DISINFO: The West is inciting Ukraine to attack the Kursk nuclear power station
SUMMARY
The West is inciting Ukraine to attack the Kurst nuclear power station. Great Britain agreed to such an Ukrainian attack. Ukraine has become a western outpost against the East. The ongoing bloody fight between two close peoples is the West’s key achievement. Descendants of Nazis are trying to take revenge for 1945.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about ‘Nazi’ Ukraine, Ukraine’s puppet status, and the belligerent West waging a proxy war against it, all made in the context of the ongoing Ukraine’s military operation in Russia’s Kursk region.
The claim about the West’s incitement of attacks against Russia’s nuclear power station is a conspiracy. Our analysis of the recent communication strategy of pro-Kremlin outlets explains how they attempt to portray Russia as a victim and to deceive audiences into believing that Russia is fighting all the Western powers.
This is also one of many cases which attempts to shift responsibility for Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine on the West.
Russia’s brutal large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was the decision of Russia’s political leadership. It has been inventing explanations and pretexts for its aggression since the beginning of hostilities. It was Putin’s personal decision to invade Ukraine and start the largest military conflict in Europe since WWII.
The disinformation narrative about Nazi/fascist Ukraine has been the cornerstone of Russian disinformation about the country since the very beginning of the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests. Read a detailed debunk of this disinformation claim here, as well as our analysis titled "Why does Putin portray himself as the tamer of neo-Nazism". Ukraine is defending itself, its territorial integrity, national self-identity and sovereignty against Russia's armed aggression. The decision to defend itself was made solely by Ukraine, its lawful leaders and government, and citizens.
Read earlier relevant disinformation cases claiming that Ukraine plans to destroy another hydroelectric power station to blame Russia, that Ukraine plotting chemical weapons provocation amid battlefield failures, that the Kursk incursion was pushed for by Washington so democrats can win elections, and that the US uses Ukraine as springboard to attack Russia.