Thread by @thomasphipps

#RussianDisinformation at the #UN and #UNSC is not a new development, but #PutinsWar in #Ukraine has brought it into sharp focus. A 🧵 based on my experience leading a team @UKUN_NewYork covering Syria, Ukraine and other issues 1/11

#Disinformation and #Propaganda has been a significant feature of #Kremlin policy since Putin’s controversial ‘re-election’ in 2012. The 🎯 audience is primarily the Russian public but in the #UN context it is also UN member states 2/11

The Putin regime has used #disinformation to justify the 2014 annexation of #Crimea and invasion of #Donbas, to cover up the Russian downing of #MH17, the poisoning of the #Skripals and #Navalny, and #ChemicalWeapons use in #Syria 3/11

The #UNSC provides a platform for the Putin regime to spread #disinformation, serving as an incubator for distorted narratives afforded more legitimacy due to the formal #UN setting and subsequently echoed in UN documents, the media and online 4/11

#RussianDisinformation is laundered by #ConspiracyTheorists such as @VanessaBeeley & @PiersRobinson1, as well as fringe journalists such as @aaronjmate & @MaxBlumenthal. It is then echoed by well meaning, but ill informed, celebrities such as @SusanSarandon and @rogerwaters 5/11

Russian state media uses the individuals in the previous tweet to legitimise #KremlinLies Russian diplomats like @Dpol_un regularly retweet them and @RussiaUN has invited them to brief #UN #ArriaFormula meetings - again using the formal setting to persuade the 🎯 audience 6/11

@mariannaspring has reported in #BBCWarOnTruth the corrosive impact of restricted #mediafreedom in #Russia on understanding of #PutinsWar. #RussianDisinformation at the #UN provides alternative narratives for the Russian public - occupying space provided by absence of truth 7/11

But #RussianDisinformation also prevents action at #UNSC, including the failure to hold the #AssadRegime to account for horrific use of chemical weapons in #Syria, by creating an excuse for UN member states to sit on the fence or, worse, believe #KremlinLies 8/11

Perhaps most egregiously, the Kremlin regime appears willing to use #disinformation at the #UN to create a pretext for potential use of #ChemicalWeapons in #Ukraine by following Syrian regime tactic of submitting false claims of ‘provocations’ by Ukrainian forces 9/11

@UKUN_NewYork is working with partners @USUN & @UKRinUN to counter #RussianDisinformation, prevent Russian abuse of the #UNSC as a platform for #KremlinLies and ensure @RussiaUN remains isolated regarding #PutinsWar 10/11

We request briefings to the #UNSC by impartial UN experts, so UN members hear facts & truth not #RussianDisinformation eg Russia claims secret bio weapons programme in Ukraine but UN says there has been no evidence. And we will continue to challenge #KremlinLies 11/11