DISINFO: NATO involved in Crimea bridge blast
SUMMARY
NATO blew up the Crimea bridge. The Ukrainians have neither technologies for that, nor reconnaissance information. They might have pressed the button, but the explosion was prepared by NATO.
RESPONSE
This is a particular instance of a broad pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative claiming that Russia is fighting the “collective West” in general or NATO in particular in Ukraine. This claim was made in the context of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
There is no evidence of NATO’s involvement in the explosion of the Crimea bridge that occurred during the night of 17 July 2023.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in an interview with CNN: “[...] we're still monitoring reports of this bridge strike [...] and I haven't seen anything that confirms for us definitively what the attribution is. We did see obviously Ukrainian forces struck the bridge at a previous time. So again, we'll have to see how this comes out. The Ukrainians themselves have not acknowledged who is responsible. So we're just going to keep monitoring this and watching it.”
London also rejected Russian accusations that British intelligence services might have been involved in the attack on the bridge. "This is baseless speculation from Russia and we will not dignify it by commenting further," a spokesperson for Britain's foreign ministry said in emailed comments.
Some NATO member states provide Ukraine with military assistance to help it repel Russia’s unprovoked aggression, but they are not involved in direct fighting. Ukraine receives weapons with the sole aim of restoring its territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders. Western instructors train Ukrainian soldiers how to use modern weaponry but there are no NATO troops fighting on the front.
The EU, the US and NATO condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is entirely unjustified and unprovoked.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that West is waging an undeclared war against Russia and Belarus, NATO is involved in the Ukraine conflict, and that Russia destroyed a secret NATO bunker in Ukraine.