Experts from the Institute for the Study of War analyzed the false statements of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the UN Security Council on January 22.
Source: ISW
Details: According to US analysts, Russia continues to use its position on the United Nations Security Council to advance several long-standing Russian information operations.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke at a Russian-convened UN Security Council meeting on January 22 and blamed the West for the lack of negotiations, arguing that Russia has always been “ready for negotiations.”
However, Lavrov clarified that Russia is only interested in negotiations that will lead to the removal of the current Ukrainian government from power, confirming that Russia is still officially committed to regime change in Ukraine.
At the same time, Lavrov continued to deny the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine, falsely claiming that the Ukrainian people are not interested in a war against Russia, and that the West is pushing Ukraine to continue this war.
Lavrov also advised the West to understand that the “peace formula” of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is “a path to nowhere,” arguing 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 the war will increasingly weaken Ukraine’s negotiating position.
Lavrov denies Russia is responsible for attacking NATO in the future, ignoring recent official statements from the Kremlin that have raised these fears.
The Kremlin mouthpiece, the report notes, falsely claimed that the West was promoting the idea that Russia would attack the Baltic states, Poland and Finland in the future in order to “demand money” from Western states for aid to Ukraine.
However, Kremlin officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, continue to consistently use threatening rhetoric against NATO member countries, and individuals associated with the Kremlin appear to be trying to sow instability and create information preconditions for possible future aggressive actions by Russia against NATO member countries and other post-Soviet states.
Lavrov also accused Ukrainian forces of launching attacks on Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory, which the Kremlin used to support the Russian justification for its war of conquest in Ukraine.
The review recalls that Lavrov recently said that Ukrainian forces are using weapons provided by the West to strike civilian targets, including, for example, during strikes on occupied Donetsk on January 21.
Russian sources, including the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), made similar statements on January 21.
The New York Times reported on January 21 that it could not independently confirm who was behind the attack on Donetsk, and the press service of the Ukrainian Tauride 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 that the Russian occupation forces and occupation administration are carrying out in Ukraine, claiming that Ukrainians and Russians “live in peace and harmony” in occupied Crimea and other Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories.
He also said that “Russians and Ukrainians will live just like brothers and good neighbors” after Russia achieves its goals in the war in Ukraine – which, according to the institute’s estimates, amount to a complete capitulation of Ukraine and the West.
ISW regularly documents how Russian forces and occupation administrations have carried out large-scale and targeted campaigns of ethnic cleansing; forcibly and illegally deport Ukrainians, including children, to Russia; and are also systematically working to destroy the Ukrainian language, culture, history and ethnicity in the territories occupied by Russian troops.
Experts conclude: “Russia’s request for a UNSC meeting on January 22 to discuss arms supplies to Ukraine and Lavrov’s use of this meeting to promote various Kremlin information operations is likely an attempt to legitimize these Kremlin narratives, promote them on the world stage and convince international partners stop sending weapons to Ukraine.”
ISW Key Findings for January 22:
- Russia continues to use its position on the United Nations Security Council to advance several long-standing Russian information operations.
- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk visited Kyiv on January 22 and announced a new Polish defense package for Ukraine.
- Footage allegedly showing a skirmish between a Russian soldier and Chechen Akhmat-Vostok forces in occupied Melitopol, Zaporozhye region, has once again sparked criticism of Chechen forces for their insufficient participation in Russian military operations in Ukraine.
- Russian officials and participants in the information space are trying to continue to rhetorically justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by distorting the decree signed by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on January 22, which concerns discrimination against ethnic Ukrainians in Russia. Zelensky’s decree does not put forward any territorial demands on Russia, as some Russian ultranationalists falsely present it.
- Russian troops have confirmed advances south of Avdiivka and west of Donetsk amid ongoing trench fighting along the entire front line.
- Kyrgyzstan issued a statement against Russia’s ongoing practice of targeting naturalized migrants as part of covert mobilization.
- Russian federal subjects continue to establish ties with the occupied territories of Ukraine.
2024-01-23 04:08:32
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