Experts of the Institute for the Study of War analysed the false statements of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the UN Security Council on January 22.
That Russia lied to the UN Security Council about the war in Ukraine
According to American analysts, Russia continues to use its position on the United Nations Security Council to promote several long-standing Russian information operations.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke at a meeting of the UN Security Council convened by Russia on January 22 and accused the West of a lack of negotiations, saying that Russia had always been "ready to negotiate."
However, Lavrov clarified that Russia is only interested in negotiations that lead to the removal of the current Ukrainian government from power, confirming that Russia still officially seeks regime change in Ukraine.
At the same time, Lavrov continued to deny the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine, falsely claiming that the Ukrainian people were not interested in a war against Russia and that the West was pushing Ukraine to continue this war.
Lavrov also advised the West to understand that the "peace formula" of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is a "road to nowhere", claiming that "the sooner (the West — ed.) understands this, the better it will be for both Ukraine and the West."
In addition, Lavrov said that "if Ukraine stops fighting, hundreds of thousands" of Ukrainian lives will be saved.
Experts recall that Lavrov has previously made similar statements, suggesting that the Kremlin believes that Russia will be able to occupy more territory as the war continues and that such a course of war will further weaken Ukraine's negotiating position.
Lavrov denied that Russia could attack NATO in the future, ignoring recent official statements from the Kremlin that fueled those fears.
The Kremlin's mouthpiece, the report notes, falsely claimed that the West was pushing the idea that Russia would attack the Baltic states, Poland and Finland in the future to "extort money" from Western countries for helping Ukraine.
However, Kremlin officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, continue to use threatening rhetoric against NATO member states consistently, and Kremlin-linked individuals appear to be trying to sow instability and create informational preconditions for possible future Russian aggression against member states. NATO and other post-Soviet states.
Lavrov also accused Ukrainian forces of carrying out strikes on Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine, which the Kremlin used to support Russia's justification for its war of aggression in Ukraine.
The review recalls that Lavrov recently stated that Ukrainian forces use weapons provided by the West to launch strikes on civilian targets, including, for example, during strikes on occupied Donetsk on January 21.
Russian sources, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Russia, made similar statements on January 21.
The New York Times reported on January 21 that it could not independently confirm who was behind the strike in Donetsk, and the press service of the Ukrainian Tavri Military Group said on January 21 that they did not carry out these strikes.
It is noted that Lavrov also tried to downplay the various war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Russian occupation forces and the occupation administration in Ukraine, claiming that Ukrainians and Russians "live in peace and harmony" in occupied Crimea and other Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia.
He also stated that "Russians and Ukrainians will live exactly as brothers and good neighbours" after Russia achieves its goals in the war in Ukraine — which, according to the institute, are equivalent to the complete surrender of Ukraine and the West.
ISW regularly documents how Russian forces and occupation administrations conduct large-scale and targeted campaigns of ethnic cleansing, forcefully and illegally deport Ukrainians, including children, to Russia, and also systematically work to destroy the Ukrainian language, culture, history and ethnicity in the territories occupied by Russian troops.
Russia's request to hold a meeting of the UN Security Council on January 22 to discuss arms supplies to Ukraine and Lavrov's use of this meeting to promote various information operations of the Kremlin is probably an attempt to legitimize these Kremlin narratives, promote them on the world stage and convince international partners to stop sending arms to Ukraine, — experts summarise.
