EUvsDisinfo: Frank lies without remorse (original title: Tell me it’s raining)
The Kremlin often needs a specialist in a fancy suit who can lie without blinking an eye: we enter the Russian Foreign Ministry and there he is - Sergey Lavrov. As part of its preparations for the 79th UN General Assembly, the Russian Foreign Ministry, and Lavrov in particular, are diligently breaking records in the production of disinformation.
With the US presidential election in November approaching, the Kremlin’s disinformation machine is in full swing: seemingly indifferent, but this indifference is poorly disguised. The US government recently took coordinated action to expose and thwart a foreign influence campaign backed by the Kremlin. The seriousness of this threat was explicitly emphasized.
A Liar in a Suit
A volley of disinformation was unleashed in Lavrov's recent interview, in which he presented Russia as a “noble defender“ against Western hegemony. Lavrov did not hesitate to paint a distorted picture of the West and provoke anti-colonial sentiments, while turning a blind eye to Russia's own bloody colonial past.
He also insisted that Russia was creating “potential that would help countries become independent from the unipolar world“. This statement sounds strange given Russia’s attempts to destroy the independence and sovereignty of a neighboring state. It is a classic display of Kremlin duplicity to ignore Russia’s ongoing imperial incursions into Ukraine and colonial exploitation of its own territory while shedding false tears for the supposedly unipolar West.
Lavrov’s interpretation of Russia’s war against Ukraine is patently wrong, which is particularly repulsive. He insists that the West is “fighting a war in Ukraine through the hands of the EU, and against the interests of Europe,” seemingly forgetting that what started the war was Russia’s unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Lavrov attempted to justify this aggression by invoking a distorted interpretation of the UN Charter.
Lavrov also attempted to position Russia as a defender of traditional values against – in his words – "non-traditional values" of the West with a hint of Russia's moral superiority, which is in sharp contrast to its actions on the world stage. Throughout the interview, Lavrov consistently presents Russia as a "victim of Western aggression" and at the same time justifies Russia's own aggressive actions, rejecting any criticism.
Moscow's approach - blurring, distorting and misleading
The Russian Foreign Ministry is distributing selected fragments of Lavrov's interviews on social media - a carefully orchestrated move to influence the narrative ahead of the 79th UN General Assembly. By flooding the information space with these carefully selected excerpts, Russia aims to influence and change the perceptions of participants in the UN General Assembly, as well as the wider international community.
This tactic serves several purposes: to legitimize Russia’s actions on the world stage, to sow doubt about the West’s intentions, and to create a disinformation smokescreen to cover up the war in Ukraine. The timing is not accidental. While world leaders gather to discuss pressing global issues, Russia and its pro-Kremlin propaganda apparatus are working at full speed to control the public conversation, deflect criticism, and portray themselves as a tragically misunderstood defender of traditional values and national sovereignty – like a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Another interference in foreign elections
The pro-Kremlin media is very fixated on the US presidential candidates and their positions on Ukraine. At the same time, Russia is working to undermine confidence in the US electoral process - calling it degraded, chaotic, divided and on the verge of civil war.
A torrent of denigrating narratives continues to pour out against the Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris, which range from baseless conspiracy theories to frankly absurd claims. The pro-Kremlin media has called her everything from “a Soros candidate“ to “a puppet of the deep state“ and has even accused her of involvement in child trafficking. All the familiar slander and dubious connections taken straight from the Kremlin's dirty tricks manual.
According to EUvsDisinfo monitoring, coverage of Republican candidate Donald Trump in the Kremlin media network is significantly less critical, with some outlets even promoting his statements praising Putin and criticizing Biden’s policy towards Ukraine. Pro-Kremlin commentators are obsessed with Trump’s promise to quickly end the war in Ukraine, although Russian officials themselves express skepticism.
The Kremlin’s mechanism for interfering in foreign elections appears to have remained largely unchanged since the European Parliament elections. The ongoing, coordinated disinformation campaign serves the Kremlin’s broader strategy: to sow discord, tarnish Western leaders, weaken Western alliances and support for Ukraine, and influence the outcome of key elections in countries that are adversaries of the Kremlin, all on their own turf.
In another example of blatantly malicious propaganda in recent days, RIA, one of the Kremlin’s EU-sanctionedpropaganda mouthpieces, recently released the blatantly dangerous disinformation that the US has ordered “unrestricted war against every Russian citizen“. According to the narrative, “the collective West“ wants “as many Russians as possible to die”, and “foreign countries have condemned every Russian to death”. Such inflammatory rhetoric is a blatant attempt to mobilize more Russian citizens in the unjust war against Ukraine under the false pretext of protection from imaginary Western aggression. In reality, there is no evidence of a US decision for “unlimited war against all Russians”. By spreading such disinformation, the pro-Kremlin media are playing a dangerous game and fueling militaristic sentiments among Russian citizens – an uncontrollable fire that could eventually set their own rug on fire.
EUvsDisinfo/ translation: Representation of the European Commission in Bulgaria