Please mind the gap: Moscow’s words at UNGA vs deeds on the ground

On 9 September, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) opened its 80th session with familiar themes: peace, development, and human rights. Enter the Kremlin’s propaganda machine, loudly proclaiming support for those noble ideals while working tirelessly to subvert them.

As UNGA gets underway, here’s a refresher on the Kremlin’s favourite narratives – projection, denial, and distraction – rolled out once again for a global audience.

Unpeace and de-ceasefires

Only few things are more cynical than the Kremlin’s ritual calls for peace. Putin likes to string along the occasional Western politician with vague talk of negotiations. But his 15 August meeting in Alaska with US President Donald Trump, followed by Russia’s massive drone and missile attacks against Ukraine, show again that the Kremlin’s ‘peace’ really only means a full Ukrainian surrender.

In the parallel universe of Kremlin FIMI, it is Zelenskyy who craves war, while the West profits from prolonging the conflict. In this fantasy, the UK and the EU are the main obstacles to peace. Moscow, of course, only wants to impose peace on its terms – preferably within months.

The facts suggest otherwise. Since February 2022, the Kremlin has blamed Kyiv and Western countries for sabotaging the peace that Russia destroyed while depicting defensive aid to Ukraine as escalation. In reality, Russia has shown little interest in genuine talks as Putin – convinced of Russia’s advantage on the battlefield – keeps issuing ever more absurd ultimatums. That advantage may be largely exaggerated. Despite all the havoc the Russian forces have wrecked, they have gained less than 1 percent of Ukraine’s territory since November 2022. One report says that during its recent Kupiansk campaign, Russian forces advanced at a slower rate than Allied armies during World War I’s Battle of the Somme, at great cost in men and materiel.

The party’s over

Another evergreen narrative of the Kremlin is that EU sanctions against Russia hurt Europe more than Russia and have somehow strengthened the Russian economy. For a while, Moscow kept up the façade. GDP grew 4.3 percent in 2024, almost entirely thanks to war production. But civilian industries are stagnating while the military machine expands.

Sanctions have bitten into energy, finance, and technology, driving inflation, bottlenecks and budget stress. Growth is slowing down to a projected 1.7 percent in 2025 and 1.2 percent in 2026. Interest rates remain punishingly high at 18 percent, domestic demand is falling, and defence and security now consume over 40 percent of the budget.

With oil prices slipping and tax revenues shrinking, the deficit is widening. Defence spending will not be touched, but officials are already preparing Russians for belt-tightening. Putin can still bankroll the war for now, but the receipts are piling up.

Russia, champion of countries it hasn’t invaded (yet)

Moscow continues to present itself as a protector of the ‘Global South’ countries against Western ‘bullying'. Pro-Kremlin outlets praise BRICS as more successful than any similar Western bloc and claim the West sees it as a threat. They recycle charges of the International Criminal Court’s double standards and even accuse the UK and others of looting cultural artefacts in the Global South and Ukraine, while Russia itself strives to erase Ukrainian identity in occupied territories.

The record tells another story. Russia has intervened militarily in Syria, stoked instability in Latin America, backed coups in the Sahel, meddled in African elections, and pursued a ‘state capture’ strategy in the Central African Republic and other African countries. If this is protection, oppression must be tough indeed. Meanwhile, the BRICS is an informal association with no founding treaty, no secretariat, and no headquarters. Its members have diverse agendas and Moscow is fooling itself if it thinks it can use the group as a tool for its own ends. As for the ICC, perhaps the Kremlin is just angry about its warrant for Putin’s arrest.

Weapons of mass disinformation

Russian officials have also spread disinformation alleging that Ukraine is mass-producing chemical weapons and deploying them on the battlefield. One Russian state outlet reported on Moscow solemnly calling upon the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to investigate Ukraine’s supposed use of chloropicrin, a choking agent, delivered by drones.

The timing was telling. These claims surfaced just as credible reports confirmed Russian troops themselves were using chemical agents on the frontline. The OPCW and European intelligence services subsequently confirmed the findings, and the US had already accused Russia of deploying chloropicrin in 2024. In July 2025, European intelligence services reported Russia stepping up its use.

Children as spoils of war

Sadly, one consistent pro-Kremlin disinformation message concerns Ukrainian children. According to Ukraine’s National Information Bureau, and verified by international organisations, over 20,000 Ukrainian children have been identified as deported, many put up for illegal adoption instead of united with their families. Hardly actions that one would associate with peace, development, and human rights.

Russian state outlets deny and deflect, calling the reports Ukrainian disinformation and claiming the kidnappings are mere evacuations of children from combat zones. Yet the UN and others have confirmed the truth: forcible deportation of children by an occupying power is a war crime. Many have been abducted, unlawfully transferred, or forced into adoption. Others face identity erasure, indoctrination, persecution, and re-education. Some are subjected to militarisation, changes to personal data, arrests, or worse, death while in custody. The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Putin and his so-called Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for their roles.

The reason for the transfers is not hard to discern. Russia faces a demographic crisis that high war casualties have only worsened. The idea seems to be: we need people, so let’s take theirs. It’s a barbarous logic, followed by those with no moral compass. A strategy that makes a mockery of the ideals Russia will claim to uphold at the UNGA.

Don’t be deceived.

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Article and pictures first time published on the EUvsDisinfo web page. Prepared for publication by volunteers from the Res Publica - The Center for Civil Resistance.