UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq neither encouraged to end any attacks on Moscow, nor spoke in their favor. The organization representative spoke against “any and all attacks on civilian facilities” and expressed the wish that they stop.
Social media users began to spread manipulative information that the United Nations allegedly urged drone attacks on Moscow to be stopped. In these publications, users mostly refer to the Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Farhan Haq.
“The UN said that drone attacks on Moscow should be stopped,” users write without any clarifications.
After the spread of such information, StopFake decided to check whether the UN really believes that any drone attacks on Moscow “must be stopped”. As it turned out, this information was taken out of context.
The official UN website has a full transcript of the organization’s press briefing, where Farhan Haq spoke. On July 31, he did comment on the issue of the drone attack on Moscow. In particular, he was asked: “What’s the reaction from the Secretary-General on this incident?” To this, the deputy spokesman replied that he was against any attacks on civilian objects.
“Well, we don’t have any first-hand information on who is responsible for this attack. But certainly, we are against any and all attacks on civilian facilities and we want them to stop,” said Haq.
Neither in the answer to this question, nor in the entire press briefing, Farhan Haq called to stop attacking Moscow. He did not speak in favor of it either. The deputy spokesman simply spoke diplomatically against any attacks on civilian facilities and expressed the wish that they stop.
It is worth noting that both the Kremlin and Ukrainian media published news reports with the headlines like “The UN is asked to stop drone strikes on Moscow.” However, in the very articles, it was clarified that the UN representative was speaking strictly about civilian facilities.
Previously, StopFake refuted Vladimir Putin’s claim that war in Ukraine conforms with the UN Charter.
