🇺🇳 From September 7 to October 7, Geneva will host the 63rd Session of the UN Human Rights Council.

The Session is expected to address a broad range of issues on the international human rights agenda, including:

• protection and promotion of economic, social and cultural rights,
• ensuring the right to development,
• protection of children,
• combating discrimination against women,
• advancing the interests of indigenous peoples,
• preventing the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, as well as other thematic issues.

At Russia’s initiative, a high-level thematic discussion will be held to mark the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the International Covenants on Human Rights.

The Council will adopt the outcomes of the Universal Periodic Review of the national reports of Belgium, Denmark, Latvia, Namibia, Niger, Nicaragua, Mozambique, Palau, Paraguay, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Singapore, Somalia, Sierra Leone and Estonia.

At the initiative of the EU, the Council will once again consider a politicised and highly confrontational draft resolution on the human rights situation in Russia, aimed at extending for another year the mandate of the relevant HRC Special Rapporteur, Mariana Katzarova of Bulgaria.

❗️ Russia’s stance on this matter remains unchanged: we do not recognise the mandate of this illegitimate special procedure, and any form of interaction with it is unacceptable to us.

The Russian delegation, which will participate in the Session as an observer, intends, as before, to make active use of all available opportunities to overcome confrontation and promote a unifying agenda, as well as to foster among international partners an understanding of the importance of establishing constructive international dialogue on the promotion and protection of human rights, with due respect for the national, religious, cultural and historical characteristics of every state.

A number of special side events will be organised to present Russia’s approaches to the most pressing issues on the session’s agenda to the international community.

🎙 Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova's response to a question from RBC (RosBusinessConsulting) on the US deployment of a launcher for intermediate- and shorter-range missiles in Norway (September 7, 2026)

❓ Question: How does Moscow assess the US deployment of a launcher for intermediate- and shorter-range missiles in Norway, including in the context of the stalled strategic stability dialogue? Is any response planned? If so, what kind?

💬 Maria Zakharova: We regard the appearance in Europe of US systems capable of launching intermediate- and shorter-range missiles as yet another step in the endless series of acutely destabilising actions by NATO countries.

In pursuing plans to deploy Western ground-launched intermediate- and shorter-range missiles in the region, NATO not only makes no secret of its intention but openly flaunts its ambition to acquire a substantial capability to strike deep into Russia’s territory.

At the same time, NATO is seeking to bring vast maritime areas of the region within its sights, establishing dominant control over sea routes of critical military, commercial and transport importance.

In this context, we note that the US missile systems equipped with Mk 41 launching systems, which are being brought into Europe and have now been deployed in Norway, are capable of launching a wide range of missiles against both land and maritime targets.

☝️ We also take into account that these systems can be used to launch long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, while their deployment in Norway puts a substantial part of Russia’s European territory, including Moscow, within range.

Thus, these missile systems could be used in aggressive actions by NATO countries against our country to accomplish strategic-level objectives.

Those in Washington and Oslo who made the decision to deploy these systems in Norway should therefore not be surprised that, as part of Russia’s response measures, the deployment sites of the US systems, their command and control facilities, as well as the infrastructure supporting them, are becoming a particular focus for Russia’s strategic deterrence forces. This includes planning for the combat employment of the relevant strike assets in the event of an armed conflict.

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As for the dialogue with the US on strategic stability, we would like to recall that it did not simply “stall”. It was unilaterally suspended by the Joe Biden administration.

The current US authorities, meanwhile, are unrealistically discussing the launch of some kind of “multilateral” negotiations with China’s mandatory participation, even though Beijing has repeatedly and unequivocally stated that it has compelling reasons not to become involved in such work at this stage.

❗️ For our part, we have repeatedly explained in detail that the conditions for a substantive and productive strategic dialogue with the US are not in place.

Steps such as the deployment in Europe of US ground-launched intermediate- and shorter-range missiles that threaten Russia will, to put it mildly, eliminate any basis for a constructive strategic dialogue with the US.

🎙 Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s answer to a media question regarding the new EU human rights report (September 7, 2026)

❓ Question: In August, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy released its annual report on human rights and democracy around the world for 2025. What is your assessment of this document?

