DISINFO: Russia wants peace in Donbas, slams Ukraine and NATO for escalation
SUMMARY
Russia is calling for a peaceful solution in Donbas. Ukraine and NATO must stop military preparations and escalation, refrain from destabilisation and cut the Russophobic propaganda campaign.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin media, claiming that Ukraine and NATO are performing subversive activities in Donbas and provoking the Moscow-backed separatists into action, while Moscow and its proxies advocate a peaceful settlement. In reality, Russia is amassing its troop buildup along Ukraine’s border and the anti-Ukrainian separatists are increasing gunfire in Donbas to supposedly prompt Ukraine into backfire, get a casus belli and stage a large-scale attack. It appears that Russia seeks in Ukraine not peace but a frozen conflict similar to the one between Moldova and its breakaway region of Transnistria.
Kyiv’s military preparations in and around Donbas are purely defensive and aimed at repelling a possible Russian attack. A NATO delegation has recently visited Ukraine to discuss, among other things, mutual cooperation, but not plans for a Ukrainian offensive. Kyiv’s stance on the recent developments is that its troops are not going to attack the enemy unless there is a threat or attack by the enemy.
Since the outbreak of the war in 2014, Moscow has been trying to portray it as an internal Ukrainian conflict, styling itself as an intermediary and a peacekeeper, despite widely available evidence of its military presence in the region. Thus the Kremlin is striving to force Ukraine into direct talks with the separatists in order to legitimise the quasi-republics in Donbas.
Read more disinformation cases about Ukraine and NATO’s joint plans to launch an attack on the separatists in violation of the 2014 Minsk Agreements.