MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. Blatant lies is the usual tool used by the West, which is seeking to shape a negative public opinion about its political opponents, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting with the participants in the Dialogue for the Future educational program on Wednesday.
"This situation is familiar. When the West sets itself a goal to demonize someone, it resorts to outright lies," the minister said. "They may admit it after a while, but it’s too late."
Lavrov recalled that the UK and the US at some point misled the international community trying to prove that Iraq had mass destruction weapons. "Unfortunately, blatant lies and falsifications are the methods that have been used for a long time," he noted. "Our Western counterparts have mastered these methods fundamentally. However, if you deceive someone once, you can no longer expect people to believe you."
"The whole propaganda machine is aimed exclusively at demonizing the Syrian government, Russia and Iran as Bashar al-Assad’s supporters in his war on terror, at inventing all kinds of false stories that would prove "the war crimes committed in eastern Aleppo," Lavrov said.
"There were many examples when these attempts were exposed," he noted, referring to the activities of the White Helmets organization. Photos and footage made by it allegedly providing evidence of bombing raids and casualties during the Syrian conflict, have repeatedly been exposed as fake.
"I have first-hand information provided by humanitarian organizations, which have their representatives in eastern Aleppo. None of them has confirmed the allegations that atrocities had been committed or that draft-age individuals leaving Aleppo had been abducted," Russia’s top diplomat stressed. "On the other hand, employees of these international agencies have to obey orders. They are paid for their work, and when they are ready to offer an impartial assessment, unfortunately, they cannot always share this information in public."
"Nevertheless, I am confident that those who want to know the truth have every opportunity to do so," the Russian minister added.