated inhumane nature of the Kiev regime, which allegedly continues to seek to “punish” Crimeans for their choice in favour of Russia. Ukraine’s claims that the Crimean Bridge obstructs navigation in these waters were found to be unfounded.

Ukraine’s allegations of violations by Russia of obligations concerning the protection of underwater cultural heritage were found to be entirely unsubstantiated and unsupported by evidence.

The tribunal also dismissed all Ukrainian claims regarding alleged environmental damage caused by Russia. It was established that Russia has an effective environmental monitoring system in place.

👉 The only issue on which the tribunal made a “nod” towards Ukraine concerned partial non-compliance with environmental impact assessment procedures in the construction of the Crimean Bridge, the energy bridge, and the gas pipeline across the Kerch Strait.

***

The Russian Side found the outcome of the proceedings satisfactory.

☝️This arbitral ruling represents a significant defeat for Ukraine and the West in the “legal warfare” waged against Russia.

Read in full - https://vk.cc/cYNJcM