Jeffrey Sachs is an American economist and professor at Columbia University whose messaging aligns with Kremlin propaganda narratives. He blames NATO for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and links the 2014 protests in Ukraine to aspirations for NATO integration. Additionally, when speaking about the war in Ukraine, Sachs uses the Kremlin’s propaganda term “special military operation.” The resolution he proposes includes granting Ukraine neutral status and allowing Russia to maintain control over the Black Sea port on the Crimean Peninsula.
Notably, Sachs is a frequent guest on the program of Vladimir Solovyov, a prominent Kremlin propagandist and vocal supporter of the war in Ukraine. He has also given several interviews to Russian state-controlled Channel One, and his statements regularly appear in Kremlin-aligned media outlets (1,2,3). More recently, Sachs has been actively featured in American media through interviews with Tucker Carlson (1,2,3)
Recently, Sachs has also become visible in Georgian pro-government media. In December 2024, he gave an interview to Imedi TV, during which he voiced anti-US and pro-Kremlin messages, including describing NATO’s 2008 Bucharest summit pledge to admit Georgia and Ukraine into the alliance as a Western provocation against Russia. In the same interview, Sachs also positively described China’s economic initiatives in Georgia. Since December, Imedi and other pro-government outlets have regularly covered Sachs and his anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian remarks. He has also appeared at events organized by the ruling Georgian Dream party, including delivering a speech at the Regional Forum on Sustainable Development held in Tbilisi in June 2025.
Sachs is also affiliated with Russia’s “Club of People’s Unity,” where he is listed as a member of the Council of Independent Media Experts. Other members of this council include Scott Ritter, Larry Johnson, and Ricardo Sanchez – “Western experts” similarly engaged in spreading Kremlin-aligned narratives. The club’s presidium includes figures such as Alexander Dugin, Yevgeny Primakov, and Nikolai Azarov.
In 2022, Sachs received Taiwan’s Tang Prize for Sustainable Development. However, following the 2023 laureate lecture and press conference, the Taiwanese outlet Taiwan News published a critical article noting that Sachs was spreading propaganda aligned with Beijing and the Kremlin.
