DISINFO: Macron, Starmer and Merz want war
SUMMARY
What unites Trump and Putin is that they believe that military action must end. This is the watershed between Trump-Putin on the one hand, and figures like Macron and Starmer, who are looking for their new interests, their new roles, and have found nothing else to say (and by the way, the future German Chancellor Merz also abuses this), “we are all for peace,” but at the same time their subordinates are sophisticated in telling something else. For example, the head of West German intelligence said that if the war ends before 2029, it will be very bad. Ukraine needs to fight until 2029. They demand guarantees from us that we are for peace, while they themselves are quite openly betting on war.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets accusing the European Union and UK of warmongering and claiming that it is not interested in peace but rather seeks to prolong the war. This recurrent claim is made in the context of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It seeks to whitewash and shift the blame for the aggression away from Russia.
The head of the Federal Intelligence Service of Germany, Bruno Kahl, warned that the kind of swift end to the war that the US administration is seeking would "enable the Russians to focus their energy against Europe." "We have seen hybrid influence operations, including during the elections that took place in Europe, right up to acts of sabotage ... in a manner that is unprecedented in the recent past," he said. Bruno Kahl's words, therefore, are distorted by the disinformation report.
From the onset of the war, the European Union and its Member States have, with their partners and allies, underlined the need to put an end to it through a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on the principles of the UN Charter and international law. The latest European Council conclusions restate the principles the EU supports in the pursuit of a just and long-lasting peace.
The European Union is committed to achieving a peaceful resolution to the war in Ukraine, ensuring that Kyiv’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are respected.
It was Russia that launched its unprovoked and unjustified aggression against Ukraine in 2022. Prior to that, in 2014, Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and instigated a separatist proxy war in the country’s east.
Russia continues to reject genuine peace efforts, based on international law. This narrative seeks to deflect attention from Russia's violations of international law and its perpetration of war crimes. By portraying the EU as an aggressor, pro-Kremlin outlets attempt to justify Russia’s actions and present its territorial expansionism as forced defensive actions.
This message is part of a wider disinformation campaign framing possible US-Russia negotiations as the only acceptable ‘peace initiative’ regardless of the of Russia’s ultimatums, while denying any agency to Ukraine or its other allies. Pro-Kremlin disinformation has long tried to misrepresent the EU as the main obstacle for ‘peace’ in Ukraine.
See also the disinformation claim Macron, Starmer, Zelensky and Tusk need a war in Ukraine to stay in power.