Lavrov voices traditional propaganda messages before journalists at UN
According to Ukrinform's own correspondent, most of his statements were reduced to repeating theses, which were voiced multiple times by Russian authorities and Kremlin-run media.
He reiterated Russia’s unwillingness to participate in the "second round of the Peace conference" on Ukraine, as approaches are being put forward that are "unacceptable" to Russia and "many other" states, at the same time claiming Russia and its allies are allegedly sincerely interested in achieving peace.
Lavrov once again repeated the narratives about the 2014 "coup" in Ukraine, the "Kyiv regime", "Nazis" supported by the West, fables of 2022 peace talks, failure to implement the Minsk agreements ("we were deceived, again"), as well as about the allegedly “staged” mass murders in Bucha.
In response to journalists' comments that there was enough evidence of the killing of civilians in Bucha by the Russians, he stated that Ukraine had not provided him with the names of the victims, despite "multiple appeals".
In addition, Lavrov criticized UN Secretary-General António Guterres and his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric for condemning the Russian missile strike on the Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital.
The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry also stated that the European Union is acting similar to NATO, in particular in the matter of support for Ukraine. At the same time, he praised China and Hungary for their “peacemaking” initiatives to resolve what Lavrov says is a "Ukrainian crisis".
Speaking about the losses that the EU is suffering from sanctions imposed on Russia, Lavrov made a gaffe, claiming that Europe was forced to abandon the purchase of "Ukrainian" gas.
"Lavrov's visit was extremely boring this time," Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine's Ambassador to the UN, who spoke in a comment to Ukrinform. “He promoted the same worn down narratives... We’veheard all this a hundred times already... This is absolute paranoia about NATO and so on - lies and fairy tales."
Kyslytsya drew attention to the fact that the questions that MFA Russia spokesperson Maria Zakharova allowed journalists to ask were "orchestrated" (the Ukrinform correspondent in New York was not allowed to ask one).
"The whole atmosphere was depressive," Kislytsya noted. "Although the press conference took place in the United States, it did not have the spirit of free journalism that would have been present had taken place outside the UN perimeter."
"This is an old Russian record player, where both the needle and vinyl have worn off," he added.
When asked what Lavrov sought to achieve in New York, Kyslytsya said he came to "take advantage, in particular, of the procedural opportunities that the country's presidency usually provides" in the UN Security Council, "including in setting the topics of unscheduled debates ".
Russia held such event in the Security Council on issues of multilateral cooperation (July 16) and the situation of the Middle East (July 17).
As Ukrinform reported earlier, Sergey Lavrov and Russia’s envoy to the UN Vasiliy Nebenzya failed to synchronize the propaganda narratives regarding the shelling of the Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital on July 8 as the two issued contradicting versions.
Nebenzya claimed that a Ukrainian missile hit the Okhmatdyt while Lavrov admitted at the press conference that it was a Russian one, which was allegedly shot down by Ukraine’s air defense.