💬 Maria Zakharova: Yes, we have seen it. And frankly, it is a perfect compilation of all the EU’s favourite clichés and slogans: the usual self-promotion of their supposed role as a “global champion of human rights,” a laundry list of politicised accusations against third countries, alongside intrusive and patronising lecturing.

What’s more, the level of criticism isn’t calibrated to the facts on the ground but is determined solely by how pliant each state is towards Brussels.

A case in point: the section on Ukraine, which is utterly toothless and, in places, almost fawning – this for a country mired in corruption, lawlessness, and neo-Nazi ideology.

It is telling that Brussels no longer even bothers to hide its use of the human rights agenda as a cover for blatant interference in the internal affairs of states that pursue independent policies. They openly admit to funnelling significant funds into “civil society,” media, journalists, and activists in targeted countries with the explicit aim of shaping domestic politics and steering foreign policy choices.

One passage in particular stands out: how the EU frames its own policy towards Russia. In the country-specific section, they unabashedly call it a “wartime approach” – as if that somehow justifies their glaring lies about our country, their double standards, and their willingness to sweep under the rug the EU’s own violations of our citizens’ rights.

❗️ In essence, Brussels is openly declaring that it intends to weaponise human rights as leverage against Russia.

Throughout the report, Brussels once again presumes to speak from a self-appointed moral high ground, casting itself as a “force for good in the world.” These statements look particularly cynical against the backdrop of the EU’s own steadily deteriorating human rights record.

Intolerance is on the rise across the bloc, with racism and hate speech becoming increasingly frequent. European institutions either turn a blind eye to Russophobia, including its most grotesque manifestations – or, worse, actively condone it. The shameful reality of mass statelessness in the Baltics, alongside the systematic denial of education in their native language to local Russian-speaking populations, is a glaring case in point.

For all their outward talk of democracy and the rule of law, inside the EU they are clamping down on dissent through censorship, bans on inconvenient media outlets, and the silencing of political actors who dare to criticise current Brussels policies.

All of this is dressed up as “safeguarding democracy” when, in fact, what they are doing is engineering a more pliable socio-political environment, tightening their grip on the information space and on the will of their own citizens.

For a more accurate picture of the real human rights situation in Europe, including in Ukraine, I would refer you to the joint report published in June by the Russian and Belarusian Foreign Ministries, entitled “Human Rights Situation in Certain Countries.” It is available in English, so that anyone interested, including international audiences, can judge for themselves which document shows genuine concern for human rights.

☝️ And I think we can safely say that the comparison will not reflect well on the opus signed by Kaja Kallas.

📆 September 8 marks a Day of Military Glory of Russia – the anniversary of the Battle of #Borodino.

On September 7, 1812, near the village of Borodino, some 120 kilometres west of Moscow, the Russian army under Mikhail Kutuzov faced Napoleon’s invading Grande Armée.

⚔️ The Battle of Borodino became the largest and bloodiest single-day battle of the Patriotic War of 1812, with well over 200,000 troops engaged on both sides.

The fighting began early in the morning and raged throughout the day. Napoleon repeatedly committed fresh forces in an attempt to break the Russian army, but the French failed to crush Russian resistance.

Despite losses, Russian regiments continued to fight with extraordinary determination, contesting every key position. By the end of the day, Napoleon had failed to achieve his principal objective – the destruction of the Russian army.

The losses of the European invaders were even heavier, and although, the battlefield was for the moment theirs, Russian forces retreated in full order, having preserved the army and manpower.

Borodino became an enduring symbol of courage, resilience and devotion to the Fatherland, while the soldiers and commanders who fought there entered Russian history forever.

✍️ As the great Russian writer Mikhail Lermontov wrote in his 1837 poem Borodino:

“That all of Russia remembers – no less,
About the day of Borodino…

You are not to see such struggles!..
Banners whirled round, like shadows,
Against the smoke the shots would blaze,
Sounds of steel, screams of gunfire,
Warriors’ hands starting to tire,
And cannonball’s flight would mire,
The bloody mound that there now lays”.

🎥 © Russian Military Historical Society