Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Russian Foreign Minister Serhii Lavrov repeated a set of typical Kremlin talking points aimed at discrediting the West, the EU and justifying Russian aggression. His speech was yet another attempt to spread disinformation on the international stage, blaming the West for all the world's problems. The EUvsDisInfo project compiled a selection of the main messages from it.

Lavrov has tried to shift responsibility for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine to the West, in particular through the myth of “NATO expansion”. This disinformation is a classic example of Russia repeating false claims over and over again in order to make them more believable. The Kremlin claims that the West provokes Russia when independent countries, including Ukraine, exercise their right to choose their own foreign policy and join NATO.

Russia also manipulates the principle of self-determination, claiming that residents of temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine allegedly “chose” to become part of Russia. This claim is used to justify aggression against Ukraine, although in reality Russia violates the rights of Ukrainians and forcibly annexes their territories, particularly in Crimea and the east.

One of Russia’s main tools is to promote the message of a “neo-Nazi regime” in Kyiv that allegedly threatened residents of the occupied territories. Such statements are aimed at justifying aggression and shifting the focus to Russian war crimes committed in Ukraine. This myth is used to discredit Western support for Ukraine and to portray Russia as a “defender” of the supposedly oppressed.

Russia is trying to shift responsibility for its actions to the West, claiming that Ukraine was preparing to attack the east and Crimea with the support of Western countries. In this way, the Kremlin justifies its invasion as a preventive action. Accusations against NATO, the US and the EU are intended to sow mistrust in these countries and split international support for Ukraine. Russia spreads myths about the West’s “neo-colonialist practices” in an attempt to gain support among countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Russian disinformation is aimed at creating a false picture of the conflict on the international stage, presenting Russia as a victim of aggressive actions by the West and Ukraine.