Maria Zakharova: "We did not destroy relations with anyone, we defend our positions"

Washington encourages Western "nuclear rhetoric"

The journalist's first question concerned American speculation on the alleged possible use of nuclear weapons by Russia in the conflict with Ukraine, which is absolutely illogical from the point of view of Russian doctrine, interests and morality.

Now, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan warns of the "terrible consequences" of such a move.

"What can you say about this?," The correspondent asked.

Maria Zakharova pointed out that Russian officials made many statements on this score, which debunked the Western "information fuss" when the United States attributed to Russia what no one actually said. Now the world sees American offensive and aggressive rhetoric using the terminology of nuclear weapons.

The topic of nuclear weapons is constantly heard from Western states. These are Zelensky's statements in February 2022, and the statements of the current British Prime Minister Liz Truss, similar statements were made before Zelensky. For example, Ukrainian politician Yulia Tymoshenko threatened to strike at Russia with nuclear weapons.

Such statements arise in the information space regularly. The question is - do they understand what they are talking about? Not everyone.

"There are more terrible things - no one has ever pulled the speakers from Washington, but on the contrary, only encouraged such statements," Maria Zakharova said.

In the opinion of the layman, nuclear weapons are a kind of bomb or installation. But now we see that the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant has been fired upon for several months, realizing that this could entail irreversible consequences comparable to the use of nuclear weapons.

Russia has repeatedly indicated who exactly is conducting such shelling. All international officials are silent and indicate that they do not know who is conducting the shelling. There were also attempts to accuse Russia of allegedly shelling itself, but then this topic was curtailed.

"What is better than the use of a nuclear weapon?! Radiation - she doesn't care how she was released. Through "official" nuclear weapons or "dirty," or by catastrophe at a nuclear facility. For humanity, the consequences are the same. Why didn't anyone in Washington turn to Zelensky, or who manages him there, so that this object would stop being fired at? There have never been such statements. It benefits them. So the answer in practice is who threatens what, and who declares what, "the diplomat noted.

Russia expects new efforts from the UN to lift sanctions on the export of Russian fertilizers

Also, a journalist from The Moscow Post asked how the deal to export Ukrainian grain and Russian fertilizers is being implemented and what role Turkey and the UN play in this regard.

The representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that Russia expects the UN to intensify efforts to lift restrictions on the export of Russian fertilizers and food by Western countries.

"The position of Western countries is interesting not from a theoretical point of view, but from a practical one. And from a practical point of view, they implement their part of the deal only when there is substantive pressure, including through the UN, and they do not want to do this normally. Of course, we expect the UN to intensify efforts in order to get Europeans, Americans to remove a number of obstacles that do not allow the full supply of Russian fertilizers and grain to the world market, "Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.

It is too early to talk about the prospects for the development of relations with Italy, even in theory

Finally, the correspondent of our publication asked to assess the prospects for relations with Italy after the victory of the "right" coalition there in the elections.

The diplomat indicated that Russia is ready to interact with any legally elected government of Italy and other countries. The Russian Federation respects the democratic will of people, which was framed in the form of elections.

The position of our country remains unchanged. The current international situation leaves a significant imprint on relations with Italy. Due to Rome's accession to the West's unrestrained support for the criminal Russophobic authorities in Kyiv, key mechanisms for bilateral interaction and dialogue have been undermined.

Significant damage has been caused to the economic foundation of cooperation, including issues of mutual trade and energy. Security issues in Europe have been curtailed, humanitarian ties between our citizens are artificially blocked. Of course, the outgoing rulers of Italy, who fell into a "verbal fall" in recent months, played a significant destructive role in this.

Maria Zakharova recalled that when it comes to professionals in politics and diplomacy, there will always be arguments that can be stated calmly, without breaking down into insults, threats, "name-calling." When people resort to this, then their arguments are not strong. So they are not professionals enough to be able to convince with facts or the art of rhetoric.

"The disruption of representatives of Italian diplomacy, who for some reason were put in charge of it, is what we observed," said Maria Zakharova.

It is still premature to talk about the prospects for Russian-Italian relations in the future, even in theory. Everything should depend on the specific steps of the Italian authorities in practice.

'We didn't destroy the relationship with anyone. We defend our positions, reasonably, taking into account the international legal character. Our positions are suffered, including because of the subversive and destructive position of the "collective West." Who does not understand this is not a professional, "the diplomat summed up.

Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry